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Latinos and the Information Superhighway
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Date: Wed, 26 Oct 1994 14:39:33 -0400
From: johnstom@CGS.EDU
To: Multiple recipients of list
THE TOMAS RIVERA CENTER POLICY BRIEF SEPTEMBER 1994
Latinos and the Information Superhighway by Anne Larson and Anthony Wilhelm, Research Associates
In the ongoing debate over telecommunication policy, the enthusiasm fostered by technological innovation and uncharted electronic territory often overshadows important policy questions. No longer an abstract concept, the information superhighway is already bringing technological advances to the mainstream. What remains uncertain are the ramifications of this fast paced development for the Latino community. Will the highway create advantages for our nation's youngest median age population? Can sophisticated and expensive technology be made available to a community with significant segments of working poor? Will the policies of the 1990s allow Latinos to prepare for technological survival in the 21st century? The social impact of radical technological advancement must be addressed in the policy decisions aimed at both controlling and fostering communications development. This policy brief is designed to address the issues affecting the Latino community as existing telecommunications policy is overhauled. Harry P. Pachon, Ph.D. President, The Tomas Rivera Center
LATINOS IN THE AGE OF INFORMATION
By the year 2050, Latinos will constitute over 20 percent of the nation's population. Today, Latinos are the second largest cultural group in the United States and the youngest, having a median age of 26.7 years compared to 33.6 years for non-Latinos. Currently, 29.3 percent of Latinos live under the poverty level (The Hispanic Population in the United States: March 1993, U.S. Bureau of the Census), while the percentage of low income Latino households with telephones is well below the national average of 94.2 percent. These statistics suggest that the development and education of low-income persons is crucial for America's future. There are also demographic factors unique to the Latino community. For example, nearly three-fourths (71 percent) of Hispanic-origin immigrants who arrived in the U.S. before 1983 usually speak Spanish at home, while 38 percent say they usually read Spanish newspapers (The National Latino Immigrant Survey, NALEO, 1989). Socio-economic disadvantages and linguistic differences place Latinos in a unique position in the technological age. Unless Latinos have access to information technology, many will be barred from the information highway -- as consumers, as producers of information, and as political participants. In a market driven highway, the balance between treatment of information as a commodity, and treatment of information as a resource of political and social value, is much harder to maintain.
UNIVERSAL SERVICE AND OPEN ACCESS
Traditionally, universal service has meant promoting the notion that the telephone network should serve everyone. For those who could not afford access to a telephone, a rate structure was devised to offer subsidies to low-income households. Besides the issue of affordability, there has been concern for open access. Open access has two dimensions. First, access involves whether households will achieve open connections with libraries, schools, businesses, and government institutions. Secondly, access means having the "know-how" to use information tools like computers. An individual or a school may have a computer donated by industry, but without the training and education needed to navigate the channels of information, its value will be limited. How will Latinos access the information superhighway given that many are limited English proficient? Will schools in low-income and minority communities integrate "PC literacy" into the curriculum to prepare students for the competition of the 21st century? How will poor Latinos be able to afford this new equipment? These basic questions must be answered to ensure that Latinos can afford and make use of the information highway. While technology has the potential to support democratic principles, without a guiding social contract the highway may further separate our already segmented society.
OVERVIEW OF ONGOING POLICY INITIATIVES
Rapid developments in communications technology have generated a wealth of initiatives among federal and state policymakers. Many of the advanced communications services now being tested have the potential to benefit all sectors of society as long as policymakers address equity issues. For example some recipients of AFDC, food stamps, SSI, and Medicaid can already receive their benefits electronically by using a "smart card" to make financial transactions without the inconvenience and expense of the paper- based system. To ensure that other basic services will be similarly available to all persons -- perhaps even in the home -- telecommunications policy must be overhauled to address the dynamic changes occurring in the market.
FEDERAL POLICY BRIEF
The push from The White House: In his 1994 State of the Union Address, President Clinton called for legislation to jump-start the National Information Infrastructure (NII). In late January 1994, the Clinton Administration released its "white paper" calling for reform of existing telecommunications policy. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is the agency promoting the President's call for reform. The NTIA's goals include encouraging the efficient development of new technologies like fiber optics and wireless communications while also advocating the widespread availability of advanced services to schools and other public institutions. Larry Irving, the director of the NTIA, is concerned that traditionally underserved groups will fall further behind the pace of technological advancement unless public policy seriously addresses the issue of universal service.
The Los Angeles Hearings:
On February 16, 1994 the NTIA held a Universal Service Hearing in Los Angeles at which Larry Irving remarked that the NII could "help build communities and deliver much needed services," such as health, education, and job training services. Yet among the Latino participants at the hearings, there was concern that minorities were not being included on the front-end of the policy debate over the design of the NII. These concerns were echoed at the May 13 Sunnyvale hearings on universal access. Without a working knowledge of the information needs of the Latino community, it is difficult to imagine how services being designed will address Latino needs.
Towards a Communications Act:
In June, the House responded to the President's initiative by passing two bills (subsequently merged as HR 3626) that made up the Communications Act of 1994. HR 3636 (Markey-Fields) opened local telephone service to competition, including cable operators. The bill also authorized the FCC to establish a Federal-State Joint Board that will make recommendations on preserving low-cost services to the poor. HR 3626 (Brooks- Dingel) permitted local telephone companies to provide long- distance telephone services. The debate over telecommuni-cation reform continued in the Senate as S.1822 (Hollings-Danforth). Companies that provide local telephone service, the Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs), continued to argue that they can provide new services like movies-on-demand only if they have instant access to the long-distance market. But Senator Hollings countered that local telephone companies should not be permitted to use their monopoly power to corner the long-distance market. The Senate's version of the Communications Act met several roadblocks toward final passage, and died September 23 on the Senate floor. Debate will continue in the new Congress.
LEGISLATIVE INITIATIVES IN CALIFORNIA
California stands out as a state that connects improvements in social welfare and education to the development of an advanced telecommunications infrastructure. Both the governor and the legislature promote the rapid deployment of an advanced telecommunications system to make California more competitive and to expand opportunities for children in the classroom. The California legislature has directed the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to determine a public interest strategy, concerned that new technologies benefit residents equitably. Senate Bill 600, signed into law in 1993, requires the PUC to establish a task force on telecommunications network infrastructure to determine a delivery system for schools, libraries and health care institutions. AB 1289 states that California's telecommunication policy ought to promote economic growth, job creation, and other social benefits.
OBSTACLES TO INFORMATION EQUITY
Congressman Bill Richardson, a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, has stated that "the biggest beneficiary of the information highway will be our democracy." Public policy can close the gap between information "haves" and "have-nots." But there are still obstacles to overcome before essential information and communication services will advantage the Latino community:
* The Center For Media Education (CME) and the Consumer
Federation of America (CFA) recently completed research on the RBOCs' proposals to provide video dialtone to several communities. These groups found evidence of "electronic redlining" -- i.e. bypassing or underrepresenting certain communities in the development of the information superhighway on the basis of income, race, or ethnicity;
* Relatively few Latinos occupy key decision-making
positions in the broadcast and cable industries. Although Hispanics constitute about 8.1 percent of the national labor force, they represent only 4.9 and 4.2 percent of the Officials and Managers in the broadcast and cable industries, respectively (FCC, EEO Trend Report, August 22, 1994);
* Only 2.7 percent of commercial broadcast stations are
owned by minorities, and Hispanic participation is less than one percent (see figure 2). With the high cost of entry into advanced technology industries, the percentage of minority owned industries will not increase without creative assistance mechanisms. As an example, the FCC recently auctioned off 2,000 licenses to develop wireless telephone service. About half of these licenses were set aside to minorities, small businesses, and women so that these groups would be assured an ownership stake in the burgeoning Personal Communication Systems (PCS) industry;
* According to Advertising Age, only about 9.6 percent of
Hispanic households own a personal computer (February 15, 1993) while the figure for all homes and small businesses is over 30 percent. For many Hispanics, their exposure to computers comes either in public institutions like schools and libraries or in the workplace;
* The median income for a Hispanic family is about $24,000.
How many Hispanics -- 29.3 percent of whom live below the poverty level -- will be able to afford computers, modems, software, and the online connections to information without some sort of subsidy? California has been successful in subsidizing telephone service to over 2.5 million households through the Universal Lifeline Telephone Service (see November 1993 PUC Final Report on Lifeline Customer Eligibility). Can this service be expanded to subsidize advanced services for the poor?
* The structural changes occurring in the U.S. economy
combined with a lack of education and training opportunities for the poor and for the limited English proficient are diminishing the economic prospects for a large segment of the Latino population. For many people, owning the equipment -- hardware and software alike -- is necessary but not sufficient to compete for the skilled, information sector jobs of the twenty-first century;
* Nicholas Negroponte of the MIT Media Lab has argued that
before the nation invests in fiber, it should make optimal use of the installed base of copper wire to provide cheap and widespread services now. According to Mark Cooper of the CFA, fiber-to-the- home will cost between $200 and $400 billion over the next 20 years; whereas installing an upgraded copper-based infrastructure would cost between $30 and $60 billion and be operative nationwide within the next several years. Fiber would cost the average household about $3,850 per year, which will foreclose low and middle income households from accessing the highway.
In short, these obstacles challenge policymakers to arrive at a telecommunications policy that addresses equity issues while allowing for the development of an efficient and competitive information infrastructure.
POLICY ISSUES AFFECTING THE LATINO COMMUNITY
As policymakers overhaul existing telecommunications policy to meet the demands of the information age, TRC researchers have identified the following issues of concern to the Latino community:
(1) Anti-redlining language: To prevent "electronic redlining," policymakers at the national, state, and municipal levels need to formulate creative solutions that will lower the probability that such practices will occur without stymieing technological innovation;
(2) Installing public electronic kiosks: One avenue toward providing universal service is to examine installing more terminals and kiosks in libraries, schools, and other public spaces as a cost-effective means of ensuring equal access to services;
(3) Providing low-income subsidies: To address both the prohibitive cost of monthly service fees for advanced services and for equipment necessary to gain access to the highway, subsidies should be looked at to offer affordable services to low-income households. Besides determining who will be covered, policymakers must also work out who will pick up the tab for low- income subscribers -- ratepayers, shareholders, or a combination of both -- as well as what technologies will be cost-effective for the majority of users;
(4) Increasing minority business access to capital: The FCC may want to follow the model utilized in the PCS auction by considering taking steps to extend bidding credits, flexible payment provisions, and reasonable financing for minority businesses trying to obtain licenses for advanced technology markets;
(5) Paying for the highway: Will Latino taxpayers subsidize services that they will not be able to afford?
(6) Training and education of information underclass: To address disparities in skill levels among persons, training and education are essential -- both from public and new private providers -- to ensure universal access to new technologies;
(7) Providing channels for public access: municipalities can require operators to set aside channel space for diversity of sources, including Spanish-speaking programming;
(8) Inserting EEO language into new legislation: Since Latinos are underrepresented in the upper echelons of the broadcasting and cable industries, EEO language should be considered to increase hiring of Latinos in industry as well as to enforce anti-redlining provisions.
PROSPECTS FOR LATINO EQUITY
It is becoming all too clear that with the changes occurring in the U.S.. economy, education in computer literacy and affordability of services are crucial factors that will influence the prospects for upward social mobility for a large segment of the Latino community. As serious questions emerge concerning impediments to Latino access to the information superhighway, public policy should address the ramifications of a potentially growing information underclass in a democratic society.
In the near future, TRC will publish its findings on the impact of communications technology to further clarify the policy issues of concern to Latinos.
This policy brief is the first in a series made possible through a generous grant from the AT&T Foundation.
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For more information or if you have questions, please contact:
Anne M. Larson (larsona@cgs.edu) Research Associate The Tomas Rivera Center 241 E. Eleventh Street Steele Hall, Third Floor Scripps College Claremont, CA 91711-6194 909.621.8897 Fax: 909.621.8898 ```
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