Microsoft president says broadband connectivity is ‘the electricity of our age’

Microsoft President Brad Smith and Axios co-founder Mike Allen talk broadband in a live-streamed interview. (Axios livestream)

Microsoft President Brad Smith again made the case for the urgent need for broadband internet access to reach America’s rural communities, comparing connectivity to a utility as important as electricity.

In a live-streamed interview Thursday with Axios co-founder Mike Allen, Smith noted that quick internet speeds are the key to everything from remote learning, telehealth and small business growth.

“Even post-COVID, the importance of the broadband gap is not going abate one bit,” he said. “It will remain just as important to our future as it is right now.”

 Even post COVID the importance of the broadband gap is not going abate one bit.

Smith and Allen talked about some of Microsoft’s initiatives to improve access, including efforts in rural Ferry County in Northeast Washington state and in Charlotte, N.C., the site of the current Republican National Convention. The conversation about broadband was part of an RNC-pegged event and included interviews between Allen, U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California, and Frank Luntz, a GOP strategist.

Smith shared details about the Washington broadband project, which taps unused spectrum from TVs and pairs it with a receiving device that allows for WiFi at the speed of broadband.

Roughly half of Washington households have access to fast broadband, according to the state’s broadband office, as reported this month by the Seattle Times. As students are returning to school, a lack of internet connection puts some kids at a disadvantage.

“Right now you can’t go to school virtually in an effective way if you don’t have access to broadband and you don’t have access to a good computing device,” Smith said.

Microsoft has made broadband expansion a focus area for the corporation, including its Microsoft Airband Initiative. Smith blogged about the issue in May, including calls for federal policy changes.

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