TPRC 2024: The 52nd Research Conference on Communications, Information and Inter

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Abstract:
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA, 2021) and the Digital Equity Act (DEA, 2021) outline key pillars for achieving digital equity, including affordable broadband, device availability, digital literacy training, and privacy measures. The Digital Opportunities Compass framework (Rhinesmith et al., 2023) was introduced to create comprehensive digital equity plans that go beyond basic access, emphasizing long-term social and economic development. The framework aids stakeholders in assessing conditions, developing strategies, and evaluating digital equity impacts. It was shared with policymakers and stakeholders to guide program development.

This study in three Michigan communities explored how local contexts influence digital equity strategies. It utilized the Compass framework and an asset-based community development informed approach to assist communities in creating tailored digital equity strategies. Findings indicated that many participants were new to digital equity concepts, affecting task force recommendations and efficacy metrics. The study suggests that local digital equity coalitions can support national and state efforts and emphasizes building community capacity. It also highlights the need for more research on how local factors influence digital equity outcomes.

Local context, including infrastructure, socioeconomic factors, and community assets, significantly affects policy and program development. Community-driven efforts are often more sustainable, but challenges such as limited knowledge and capacity can hinder progress. A guided decision-making process can help stakeholders develop effective digital equity solutions.

These task force participant experiences and practitioner reflections suggest several important directions for future policy implementations using the Digital Opportunities Compass as a guide. in addition to understanding traditional broadband and digital inclusion metrics, such as the five measurable objectives in the IIJA, future digital equity planning initiatives should make sure to gather data on individual indicators found in the Compass, such as “business digital readiness,” “community health and wellbeing,” “community assets,” and “everyday experiences” pertaining to those most impacted by a lack of broadband, devices, digital skills, and technical support. Second, local initiatives that foster existing community strengths, resources, and values can support effective policy interventions. Third, the Compass pilot revealed several key considerations in developing and deploying future policy interventions. Among these include ensuring clear leadership, community cohesion, and task force composition in the development of local digital equity initiatives. Finally, this study revealed that a lack of capacity, limited understanding of systemic and broader issues impacting digital equity, and time constraints faced by government officials can impede the creation of sustainable solutions and policies.

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In 2021, Congress allocated billions of dollars to the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), extending the Emergency Broadband Benefit past its classification as a COVID-19 response policy. Since ACP’s inception, over 23 million, or one in six, American families enrolled in the program to offset the price of broadband service and devices. This represents just over half of urban and a third of rural households who were eligible for the program. Earlier this year, the FCC announced that April 2024 would be the last fully-funded month of ACP. Despite considerable bipartisan support, the ACP was fully depleted in May 2024.

Community advocates and local leaders persistently cite affordability as the main reason that residents do not have home broadband subscriptions and adequate devices. This connection inspired our research examining the relationship between broadband access and poverty levels across all fifty states, D.C., Puerto Rico, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and Guam.

In anticipation of billions of dollars in broadband funding across the US, we collected statewide statistics from states and territories eligible for the BEAD Program as community-level data from five selected municipalities and counties, where available. Selected communities include a range of population sizes, from 82 to 1.5 million residents, and include a sample of communities investing in different types of broadband and digital inclusion initiatives to compare the local programs’ impact on local adoption rates. Out of a survey of data points from all fifty states, six territories, and 278 communities, we noticed considerable support for our thesis that poverty and Internet access are highly correlated, a finding supported by literature.

Along with American Community Survey (ACS) data, we compiled publications describing state programs and community initiatives. We plan to cross-reference this information with the data collected to better understand outliers in our findings. Additionally, we offer suggestions for policymakers to improve the Internet and device adoption data collection process.

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Abstract:
In the FCC’s recent Future of the Universal Service Fund (USF) proceeding, one of the most extensively debated subjects in the record was the possibility of modernizing the USF contributions system. Among others, there were two broad proposals that were advanced – (1) expanding the contribution base to include revenues from broadband internet access service, and (2) broadening the USF contribution base to include entities including edge providers such as streaming video providers, digital advertising firms, and cloud services companies. We find that the most economically efficient option for reform is to expand the contribution base to include broadband internet access service revenues.
The USF is currently funded through fees collected from telecommunications providers. Funds are then used to subsidize the various programs under the USF, promoting universal connectivity. Even though the USF supports broadband through its disbursements, the contribution base for the USF is funded based on interstate and international telecommunications revenue. As the industry shifts towards internet-based communication, the contribution base for universal service has dramatically shrunk. Since 2012 the contribution base has declined more than 42%. Given this, in the past two decades the contribution factor (i.e., Projected USF Expenditures/Contribution Base) has more than tripled – from around 7% to over 29%. Without funding reform we predict it will be 44.0% in 2025 and 49.7% in 2027.
There are economic consequences from such large fees (currently at 29.2%) on such a narrow base (mostly voice revenues) as fees become more distortionary and burdensome on an inequitable subset of Americans who primarily rely on voice services. Expanding the contribution base to include broadband internet access service revenues will simultaneously lower the effective USF fee (to 3.7%) and broaden the base from which the funding comes (all uses of broadband), reducing market distortions in line with economic principles and the institutional history of USF. We also find, under plausible assumptions for service plan prices, that consumers will not face a significant price increase and many will likely achieve savings due to the decrease in contribution factor on voice service. In addition, to the extent any additional fees levied are passed onto downstream consumers, the burden will likely be borne relatively more by high-income consumers.
We also find that various other proposals to include certain edge providers would arbitrarily increase market distortions and are not in line with economic principles. In addition, these proposals also assert, without reliable evidence, that fees levied on edge providers will not be passed down to consumers. We find that economic principles and empirical trends in the industry suggest otherwise.

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‘Altnets’ – networks other than Openreach or Virgin Media – are playing a key role in the rollout of FTTP networks in the UK. Supported by significant levels of investment, more than 100 companies are active in the market through a plurality of business models. Despite the key role that they are playing, they have largely been overlooked. To counter this, an exploratory approach is adopted in this paper. The analysis illustrates the range of business models that have been adopted by altnets, which vary by their geographical scale (national/regional) and market focus (wholesale/retail). It also draws attention to how altnets compete, which is based on a combination of broadband speeds and price, and the impact of overbuilding on their viability. The analysis also explores how consolidation within the market will impact on its structure.

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Abstract:
The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) is a means-tested federal program launched in January 2022 to support broadband connectivity among low-income households in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The expiration of the ACP benefit, the largest ever consumer support program for telecommunication services in U.S. history, invites a discussion about the impact of the program and what alternative policy mechanisms exist to promote equitable access to broadband.
Conceptually, this study distinguishes two types of program impact. First, it examines the more immediate goal of the ACP program, namely, to promote and help sustain broadband access among vulnerable households. Second, the study probes for broader socioeconomic impacts related to labor market outcomes.

Our primary hypothesis is that the more favorable labor market outcomes observed for eligible individuals are related to increased remote work opportunities, and that these effects will be stronger among female than male workers. We hypothesize that the massive expansion of hybrid work arrangements that followed the pandemic is a key explanatory factor for this trend, and that ACP expanded labor opportunities for women who otherwise would have more limited labor market prospects due affordability constraints in broadband access.

The empirical challenge involved in evaluating the impact of the ACP program is well understood, and involves identifying a suitable counterfactual. We address this challenge in different ways. In the first set of model specifications, we compare outcomes for eligible individuals to those for ineligible individuals before and after the introduction of ACP within a narrow household income bandwidth. In a second set of estimates, we implement a semiparametric estimation of causal effects by modeling the propensity of individuals to enroll in the program, and adjusting our regression results accordingly.

The results largely confirm our working hypothesis. Overall, eligible individuals are more likely to have home broadband than comparable ineligible individuals, with stronger effects for having any type of Internet connection than for having high-speed (wireline) broadband. Positive impacts on labor force participation and employment are observed for women (but not men), and the effect appears to be driven by an increase in remote work arrangements. Broadly speaking, the results suggest that the positive impact of ACP goes beyond first-order effects on adoption, as the program helped lower-income workers adapt to the expansion of non-traditional labor arrangements in the aftermath of the pandemic.

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We aim to predict factors that affect the level and speed of enrollment in the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) among eligible households. While previous research has addressed factors predicting uptake cross-sectionally (Horrigan, Whitacre, & Galperin, 2023; Schieberl & Ahmadi, 2023), we use panel data of monthly subscriber additions in all 3,143 counties in the United States with a diffusion model to the county-level demographic and economic variables that predict in the rate of adoption over time.

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This study investigates the importance of broadband internet access reliability in underserved Alaskan communities. Analyzing measures of network latency and outages collected from anchor institutions over a two-year period, we demonstrate the inadequacy of existing broadband definitions to ensure adequate quality of service (QoS). Broadband reliability measurements are comprehensively assessed by identifying overall trends in network performance, the presence of cyclicality, and the impact of natural experiments.

Using quasi-experimental designs, the study models the impact of significant incidents on broadband service reliability, such as the Quintillion submarine cable getting cut by sea ice in the Summer 2023. Fourier transformations are applied to identify cyclical trends in broadband reliability, revealing temporal variations and underlying patterns influencing service quality over time. Additionally, the research assesses QoS in ISPs and regions, facilitating a comparative analysis of performance metrics and identifying changes in service quality over the study period.

Alaska represents an edge case, but the empirical evidence of these challenges and the implications of inconsistent broadband reliability has broad application to underserved rural regions across the United States. These insights are relevant to policymakers, stakeholders, and ISPs as they prioritize once in a generation broadband infrastructure investments. This research underscores the critical role of reliable broadband access in supporting critical infrastructure, promoting socio-economic development, and addressing the digital divide.

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Focused on broadband service accessibility in rural/remote communities, this study investigates mobile Internet access and usage in the Northwest Territories (NWT) of Canada. Using primary data collected from Northern mobile phone subscribers, the study explores mobile phone ownership, usage frequency, and hotspotting behaviour in hub and peripheral communities. Demonstrating variations between two types of rural/remote communities, the study found significant differences in mobile phone access and use. Residents in peripheral communities showed higher mobile phone ownership and greater reliance on mobile Internet, averaging 4.2 hours of daily usage compared to 3.6 hours in hub communities. These factors are attributed to the lack of adequate household connectivity options and the necessity for reliable, on-the-go Internet access. Additionally, the study highlights motivations for mobile Internet usage, such as convenience, better speed, and broader coverage, with many participants citing dissatisfaction with existing household Internet services.

The findings also reveal a high incidence of mobile hotspotting behaviour, particularly in peripheral communities. This indicates a propensity among Northern residents to share mobile Internet connectivity across devices and end users. While mobile service costs were marginally higher in peripheral communities, this difference was not statistically significant. However, household service plans in peripheral communities include data restrictions and overage fees, which suggests the higher instances of hotspotting behaviour and adoption of mobile services may be a way for people to manage such costs. In the context of recent policy and industry developments concerning support for mobile infrastructure and service deployments in rural/remote and Northern areas, these insights contribute to understanding the role – and limitations – of using mobile Internet to bridge digital divides. While mobile services could offer a cost-effective solution to improving digital access, they also reflect limitations related to device capability and quality of access and may exacerbate the so-called “device divide”.

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Abstract:
For decades, the policy priority to bridge the  digital divide in the United States was to obtain additional funding to build out and upgrade networks, particularly in rural and disadvantaged areas. However, in the past two years, numerous federal programs, plus some state and other initiatives, have allocated billions of dollars to achieve the goal of “universal broadband.”
While resources are more limited in Canada, funding is available from some federal agencies as well as some provincial and other sources. The emphasis in both countries as been on funding for capital projects such as provision of optical fiber for both transport and local networks or equipment for fixed wireless broadband networks. However, there has been little attention to the sustainability of these networks such as business models, and management and technical skills to continue their operation.

While research on the impact and sustainability of recent federally funded projects will take time, this paper examines the challenges they may face and strategies to overcome or minimize them. The following issues are addressed:
• Engagement: consultation, training and hiring
• Participation: partnerships and ownership
• Sustainability: Financial, technical and resilience
• Competition and disruption.
Engagement with local or Tribal governments can not only explain the proposed project, but also identify issues such as access to existing facilities, rights-of-way, services to be provided and pricing. While the FCC now requires Tribal consultation for projects on Tribal lands, preliminary research indicates that there is little enforcement of this requirement. Federal infrastructure programs now mandate engagement with local or Indigenous governments, but it is unclear how compliance will be formalized and monitored. Engagement can also identify opportunities to train and hire local residents for both network installation and ongoing operations and maintenance. Consultation may also identify needs for digital literacy training so that households and organizations can benefit from the infrastructure investment, contributing to local economies.

The paper reviews various models of participation including partnerships and ownership, and examines the implications of programs that fund some Indigenous organizations with little management experience or technical expertise, and must rely on contractors.

Sustainability can include financial viability as well as technical sustainability. Redundancy can be critical for sustainability to ensure continuity of service, for example, satellite terminals to back up fiber networks, and ring transport architecture to provider alternative pathways. The paper provides evidence of extensive outages where projects did not include funding or consideration for redundancy.

Technical sustainability can also include future-proofing to prevent short-term obsolescence at minimal cost. Requirements for inclusion of dark fiber and upgradeable switching can extend useable project life. The paper provides examples of relatively recently installed rural networks that could not meet increased demand during the pandemic, and unforeseen costs incurred to upgrade switching, such as for 988 access.

Concerning competition, some incumbent providers state that allowing competition would discourage investment in regions with low populations, and conversely, that if competition is viable, it should only be facilities-based. However, the paper provides evidence from Alaska and Canada of open access competition, as well as facilities-based competition, most recently from Starlink.

The paper concludes with questions to be addressed, and the need for independent evaluation to determine the impacts and lessons from investments of billions of dollars in rural broadband in Alaska and northern Canada.