A decade after launching a discounted Internet service for low-income and disadvantaged students and households to help win regulatory approval of its merger with NBC Universal, Comcast announced Wednesday it will invest another $1 billion in the next 10 years to broaden the reach of its Internet Essentials program to help close the digital divide between those who can and cannot afford broadband internet service at home.
Comcast, the nation’s biggest cable TV provider, said Internet Essentials has grown since its launch in 2011 to provide internet service to more than 10 million American households, including service to an estimated 48,000 persons in the Chattanooga area and over 500,000 people across Tennessee.
Comcast’s Internet Essentials provides internet service to qualified households for only $9.95 a month, plus the option of buying an internet-ready computer for less than $150.
Comcast said the extra investment it will put in the program over the next decade will include additional support for its ongoing Lift Zone initiative, which is projected to establish WiFi-connected spaces in over 1,000 community centers nationwide for students and adults to access free internet service by the end of this year. Comcast will also continue to buy new laptop computers for eligible persons and provide grants for nonprofit community organizations such as Tech Goes Home in Chattanooga, which helps train individuals in how to use computers and the internet.
Comcast estimates that these new commitments will impact as many as 50 million Americans in the next 10 years.