What you should know
- With more and more people working from home and students learning remotely due to the pandemic, it has become apparent that there is a huge digital divide in various communities, including in New York City, where many do not have the Internet and they do. , they lack a reliable connection.
- Although it may seem like a new problem in the era of COVID-19, the digital disparity between communities dates back years. However, on Tuesday, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that after years, the city and Verizon reached an agreement that will require the telecommunications giant to build its Fios presence to reach an additional 500,000 households.
- The priority will be in the least connected communities.
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NEW YORK – With more and more people working from home and students learning remotely due to the pandemic, it has become apparent that there is a huge digital divide in various communities, including in New York City, where many do not have Internet And if they do, they lack a reliable connection.
Although it may seem like a new problem in the era of COVID-19, the digital disparity between communities dates back years. However, on Tuesday, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that after years, the city and Verizon reached an agreement that will require the telecommunications giant to build its Fios presence to reach an additional 500,000 households, with a priority on less connected communities.
“After a lot of work by many city agencies, we reached an agreement that will require Verizon to develop its Fios presence to now reach an additional 500,000 homes here in New York City,” de Blasio said. “This will be a requirement of this agreement … priority will be given to the communities that have been the most underserved and there is a specific guarantee that every building and public housing, every NYCHA building, will be reached with this service as part of this Fios footprint. “.
New York City corporation attorney Jim Johnson said the proceedings against Verizon began in 2014 because the company “had not complied with the terms of its cable franchise agreement that was signed during the Bloomberg administration. And the point of that was to build outside their network. But the City’s goal is to make sure the digital divide is closed. So we brought this case and now we’ve solved it so that more New Yorkers have access to this vital tool. “
Johnson said the resolution between the two parties “could not be more timely” given that the current health crisis “has only underscored how critical this need is. We need to reach out to family members, children need to study “.
According to Johnson, the neighborhoods hardest hit by COVID-19 will gain the most from the announced deal. These communities, Johnson said, have low household incomes and the fewest options, sometimes without internet provider options.
“At a minimum, Verizon will make connections available for an additional 125,000 homes in those community districts, just in those community districts,” Johnson said. “Most importantly, overall, the agreement ensures that half a million households that previously lacked access to Verizon broadband due to their corporate inability to invest in infrastructure will now have the option of fiber broadband.” .
The City Council revealed key findings amalgamating the city’s Department of Education’s remote learning attendance data, which it received in response to a subpoena issued last month.
Johnson also noted that the agreement ensures transparency, with terms requiring Verizon to report quarterly on its progress. In addition, the city plans to make the list of eligible households public so that people know when services will arrive in their part of their community.
In a statement to our sister network NBC 4 New York, Verizon spokesperson Rich Young said: “We are grateful for the opportunity to bring Verizon Fios service to an additional 500,000 New York City consumers. Currently, about 2.5 millions of New York City homes and businesses benefit from Fios. This agreement builds on the foundation of Verizon and will make this world-class broadband service available to even more consumers. “
“We have had a digital divide,” said the mayor. “We’ve had a huge disparity of who has access to the Internet, who doesn’t. Who gets fast, reliable broadband service, who doesn’t. Who can pay for it, who doesn’t. But we increasingly understand that we have to create a society in the everyone has the same access. “
De Blasio went on to say that “it has taken a lot of work and there has been a real struggle here and some real challenges. But we have reached a point where something real and tangible is going to happen for people, particularly working people and people who are has been left out [de los servicios]”.
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