QUILT, a Chicago nonprofit focused on growing opportunities in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods, will license that reserve on the ComEd utility fiber network, to provide affordable broadband on Chicago’s South and West sides.
The initiative is part of what’s known as Broadband Access for Brighter Futures and is enabled by a $14.6 million federal grant to ComEd from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the U.S. Department of Commerce. The funding will be used to finance infrastructure investments, ComEd officials said.
The expansion of broadband availability via the ComEd network, announced last week, will increase competition and help to raise Internet speeds in roughly two dozen neighborhoods with some of the lowest levels of Internet access in the Chicago metropolitan area, said QUILT CEO Dwayne Douglas.
“Access to ComEd’s fiber infrastructure is a game-changer,” Douglas said via email. “By using this excess capacity, we’re creating an open-access middle-mile network that will allow more providers to serve these communities, ensuring residents have access to affordable, high-speed Internet. This infrastructure will form the backbone of our network, which will significantly enhance connectivity in underserved areas.”
Today, about 30 percent of households in the South and West sides of Chicago fall into a combination of scenarios where they may lack high-speed Internet, can’t afford Internet access or are forced to rely solely on mobile data plans, the CEO said.
“This creates a significant digital divide, particularly in comparison to more affluent parts of the city where high-speed Internet is widely available,” he said.
A report released in April by the Vernonburg Group, Achieving Internet for All: Socioeconomics and Fixed Broadband Availability in the U.S., found broadband infrastructure fairly available across metro areas, regardless of the socioeconomic differences among neighborhoods. However, the quality of the infrastructure was not consistent across richer and poorer neighborhoods, the research found; and in Chicago, fiber was much more prevalent in wealthier neighborhoods. In fact, higher income areas on the North Shore had almost 100 percent fiber coverage, while lower-income areas “have very little fiber availability,” according to the report.
“In a place like Chicago, fiber-based infrastructure has not been deployed in areas which are lower income, and also happen to coincide with the places that are majority African American and Hispanic,” Paul Garnett, founder and CEO of the Vernonburg Group, said during a panel in April. The discussion was organized by Broadband Breakfast, a policy and advocacy group.
Similarly, these same areas often lack competition among Internet service providers.
“Residents typically have just one or two options for Internet providers — primarily Comcast and AT&T,” Douglas said, citing research from the National Digital Inclusion Alliance showing broadband plans in underserved areas are 20 percent to 40 percent more expensive than those in better-connected regions. “The lack of competition drives up prices, making it difficult for many households to afford high-speed plans.”
The open access middle-mile project enabled by the ComEd network will help to encourage more service providers to enter these markets, industry watchers said. QUILT is working in partnership with Node Network, an Internet service provider in Chicago, to offer subsidies to qualifying households. By doing so, Douglas said, the nonprofit expects to be able to offer broadband services at rates 30 percent to 40 percent below market price in the neighborhoods.
“Broadband access is no longer a luxury,” he said. “It’s a necessity for education, employment, and health care. Our goal with Broadband Access for Brighter Futures is to make sure everyone, no matter where they live, has access to affordable, high-speed Internet, the tools [you] need for self-empowerment in the digital age.”
