Comcast Touts "Internet Essentials" Initiative To Boost Broadband Adoption

Comcast Corp. on Monday launched an ambitious program it says will help bridge the digital divide.

Dubbed "Internet Essentials, the program will give low-cost Internet access to 317,000 low-income families in metro Atlanta for $9.95 per month.

To be eligible, a family must be in a Comcast service region and have at least one child who qualifies for a free school lunch under the National School Lunch Program.

Comcast executives, along with Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, Gov. Nathan Deal and other state legislators, unveiled the project at in East Lake Monday.

Officials said the initiative comes from a desire to overcome three significant barriers to broadband adoption:

• Lack of knowledge in the Internet's relevance
• Computer costs
• Internet costs

To address that, Comcast, the nation's largest cable provider, brought the price down from about $40 month — roughly what the company charges per month for basic unbundled service — to $9.95.

The company also will give those Internet Essentials customers a voucher for $149.99 to purchase laptops through vendors such as Acer Inc. and Dell Inc.

And it will offer free digital literacy training in the various communities, such as East Lake, so that parents and children who don't have computers or web access understand how those tools can help them.

"In those three ways, low-cost service, low-cost computer ands free digital literacy training, we think we attack each of the major barriers to broadband adoption, and really have an opportunity to move the needle," Cohen said.

Citing a 2010 Pew Research Center report that suggests household income is a big factor in access and usage, he said Internet Essentials will help bring economically disadvantaged kids closer to their upper-income counterparts.

"When you look at the the demographic makeup of well-to-do communities that don't have a broadband adoption program, they tend to be more white as well as more high-income," said Cohen, who echoed the United Nations in saying Internet access is a 21st Century civil rights issue.

Neighborhoods such as Buckhead or Midtown boast broadband adoption rates of 50 to 80 percent, Cohen said. But in East Lake and Pittsburgh in Southwest Atlanta, those adoption rates are 10 to 15 percent.

"When you look at lower-income communities that don't have the same broadband adoption rates, they're disproportionately populated by people of color and non-English speakers," he said.

Deal, the governor, said the initiative will help strengthen education and raze barriers.

"We've all known for a very long time that education is the great equalizer," Deal said.

"It overcomes low-income families, it overcomes all of the separation geographically of parts of our state and our country. It is the one thing that can move children forward."