Cablefax The Magazine - September 2021 - 20

Independent Digital Equity Award
Hotwire engineers volunteered time to provide technical
assistance at an ECF event in North Carolina where
students were given free laptops, digital literacy training
and internet connections.
Hotwire Communications
is taking a long-range approach to
bridging broadband chasms.
As if it couldn't get more pressing, the digital divide barreled to the
forefront during a year when remote work and schooling became the
norm. For Hotwire, which provides fiber-to-the-home in states including
North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and California, an
already powerful resolve to create digital equity evolved even further.
In April 2020, the company established the Empowering Communities
Foundation as a charitable arm to bridge the digital divide in underserved
communities. Hotwire CEO Kristin Johnson serves as board chair.
In partnership with Truist Bank, which provided an initial investment
of $1.5 million, and Dell, which provided thousands of Chromebooks,
the work began with free internet installation, laptops and a community
digital literacy program in three locations in Philadelphia,
North Carolina and South Florida. As well as delivering families full
broadband services, laptops and school supplies, the foundation
created a Home Page program that serves as a hub for academic
assets, " brain break " activities and parent resources.
" We picked places that were very much broadband deserts, " says
Jonathan Bullock, Hotwire EVP of corporate development & government.
" We have a municipal fiber arrangement with the city of Salisbury,
N.C., but there's a community adjacent to it that's a very low
income, historically minority community-so we knew there was a
need next door. In the Miami area, there are some migrant camps in
Homestead, Florida, that are run by the housing authority that didn't
have any internet at all. "
20
CablefaxTopOps.com
The program is already a bona fide success, with more installations
on the way. But Bullock emphasizes it is still early days on the long
road to sustainable digital equity.
" We have a long way to go, " he says, sharing a key company mantra:
" Quit relying on technology that's not going to support the longterm
economic development. You don't have economic development
without broadband infrastructure. And make sure you're there for
the long term. The job training, with community association support
and local government support-those are really important to digital
literacy and broadband. You can't just hook up a few megs of internet
so a kid can get on a Zoom call. It needs to be more than that. "
To that end, Hotwire recently hired an executive dedicated to helping
identify prospects for job training and partnerships to bridge community
economic development.
Also key to Hotwire's work are public-private partnerships. It currently
has partnerships with the governments of Salisbury and
Highlands, N.C., where there is a fiber pipeline to every home.
" It's a big piece of the future for us, " he says. " A city can have a
20-year return on fiber deployment, and a private company can't
sustain that. But a private company can operate on a network that's
run by a city and that way they can join together. "
Bullock says outreach from community organizations looking for
various ways to partner continues to ratchet up, " whether it's actual
funding for infrastructure, digital inclusion or digital literacy. Everyone
wants to be a part of this, " he notes.
Hotwire also continues to provide one-off internet installations
that are making a difference in communities every day. It recently
equipped Lotus House, one of the largest women's shelters in the
Miami area, with free broadband. Last October, it partnered with the
Marley Family Foundation to provide broadband access to the Cornerstone
Learning Center in Trenchtown, Jamaica, where the entire
community lives below the poverty line.
" We're out there working in one small town after the other, " Bullock
says. " It's not necessarily the big places. We are where there is
need, all the time. It's huge work for us, and these are not one-off
projects. " - Cathy Applefeld Olson
FAST FACTS
 Since its founding 20 years ago, Hotwire
Communications has been responsible for
connecting more than 500 communities across
the country with high-speed internet.
Blackstone announced a significant
investment in Hotwire in April 2021.
 Hotwire introduced gigabit internet service in
2012, and launched 10-gig service in 2018.
September 2021
Cablefax Top Ops
http://www.CablefaxTopOps.com
Cablefax The Magazine - September 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Cablefax The Magazine - September 2021
