Microtelcos and the Digital Divide in CA

Advisor: Hernan Galperin (Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism)
Students: Asjad Asif Jah , Jonathan Gonzalez

Description

The COVID-19 pandemic has reinvigorated calls to close the digital divide in the US and elsewhere. Without adequate Internet access, households are at a disadvantage in education, jobs, health, and other key dimensions of wellbeing. While local broadband markets are increasingly concentrated, there is also increased interest in exploring the role those small local operators (“microtelcos”) can play in serving in low-income and rural communities. These microtelcos range from small wireless cooperatives to mom-and-pop private ISPs to municipal-backed operators. This project seeks to a) map and identify the characteristics of communities where microtelcos are present in CA, and b) to examine whether microtelcos presence affects broadband service quality and adoption by businesses and households in the community. The project will use broadband deployment data collected by the CPUC (California Public Utilities Commission) and socioeconomic data from the Census Bureau.

Awards

  • Best Data Science Poster Award

Students

Advisors

Skills Required by the team

  • Statistics
  • GIS
  • Econometrics
Spring 2021 Featured Best Data Science Poster Award Ethics/Equity