From The Prospect: Open Markets Institute policy analyst, Daniel A. Hanley, argues that broadband access is an essential utility that everyone should have access to.

During the Great Depression, President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Rural Electrification Act (REA), which electrified rural communities across the nation as part of the New Deal. Over the next 20 years, the REA provided this essential utility and radically altered the quality of life for millions of Americans.

The next presidential administration needs to follow this example and lead the country into a new technological era. Just like electricity, the internet has become an essential utility, and it should be provided to everyone.

Confined to their homes for the majority of their work, educational, and entertainment activities, Americans are now relying on the internet more than ever. At the start of the pandemic, internet usage increased by 47 percent. Despite some states opening up their economies, usage as of August 2020 was still 36 percent higher than pre-pandemic levels. More than 70 percent of respondents to a U.S. poll said that they would not be able to perform their jobs without an internet connection.

This increased reliance has revealed the real consequences of America’s decades-long struggle to provide universal broadband access. While studies show that 90 percent of Americans use the internet, a 2018 study from Microsoft shows that almost half the population does not use it at broadband speeds (defined as at least 25 Mbps). Thus, although millions of Americans technically have internet access, the speeds are so limited that more than two devices would clog their bandwidth and make it unsuitable for modern uses such as videoconferencing and streaming, which are now essential aspects of work and education. In addition to inferior speeds and adoption rates, American internet is also exceptionally more expensive, in some cases 50 percent more costly than comparable international counterparts.

Almost 1 in 5 students, or roughly nine million, do not have home internet access.

For students in particular, the lack of internet access is distressing. Almost 1 in 5 students, or roughly nine million, do not have home internet access. According to a 2020 RAND Corporation survey, one-third of teachers described the absence of home internet as a major obstacle to educating students. One school district in Texas found that half of its student population had no high-speed internet at home. Similar numbers exist for West Virginian students.

These circumstances make virtual learning effectively impossible, and as more than 50 million K-12 students start the 2020 academic year, millions of young people are being effectively deprived of their right to an education. The Pew Research Center identifies a “homework gap,” as the lack of internet access impedes children from completing their assignments. In some cases, students trying to do their homework have camped outside their schools or at Taco Bell parking lots seeking adequate Wi-Fi.

People of color are particularly affected by the digital divide, having consistently lagged ten percentage points behind white Americans for broadband penetration. “Technology access is one of the most pressing education issues of the pandemic, especially for these students—low-income, students of color, students with disabilities, and English learners—who were already underserved and who have generally experienced less access to resources during the pandemic,” said Linda Darling-Hammond, president and CEO of the Learning Policy Institute.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the federal agency in charge of structuring telecommunications in the United States, has received multiple directives from Congress to provide universal communications and information services. The 1934 Communications Act stated that the FCC must “make available, so far as possible, to all the people of the United States … a rapid, efficient, Nation-wide, and world-wide wire and radio communications service with adequate facilities at reasonable charges.” In 1996, Congress amended the 1934 act to include advanced telecommunications.

Despite this command, the FCC’s recent efforts have been woefully insufficient, and the broadband divide persists. Between 2013 and 2017, the FCC and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) gave more than $22 billion to private companies to expand rural internet service, and in January, the FCC committed another $20 billion over ten years to try to close the gap. Even the $2 trillion CARES Act, passed in March in response to the economic cataclysms resulting from the pandemic, provided $100 million to build facilities and purchase equipment for enhancing rural broadband. But despite these outlays, millions have no access; the mechanism of feeding private companies giant sums of money for broadband build-out simply hasn’t worked.

Read the full article at The American Prospect here.