GPS and garbage trucks: Mapping digital divides in U.S. cities
By Sarah Wray – Addressing the digital divide has become a top priority for cities around the world as COVID-19 has forced study, work and socializing online.
City leaders are increasingly recognizing the opportunity that remote work and technology can offer their citizens and local economy – as long as the right infrastructure is in place.
During a digital roundtable in a series organized by consulting company Ignite Cities and advocacy group the National League of Cities (NLC), Adrian Perkins, Mayor of Shreveport, and Alejandra Sotelo-Solis, Mayor of National City, detailed how closing the digital divide means not only getting residents connected but also helping them upskill for a changing job market. Perkins said:
“If our low-income communities don’t have access to reliable internet, you are cutting them off in so many ways,” including opportunities for remote work, high-paying jobs and educational tools.
He noted that mayors must work alongside the private sector and foster partnerships to close the divide but that leveraging public assets is also key.
“[Telecom companies] are private corporations and they have pushed for their bottom lines and people that could most afford [connectivity],” Perkins added.
“If you are a mayor that hasn’t started to yet work on the public side, on the public fibre that’s available and pushing your public agenda when it comes to bridging the digital divide, you are behind the power curve.” more>
Related>
- Appy Saude: The Angolan e-health start-up unlocking accessible healthcare
- ITU wins engagement award for online meetings and participation
- Digital inclusion of all [VIDEO]
- Two low-tech solutions making healthcare strides in Tanzania
- Technology and older persons: Ageing in the digital era, Malcolm Johnson
- ITU News Magazine – World Radio Day 2021
- Here’s how we can avoid an AI divide in healthcare
- The Road to Addis: Forging new alliances to bring Internet access to all
- Celebrating the resilience of radio, Mario Maniewicz
- What do space science radiocommunications have to do with me? Catherine Sham
- A Regulatory Framework for Automated Driving: the Value of in-use Data for Creating a no-blame Culture of Safety – AI for GOOD Webinars
By Artur Kwiatkowski – Originally, part of its promise was about commercials: it offered a more attractive cost structure for the enterprise WAN. This was to result from increased reliance on cheap underlying network transport technologies (e.g. dedicated internet access services rather than MPLS). What has proved more transformational, however – especially in European markets where price deltas for underlay services were not that great in the first place – is the increased control that enterprises gain with SD-WAN bundles over the performance of their networks, and the ability to decouple the overlay (management and policy) function from the underlay (transport) function.
By Kailem Anderson – As we watched the standard come together, 5G set some lofty expectations in terms of performance gains that 5G networks will deliver to users over 4G. These included things like 10 to 100 times faster speeds, 1000 times the bandwidth, support for 10 to 100 times more devices, 99.999% availability, and latency as low as 1 millisecond.
Ciena – The cable industry is deploying Distributed Access Architectures (DAA) and extending fiber closer to the customer as we move toward 10G. Does this mean the cable industry is well positioned for edge compute – moving compute and storage closer to the edge? What are the drivers, use cases, challenges, and investment areas as we evaluate moving to edge compute? These are some of the questions Broadband Success Partners discussed recently with executives at cable operators in North America.
By Daniele Loffreda – As teachers and administrators strive to improve student performance and graduation rates, they’re increasingly leveraging new Educational Technology (EdTech) to deliver a higher quality learning experience. Digital applications such as streaming video, mixed-reality, gamification, and online global collaboration enable a “learning beyond the classroom walls” environment.
ITU – The ITU Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) has recently published Recommendation ITU-R M.2150 titled ‘Detailed specifications of the radio interfaces of IMT-2020’.
By Jürgen Hatheier – Several recent headlines about 
By Kaitlyn Tiffany – For decades, multilevel-marketing companies had it easy. Cutco knives, Tupperware containers, and Pampered Chef bread mixes were inoffensive products sold at weeknight wine parties and, later, in themed Facebook groups. For the most part, they were an unremarkable part of 
By Kailem Anderson – What is Network as a Service (
Knowledge@Wharton – What question motivated you to do this research?
