Goal No. 4: Every American community should have affordable access to at least 1 gigabit per second broadband
service to anchor institutions such as schools, hospitals and government buildings.
Schools, libraries and health care facilities must all have the connectivity they need to achieve their purposes. This connectivity can unleash innovation that improves the way we learn, stay healthy and interact with government.
If this plan succeeds, every American community will have affordable access to far better broadband performance than
they enjoy today. To do so, the plan makes recommendations about reforming the E-rate and the Rural Health Care support programs. Second, non-profit and public institutions should be able to find efficient alternatives for greater connectivity through aggregated efforts.
What’s more, unleashing the power of new broadband applications to solve previously intractable problems will drive new
connectivity demands. The plan makes numerous recommendations, including reforming incentive structures, licensing and
data interoperability, to ensure public priorities take advantage of the benefits broadband networks, applications and devices offer. If they are implemented, demand for connectivity in hospitals,schools, libraries and government buildings will soar.
In some communities, gigabit connectivity may not be limited to anchor institutions. Certain applications could
also require ultra-high-speed connectivity at home. And once community anchors are connected to gigabit speeds, it would
presumably become less expensive and more practical to get the same speeds to homes.