Latinos face high internet costs

By Vanessa Aramayo

17 Jul 2024, 17:59 PM EDT

Many Latinos are being left behind in the information revolution. They do not have access to adequate internet service to take advantage of the information essential to progress in the digital age. In my decades of work in Los Angeles, I have seen how the digital divide affects the Latino community here.

I have sat with committed parents and local community advocates who are unable to fully participate in civic life or pursue their goals due to unreliable internet service or are forced to make the difficult decision to cut off their service due to unaffordable rates.

Access to affordable, high-speed internet is essential to access education, health, public resources, and fully participate in economic opportunities, and many households lack internet, worsening the digital divide in minority and low-income communities.

This is digital discrimination. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) defined it as the practice of service providers treating their customers differently, without any technical or economic justification. For example, by giving different access to broadband internet based on income level, race, ethnicity, color, religion, or national origin or by purporting to have such differential impact. An investigation revealed how internet service providers in 38 cities across the country, including AT&T in Los Angeles, offered high-speed broadband connections for the same price as slow ones to different households in the same city in 2022.

In almost every case, lower-income and historically marginalized communities tended to receive disproportionately worse deals. In particular, low-income Californians pay more for worse service than those in wealthier communities. Lack of resources means there is no competition that forces Internet providers to compete on service and price.

The unequal treatment is on full display in Southeast Los Angeles (SELA) where the median household income is $40,292. High-speed service was offered at a higher price in SELA regions than in Cerritos and San Marino. In South Gate, rates were found to be different for the same service within a short distance of each other. In Vernon, very few households, less than 20%, have access to sufficient broadband to meet their basic needs. In Maywood, between 20% and 40% of households do not have access to broadband with download speeds of 100 mbps. In Huntington Park, 60% of households cannot afford comparable broadband.

At the same time, an analysis by the California Community Foundation noted that “people living in the poorest communities are not only routinely offered slower service at higher prices, but are offered contracts with worse terms and conditions,” referring to the provider in Charter Communications of Los Angeles. In 2023, SELA was also excluded from investments by the State of California to receive access to higher quality internet infrastructure, while high-income communities were given priority.

In light of this, ABC has begun working with the Digital Equity LA Coalition to help the cities of Bell Gardens, Commerce, Cudahy, Maywood and South Gate address digital discrimination by following in the footsteps of the city of Los Angeles, which in January became the first urban center in the United States to combat digital discrimination.

In Los Angeles, digital discrimination has been included in the category of discriminatory behavior that can be investigated by the city. Residents can file complaints with the city’s Department of Civil, Human Rights and Equity, which collects demographic data on complainants to report and assess trends.

Unfortunately, SELA cities do not have the necessary funds due to their size to create a structure like that of Los Angeles despite good intentions. This is resolved in Sacramento by recognizing the magnitude of the impact of digital discrimination in California where more than 2.5 million Latinos do not have fast access to the Internet.

For example, Democratic Assemblywoman Mia Bonta’s AB 2239 bill wants California to be the first state to adopt the FCC’s definition of digital discrimination, paving the way for state funding to address inequality. At the same time, community-wide engagement is needed to promote initiatives to combat digital discrimination, as the neighbors of Southeast Los Angeles did. There are experiences to share.

Los Angeles County has a role to play in raising awareness across the region and mobilizing other cities to act on their own motions. In this era, access to a fast internet connection is a must.

Everything is done through the computer. People learn, pay bills, communicate with their families, work, encourage community action, provide information to make their own decisions in a participatory democracy. Let us not allow digital service providers to turn Latino communities into information technology voids because they offer slow connections or prices that are different from those in other areas.