Affordability Study
- By: Admin
In June 2020, Illinois Senate Bill 2135 directed the Illinois Broadband Advisory Council (BAC) to study various questions related to broadband access and affordability, including cost estimates for:
To provide thorough analysis, the BAC and Illinois Office of Broadband worked with respected researchers to respond to the questions in SB 2135. The resulting study is available here.
Please note a few points about the study:
The Illinois General Assembly should consider the study as the beginning of a timely and comprehensive conversation about broadband access, adoption, and affordability. While some costs for requested scenarios in SB 2135 might be considered aspirational or even prohibitive, others are well within the realm of doable – in terms of programmatic capacity, scope, and cost. For instance, consider the annual cost of providing affordable broadband to Illinois households in poverty that lack broadband service.
Various assumptions underly the findings – from the number of Illinois households lacking broadband access to provider pricing for shorter-term access to costs of longer-term broadband deployment. For this reason, cost estimates are presented as ranges, and the findings herein should be considered as guideposts directing future investment.
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the significant stakes of the digital divide, with far too many Illinoisans lacking critical broadband access for remote learning, telehealth, or work from home opportunities. Understandably, the federal policy response focused on shorter-term broadband fixes that provided relatively immediate relief versus longer-term broadband solutions designed for sustainable access. The study discerns such shorter-term fixes from longer-term solutions, while recognizing the value and complementary nature of both approaches.
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the significant stakes of the digital divide, with far too many Illinoisans lacking critical broadband access for remote learning, telehealth, or work from home opportunities. Understandably, the federal policy response focused on shorter-term broadband fixes that provided relatively immediate relief versus longer-term broadband solutions designed for sustainable access. The study discerns such shorter-term fixes from longer-term solutions, while recognizing the value and complementary nature of both approaches.
The Illinois Broadband Strategic Plan speaks to a comprehensive approach to eliminate the digital divide, including through ubiquitous broadband connectivity, access to at-home computers, and robust digital literacy programming. Study findings suggest that Illinois is on the right path, but much work remains:
According to the 2019 American Community Survey, over 285,000 Illinois households with school-aged children lack at-home wireline broadband service. This presents an urgent priority given the pandemic and reliance upon full-time remote learning.
The same ACS data indicates that over 1.1 million Illinois households do not have at-home access to a desktop or laptop computer.
The study confirms that the $400 million devoted to Connect Illinois grants is within the estimated range of what is needed to ensure universal broadband access throughout the state.
Finally, a word about study limitations. The study relies on available federal mapping, which is based upon data widely considered to be inaccurate, with certain limitations in granularity, timeliness, and accountability.