ConnectHome, a broad initiative was announced by the Obama administration today aiming to provide high-speed Internet service to low-income households. With this new initiative, over 275,000 low-income households across the US will have high-speed broadband access. The White House has said that the pilot program will launch in 27 cities including New York, Boston and Seattle, as well as the Choctaw Tribal Nation in Oklahoma.
This move is part of a plan by the Obama Government to make sure that low income households have access to the Internet thereby reducing the digital gap. The Broadband opportunity council comprising 25 federal agencies and departments was created by the President in March to take on the responsibility of giving more people access to broadband, which is a critical component for US economic growth and competitiveness.
The Pew Research Center recently came up with statistics of households with incomes between $100,000 to $150,000 having broadband access, but less than half of households below the $25,0000 income level can tap into high-speed Internet and according to the American Library Association, about 5 million households with school-age children do not have high-speed Internet service.
In June, the Federal Communications Commission voted to advance a proposal that would allow qualifying households to use their $9.25-per-month Lifeline subsidy on either phone or broadband service.
To further drive the ConnectHome initiative, the US Government is engaging in public-private sector partnerships with entities like Google Fiber and Century Link with the former providing free monthly home Internet service to select public housing communities in Atlanta, Durham, North Carolina, Kansas City, Missouri and Nashviller and the latter offering broadband service to HUD households in Seattle for $9.95 for the first year, increasing that monthly rate to $14.95 in the next four years.
Other participators include Cox Communications and Sprint, among others.
