Bridging the digital divide requires public and private stakeholders to meet in the middle and work closely together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s exactly what happened at a groundbreaking ceremony in Reno, Nevada. The event was a celebratory kick-off for the Oregon-California-Nevada middle mile project<\/a>, which will extend high-capacity connectivity to rural, underserved communities across a 420-mile route, enabling local ISPs to expand their operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Zayo joined key public stakeholders from the federal and state levels in Reno.. They all came together to discuss the digital divide, and why it can never be closed without public-private partnerships. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Over 40 million<\/a> Americans still lack home access to broadband Internet service, particularly in rural, remote, and sparsely populated areas. Reliable high-speed broadband is essential to life in the U.S. today, enabling virtual healthcare, remote work, online job searches, and digital learning, according to a sweeping 2023 research report<\/a> by the Pew Charitable Trust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the Reno event, a key federal representative said bridging this digital divide is crucial to ensuring a more equitable and inclusive future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe pandemic put this dichotomy front and center. All of a sudden we realized if you didn\u2019t have access to high-speed Internet, it made life digitally inequitable compared to those who live in more urban areas,\u201d said Sarah Bleau, director of the Middle Mile Program at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). <\/p>\n\n\n\n This digital divide is hurting economic growth. The World Bank estimates<\/a> that increasing broadband penetration by just 10 percentage points can boost real per capita GDP by as much as 1.2%. (That\u2019s actually a big deal, since America\u2019s per capita GDP grew by 2%<\/a> in all of 2023<\/em>.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n For rural communities, reliable, affordable broadband:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s critically important both to solve the digital divide and then to build the engine of economic development going forward,\u201d Andr\u00e9s Irlando, President and COO of Zayo Group, told the audience at the Reno groundbreaking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Why not close the gap by just building out broadband networks? <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe asked ISPs why they can\u2019t go ahead and serve underserved locations in Nevada and elsewhere. And they said the fiber backhaul didn\u2019t exist or it was completely unaffordable. So for us, we knew the middle mile had to be a big part of our solution,\u201d said Brian Mitchell, Director of the Governor\u2019s Office of Science, Innovation and Technology at the Nevada State Broadband Office. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The middle mile connects the backbone of a broadband network to the \u2018last mile\u2019 between an ISP and customer. As Irlando explained in Reno, \u201cif you don\u2019t solve for the middle mile, forget talking about the last mile. There is no last mile without the middle mile.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n But building, installing and maintaining brand new infrastructure takes an incredible amount of planning, time, and money. In rural areas, lower population and user density make it hard for commercial ISPs to justify the cost of building new infrastructure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Irlando pointed out that Zayo\u2019s \u201cDigital Equity Access Network (DEAN) is our architecture for making this all profitable for ISPs.\u201d DEAN gives ISPs a plug-and-play way to connect to Zayo\u2019s middle mile networks, plus pre-provisioned, dedicated fiber backhaul at competitive prices. All of that lowers the cost for ISPs to build out desperately needed middle mile networks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Getting access to public and private land, plus zoning approvals and permits, adds to the uphill battle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s where public-private partnerships come in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Collaboration between the public and private sectors helps middle mile projects get built faster and more efficiently. State agencies bring their unique knowledge of regional terrain and local regulatory standards to the table, all while ensuring public accountability for things like environmental impact, sustainability and community goals. Private sector partners like Zayo bring unique technical expertise to these projects, saving time, resources and precious tax dollars. Some private sector partners contribute excess capacity so the state doesn\u2019t have to build all middle mile infrastructure from scratch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPublic-private partnerships have been critical to our strategy and our ability to help play a role in solving the digital divide,\u201d Irlando said. <\/p>\n\n\n\nThe digital divide<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Broadband fuels the economy<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The middle mile is critical<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Public-private partnerships <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n