Davidson Says One-Size-Fits-All Approach Won’t Work to Eliminate the Digital Divide While Noting States Will Need Flexibility to Reach as Many People as Possible

Press Release
April 13, 2022
Contact: Jon Conradi
[email protected]

Washington, D.C. – Connect Americans Now (CAN) executive director Richard T. Cullen released the following statement Wednesday following a Broadband Breakfast for Lunch event, “Preparing for Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act: A Fireside Chat,” with National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Administrator Alan Davidson.

“Connect Americans Now (CAN) commends Administrator Davidson for reaffirming NTIA’s commitment to ensuring states and broadband providers have the flexibility needed to maximize the positive impact, reach and cost-effectiveness of deployments targeted at eliminating the digital divide,” Cullen said. “An all-of-the-above approach that prioritizes unserved communities will be vital to NTIA’s mission to make substantial progress toward closing the broadband gap.”

During the fireside chat, Davidson said, “We expect there will be flexibility, different states are going to run the programs in different ways. Our goal is to give them, and the statute gives them, that flexibility. It’s not a one-size-fits-all at all … we are eager to get to our goal to get to everyone in America, to have access to high speed, affordable broadband … We want to make sure the projects are economical where our laser focus is making sure the unserved, those unserved areas get that upgrade or are reached… Different states will build this in different ways … How they use the money in Rhode Island is going to be vastly different than what we expect in Alaska or Montana right? And so, we know we have to give that flexibility.”

Connect Americans Now (CAN) is a broad-based coalition representing leading voices in agriculture, education, health care, veterans’ issues, technology, small business and more — committed to urgent action to completely eliminate the digital divide in every American community.

Watch the full fireside chat HERE.

Learn more about how federal agencies can maximize the positive impact of infrastructure law broadband programs HERE.

Learn more about Connect Americans Now HERE.

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