Originally posted on The Independent Data Center Alliance
Reliable Connectivity Still Remains an Issue, Even on School Grounds
According to the U.S. Education Department, the number of students who have enrolled in summer school exceeded the estimated 3.3 million from 2019, pre-pandemic. The soar of summer school enrollment results from over a year of unprecedented virtual learning with various disruptions and challenges. With COVID-19 causing a virtual shift in 2020, the demand for connectivity has skyrocketed, widening the digital divide and driving the need for reliable internet service which has become essential to everyday life.
During the pandemic, many students in the Midwest – especially those in underserved markets – had difficulties accessing a virtual education, causing challenges in communication with their peers and teachers due to unreliable internet connections. The digital divide has been an ongoing issue for many years, but recently we have seen a steep acceleration in service providers expanding their footprint and deploying connectivity to underserved communities to meet heightened demands.
Michael Morey, President & CEO of Bluebird Network, recently shared in a Telecom Ramblings interview that, “Industries most impacted [by COVID-19] are healthcare, government, education and more. It’s critical that these industries in underserved regions have access to strong connections with very low latency.”
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