The Joint Center is pleased to see AT&T committing to significant new investments to improve the broadband ecosystem in the United States. The investment in building out the company's spectrum assets should help all Americans, especially African Americans, Hispanics, and other minorities that are such heavy users of Smartphones and other wireless devices. AT&T's announcement also sets off a much-needed dialogue on how the regulatory environment must evolve as telecommunications networks transition to an Internet Protocol environment. The Joint Center looks forward to working with all stakeholders to make sure this transition proceeds quickly and takes into account the needs of African Americans, Hispanics, and other people of color in the United States.

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Although it has been in its new office location for nearly three weeks, The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies continued with old business Monday afternoon with its “Broadband, the Economy, and Driving Adoption” panel discussion.

In collaboration with Comcast, the Joint Center’s event gathered a panel of broadband data experts and pragmatists to identify the factors impeding high broadband adoption rates in low adopting communities, share real-world examples of the effects of broadband in low-income and minority communities, as well as lessons learned in convincing the aforementioned communities to adopt broadband.

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius Genachowski delivered remarks prior to the main discussion and emphasized the increase in prevalence of broadband across the country.

Read more at Politic365.

The Joint Center and Comcast Corporation held a Technology Policy Forum entitled Broadband, the Economy, and Driving Adoption on September 24, 2012.

In recent years, there have been two developments in technology adoption that are in tension with one another. On the one hand, home broadband adoption has increased only modestly since 2009. On the other, there has been a very rapid increase the adoption of Smartphones. This development presents questions for policymakers and stakeholders interested in the digital divide, namely: Does the leveling off of home broadband adoption and accompanying growth in Smartphone adoption represent a substitution effect? That is, are those without broadband at home simply turning to Smartphones instead and, if so, how does their Internet use relate to that of broadband users? Understanding the answers to these questions will be important to policymakers and those in the private sector interested in closing technology access gaps. To address the questions, this paper will rely on data drawn from a statewide telephone survey of Illinois residents fielded in February-March of 2012. The survey explored in detail how people get online (e.g., home broadband, tablets, Smartphones), what online activities they do (e.g., information searches, shopping, educational uses), and how they view the usefulness of different access means for carrying out tasks online.

FCC chairman Julius Genachowski praised Comcast Sept. 24 for a program that provided low-income Americans with discounted broadband service.

The program, Internet Essentials, originally targeted 2 million families that qualify for the free school lunch program to receive broadband service for $9.95 per month, $150 personal computers and digital literacy training. Early this year, Comcast expanded the program to 300,000 additional families that receive reduced price school lunches and doubled the speed of broadband service offered. Since launching the program in 2011, 400,000 families have taken advantage of Internet Essentials.

“I commend Comcast for stepping up its original commitment,” said Genachowski.

In remarks given at the Comcast Internet Essentials Event, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, in Washington, D.C., the chairman said it is important for eligible families to sign up for programs like Internet Essentials because being online “is essential to full participation in our 21st century economy.”

Read more at Broadcast Engineering.

Does anyone remember when the Obama administration promised to bring “true broadband [to] every community in America”? The Republican Party definitely does, and its 2012 platform criticizes the president for not making any progress on this pledge:

“The current Administration has been frozen in the past…. It inherited from the previous Republican Administration 95 percent coverage of the nation with broadband. It will leave office with no progress toward the goal of universal coverage—after spending $7.2 billion more. That hurts rural America, where farmers, ranchers, and small business manufacturers need connectivity to expand their customer base and operate in real time with the world’s producers.

So whatever happened to the Obama administration’s plan to expand broadband access, anyway? In one sense, the Republican critics are right. Universal broadband is still far from a reality. According to the Federal Communications Commission’s annual broadband report, released in August, there are still 19 million Americans who lack access to wired broadband. Only about 94 percent of households have broadband access. Obama hasn’t achieved his goal.

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“Getting to 100 percent is going to be a very difficult long-term goal, given the size of the U.S. landmass and the huge expense to reach those final couple of percentage points,” says John Horrigan of the Joint Center Media and Technology Institute. The same goes for increasing the adoption rate. “We’re not going to close that gap in five years.” Anyone hoping for universal broadband access in the near future might end up disappointed. But shorter-term upgrades are possible—and, indeed, appear to be happening.

Read more at The Washington Post.

Given the potential of mobile broadband to play an outsized role in reducing the burden of chronic disease in communities of color, policymakers and healthcare institutions should seek to facilitate its use among minorities, according to a report released today by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.  

The report, “Minorities, Mobile Broadband and the Management of Chronic Diseases,” is part of a long-term research effort by the Joint Center Health Policy and Media and Technology Institutes aimed at improving the health and well-being of people of color, particularly by addressing the geographic, financial, cultural and linguistic barriers to quality health care and to specialty treatment.

The report can be found here.

The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies is pleased to share an important new report, Minorities, Mobile Broadband, and the Management of Chronic Diseases, prepared by the Joint Center Media and Technology Institute and the Health Policy Institute with support from the UnitedHealth Group Foundation. This report considers the vast potential of mobile broadband technologies to help address some of the nation’s most pressing health concerns, and therefore is relevant and timely for policymakers’ consideration as the federal government implements the Affordable Care Act.

It’s time to recognize the talent pool we have right here in America, putting an end to minority statistics that may soon be more fairytale than truth. Especially in Florida where the Hispanic population is outperforming other states in college degree attainment levels.

Florida’s business schools, particularly Miami-Dade College, are being recognized nationally for their cutting-edge programs and for graduating among the highest numbers of Hispanics. Not only are these Hispanics brushing up on their business skills, but, according to recent studies by Florida State University’s Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication, they are proving to be digital innovators and significantly expanding their online presence. Compared to other groups, Hispanics were the most likely to own and manage their own online businesses, blogs and websites.

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Broadband-enabled technologies have changed how businesses operate and thrive. It’s the innovators and skilled users of these technologies that bring opportunity for innovation and job creation across a range of industries. Though some statistics show that Hispanics are behind in education and technology adoption, many others are proving that they are in fact poised to become prominent figures in America’s digital business future, including the wireless industry.

While minorities are undoubtedly making big gains in broadband adoption, there are still many without online connections. According to a study by The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, there are many barriers at play, including financial, educational, and linguistic hurdles. Yet when socioeconomic factors are similar, studies show that Hispanics and non- Hispanic whites end up having similar usage patterns for broadband-enabled technologies.


Read more at the Miami Herald.