Threats to Digital Equity Act Programs Will Leave Veterans Disconnected

Passed in 2021 as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the Digital Equity Act established three grant programs to help close the digital divide by facilitating broadband adoption, implementing digital skills training programs, making internet-connected devices more available, and creating and improving public access computing centers.

State broadband offices have spent over three years working on plans to close the digital divide among eight “covered populations,” including veterans. Now, the Trump Administration is slowing the process of getting resources promised to the states. For many Veterans, this will mean longer time spent without adequate or affordable broadband, a lack of access to digital skills training, and fewer opportunities to reap the benefits of telehealth services.

Veterans in the Divide

In 2019, the Federal Communications Commission found that 2.2 million Veteran households lacked access to fixed broadband, mobile broadband, or both. The FCC also found that Veterans are more likely than non-veterans to cite a lack of a computer (or an inadequate computer) as their primary barrier to broadband adoption. Veterans are also more likely than non-Veteran to live in rural areas. A quarter of Veterans nationwide live in rural areas, resulting in many of them lacking access to high-quality broadband infrastructure.

Older Veterans, aged 65 and over, are less likely to possess digital skills. Programs at the U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), like the Digital Divide Consult Program and Veteran Employment Through Technology Education Courses (VET TEC), help older Veterans to access resources like the Federal Communications Commission’s Lifeline Program, receive a connected device, or access high-level digital skills workforce training.

In 2023, the U.S. Census Bureau found that 15.8 million Americans identified as Veterans. In 2024, as the FCC’s Affordable Connectivity Program sunset due to a lack of funding from Congress, over 1 million Veterans lost the $30 subsidy for broadband service. The program, which a recent study by Brattle found to have paid for itself, eased the affordability barrier for Veterans across the country.

• Alaska’s plan identifies that Veterans in the Last Frontier have an amplified need for connectivity to maintain social cohesion, as many of their family and friends live in the contiguous United States.

The Digital Equity Act Helps States Close the Digital Divide

For Veterans Day 2024, the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society and the Department of Veterans Affairs analyzed 50 digital equity plans to understand how states planned to help bring online the people who have served in the armed services.

We laid out five key strategies adopted by states that have thoughtfully addressed Veterans in their digital equity plans:

1. Link needs assessments to implementation strategies.

Most state digital equity plans followed the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) model guidance to include both a needs assessment and implementation strategy for all covered populations. We found that the best plans tied these efforts together in an intentional manner.  

Approximately 83 percent of individuals in the US fall into at least one covered population. Many individuals are a part of more than one covered population. Unfortunately, populations with considerable overlap were sometimes treated as one in the planning process. We found that the states that were intentional about examining each covered population as unique groups ended up with more coherent implementation strategies. Minnesota carefully separates Veterans from other covered populations, treating “Veterans as Veterans rather than Veterans as a subset of older adults.” New York’s plan connects each of its implementation strategies for serving Veterans to a specific need.

2. Leverage other state and federal agencies.

State digital equity plans recognize the importance of coordinating with other federal and state agencies. Coordination is especially important when planning to serve and providing services to Veterans, as there are agencies like the Veterans Affairs and state departments of Veterans Services already providing services to Veterans.

Virginia’s plan places an emphasis on the resources available to Veterans from both the Department of Veterans Affairs and the State Department of Veterans Services.

3. Identify specific standout partners.

There is a vast network of over 7,000 veteran service organizations throughout the country. The Benton Institute’s recent Human Infrastructure of Broadband project analyzed a database of over 250 organizations that provide direct service to access broadband and digital skills resources. Of these, 92 serve Veterans.

Exemplary state digital equity plans were thorough in identifying the trusted Veterans service organizations that operate in the states. These organizations will be vital partners for implementing state digital equity strategies. These partners can be government organizations, national non-profits (like the Wounded Warrior Project), regional non-profits (like the Alaska Warrior Partnership), or even local branches of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW).

• The Kansas Office of Broadband Development  concisely identified the needs of Kansan Veterans and highlighted the top Veteran service organizations to meet those needs.

4. Design a workforce strategy for Veterans.

Many state plans found that Veterans may be an untapped resource to close workforce gaps in industries such as semi-conductor manufacturing and cybersecurity. Veterans, especially younger Veterans, are likely to have received on-the-job training that directly or indirectly prepares them for these fields.

However, identifying Veterans as an asset to closing workforce gaps is not enough. To maximize impact, states created implementation strategies that direct Veterans to the industries in which they are likely to succeed based on their experience. In addition to more advanced workforce training programs, foundational digital skills training should be available to all Veterans who need it.

• Utah, understanding the importance of workforce development strategies for Veterans, created an entirely separate planning document to address the issue.

5. Prioritize access to health care.

The Veteran population has complex medical needs compared to non-veterans. Most states acknowledged that Veterans, especially rural Veterans, are positioned to benefit from telehealth access. The Department of Veterans Affairs offers a range of telehealth services to its patients.

The VA promotes telehealth use through its Accessing Telehealth through Local Area Stations (ATLAS) program, which places telehealth access points in community locations such as VFW and American Legion posts. However, broadband infrastructure, broadband affordability, and digital skills gaps prevent many Veterans from accessing these services.

State digital equity plans recorded and addressed these challenges according to the unique needs of their Veteran populations.

• New Mexico’s plan examined the correlations between broadband access & adoption and health & social outcomes. In New Mexico, the challenges Veterans face in obtaining in-person healthcare are exacerbated by New Mexico’s high number of rural areas. To increase access to telehealth resources, the New Mexico Department of Veterans Services provides access points at all of its 16 offices across the state.

States March Towards Connecting Veterans

State offices of broadband have gone to great lengths to design strategies for directing resources from the Digital Equity Act to meet the specific needs of their Veteran populations. The above summaries are snippets of documents which represent years of work to understand how the Digital Equity Act can best serve Veterans; thousands of hours of interviews, hundreds of thousands of survey responses, and many rounds of curing with the NTIA resulted in each state’s plan to meet those needs.

Plans Under Fire

These strategies will help eradicate the digital divide for Veterans across the country—if the Trump NTIA allows states to implement them.

At the start of 2025, the NTIA recommended awards totaling hundreds of millions of dollars to support organizations that serve all eight covered populations, including Veterans.

However, prominent Republicans, including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), have raised opposition to the Digital Equity Act. Cruz’s state is home to nearly 1.5 million Veterans, the most in the nation, all of whom would stand to benefit from Digital Equity Act-funded programs.