Today marks an important opportunity to celebrate the contribution and innovation that Wi-Fi brings to our daily lives. At a deeper level, World Wi-Fi Day and the Wireless Broadband Alliance shine a light on the digital divide and embrace an important charter to “connect the unconnected.”
Taking a closer look at the U.S., the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) reports that one in five American households (24 million) are offline. At an average of 2.5 people per household, the number without home broadband could be close to 60 million. Pew Research Center has also reported these troubling numbers, with nearly half (43%) of low-income households not having a home broadband subscription. Millions from this unconnected population reside in multifamily housing and are unable to connect due to lack of technology infrastructure or cost.
Fortunately, $65 billion have been allocated to the pursuit of “Internet for all” over the next decade. These new laws and government investments are driven by a stance that every American needs high-speed access to “work, learn and compete in a 21st-century economy.”
This problem isn’t unique to America: the World Bank reported in 2021 that around 37% of households worldwide (approximately 3.5 billion people) do not have internet access.
For multifamily owners and operators, this is an important reminder that now is the time to invest in connectivity. In addition to federal funding, state-level investments are also helping bring connectivity to older buildings or residents who can’t afford service. California, for example, created a Broadband Public Housing Account within its Advanced Services Fund that provides grants and loans for providing free broadband services to housing developments for low-income residents. This funding will enable property owners and management companies to offer reliable connectivity to tenants.
At Nomadix, we have focused on creating reliable and solid networks over the past 25 years and support the mission of the Wireless Broadband Alliance to connect the unconnected. We will continue to build secure, reliable technology to help bring more people online wherever they live, work or travel. To learn more about our Multifamily technology offerings, please visit: https://nomadix.com/multi-tenant/.