Beyond the Last Mile: Why Digital Literacy Determines Broadband Success

The Infrastructure Promise and Its Limits

Across rural America, fiber optic cables are racing toward communities that have waited decades for reliable internet. Billions in federal funding are flowing to internet service providers (ISPs) committed to closing the digital divide. The infrastructure buildout is historic, ambitious, and absolutely necessary.

But infrastructure alone won’t guarantee success—not for the communities being served, and not for the ISPs investing in those communities.

As someone who has spent over 25 years working at the intersection of technology and community development, I’ve learned that the success of any technology deployment depends not just on the quality of the infrastructure, but on the human capacity, institutional strength, and community engagement surrounding it. This lesson finds powerful validation in the research of Kentaro Toyama, whose “Law of Amplification” reveals why digital literacy and skills support are essential for both community prosperity and ISP sustainability.

Technology as Amplifier: The Toyama Framework

Toyama’s research demonstrates that technology magnifies existing forces rather than creating new ones from nothing. This principle has profound implications for broadband deployment. Internet access amplifies what’s already there—existing skills, aspirations, institutional capacity, and community engagement. Where these foundations are strong, broadband transforms communities. Where they’re weak, even the fastest fiber becomes underutilized infrastructure.

This isn’t just an academic insight. It’s a business reality that forward-thinking ISPs are beginning to understand: the long-term success of their infrastructure investments depends on building the human capacity to use them effectively.

When Broadband Programs Succeed: Amplifying Existing Strengths

Toyama’s framework predicts that broadband infrastructure will generate the greatest return—for both communities and ISPs—when it amplifies existing strengths:

Strong Digital Foundation

• Community level: Residents with basic computer skills and comfort with technology
• Business impact: Higher adoption rates, faster uptake of premium services
• ISP benefit: Reduced customer support costs, increased average revenue per user

Educational Infrastructure

• Community level: Schools with technology-ready curricula and trained teachers
• Business impact: Families prioritize internet for homework support and online learning
• ISP benefit: Stable, long-term residential subscribers with consistent usage patterns

Economic Aspirations

• Community level: Entrepreneurs and remote workers ready to leverage connectivity
• Business impact: Small businesses upgrade to commercial services, attract new residents
• ISP benefit: Premium business accounts, growing subscriber base

Institutional Support

• Community level: Libraries, community centers, and local organizations ready to provide tech support
• Business impact: Reduced barriers to adoption, stronger community word-of-mouth
• ISP benefit: Lower marketing costs, organic customer acquisition

When Broadband Investments Fall Short: Amplifying Existing Weaknesses

Without intentional capacity building, the same infrastructure investment can amplify existing challenges:

Limited Digital Literacy

• Community challenge: Residents lack skills to troubleshoot or optimize internet usage
• Business impact: Low adoption rates despite available infrastructure
• ISP consequence: Stranded assets, difficulty reaching projected subscriber numbers

Weak Educational Systems

• Community challenge: Schools unprepared for digital integration, teachers lacking training
• Business impact: Families don’t see value in home internet for education
• ISP consequence: Missed opportunities for family plan sales and educational partnerships

Economic Stagnation

• Community challenge: No local entrepreneurs ready to leverage connectivity for business growth
• Business impact: Limited demand for commercial services, continued population decline
• ISP consequence: Shrinking customer base, difficulty justifying service expansion

Institutional Gaps

• Community challenge: No local organizations providing tech support or digital skills training
• Business impact: High barrier to adoption, customer frustration with service
• ISP consequence: High support costs, customer churn, negative community sentiment

The Hotspot Parallel: Lessons from Emergency Connectivity

The COVID-19 pandemic provided a real-world test of Toyama’s amplification theory through emergency hotspot lending programs. Districts with strong digital literacy foundations, engaged families, and robust remote learning infrastructure saw these programs work effectively. Districts lacking these foundations found that simply providing connectivity didn’t close achievement gaps—it sometimes widened them.

The lesson for communities is clear: connectivity without capacity building can actually amplify existing inequities, creating frustrated customers and underutilized infrastructure.

Building Capacity for Mutual Success

The most successful broadband deployments—those that generate strong community outcomes and sustainable ISP business models—invest as much in human capacity as they do in infrastructure. This means:

Lead with Digital Literacy

Before fiber installation, communities need digital skills training. ISPs can partner with local organizations, libraries, and schools to ensure residents are ready to maximize their new connectivity. This investment reduces customer support costs and increases service adoption.

Strengthen Local Institutions

Libraries, community centers, and educational institutions become force multipliers for broadband impact. ISPs can support these organizations with training, equipment, and partnerships, creating local hubs of expertise that reduce support burdens while increasing community engagement.

Build Economic Capacity

Rural entrepreneurs and remote workers represent premium customers for ISPs. Programs that help residents develop online business skills, remote work capabilities, and digital entrepreneurship create demand for higher-tier services while strengthening local economies.

Foster Community Engagement

The most successful ISPs become community partners, not just service providers. They invest in local relationships, understand community needs, and work with residents to ensure broadband access translates into meaningful opportunity.

The Path Forward: Sustainable Broadband Success

As billions flow into rural broadband infrastructure, we have an unprecedented opportunity to do this right. Success requires recognizing that infrastructure and capacity building are not separate investments—they’re complementary strategies that ensure mutual benefit for communities and service providers.

Toyama’s research reminds us that technology amplifies what’s already there. If we want broadband infrastructure to amplify opportunity, prosperity, and community resilience, we must first build the human and institutional capacity to seize those opportunities.

For ISPs, this means viewing digital literacy and community engagement not as corporate social responsibility add-ons, but as essential business strategies that determine whether their infrastructure investments succeed or become stranded assets.

For communities, it means recognizing that demanding better infrastructure is only the first step. Building the skills, institutions, and aspirations needed to leverage that infrastructure is equally important.

The communities and ISPs that embrace this integrated approach—infrastructure plus capacity building—will create a virtuous cycle of technological adoption, economic development, and sustainable business growth. Those that focus solely on infrastructure will find themselves with fast connections to nowhere.

In Toyama’s terms, the most powerful technology we have is our collective human effort, institutional wisdom, and community bonds. Broadband infrastructure should amplify these strengths, not substitute for them. When we get this balance right, everyone wins.

---

This post draws on the research of Kentaro Toyama, particularly his work “Technology as Amplifier in International Development” (iConference 2011) and “Geek Heresy: Rescuing Social Change from the Cult of Technology” (PublicAffairs, 2015). All insights reflect my own observations working in K-12 Education, digital equity advocacy and rural broadband infrastucture development.