The Hispanic Institute (THI) released a white paper today at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Conference in Washington, D.C. Hispanic Broadband Access: Making the Most of a Mobile, Connected Future reports on an important telecommunications trend that has exciting implications for closing the Hispanic Digital Divide. While overall, the percentage of Hispanics that have access to broadband in the home is among the lowest of all demographic groups, some segments of the Hispanic population are among the most active users of mobile broadband technologies, even when compared to non-Hispanic populations.

We applaud The Hispanic Institute and MobileFuture for presenting a responsible and balanced view of Hispanic technology use. While other studies have used the fact that Hispanics over-index in the use of mobile broadband technologies as ‘proof’ that the Digital Divide is closing, THI and MobileFuture acknowledge that there is still a pressing need to address lower access and adoption rates of home-based broadband by Hispanics. The study examines the factors that drive higher rates of Hispanic mobile technology use, including the prevalence of cellular devices in immigrants’ countries of origin, Hispanic cell phone ownership rates and usage patterns in the U.S., and the population’s geographic mobility trends.

Hispanic Broadband Access emphasizes the importance of developing policies that encourage affordability, innovation and continued growth of the mobile technology sector. Under policies that allow for these three critical elements to flourish, mobile technologies will continue to stimulate adoption of broadband technologies – mobile and tethered – by unserved and underserved populations. This is particularly important because of the critical role that broadband Internet access can play in addressing the most pressing health, education, and economic concerns of our nation’s vulnerable populations. The fact that so many Hispanics have adopted mobile broadband technologies, combined with increasingly affordable mobile devices and usage plans, provides opportunities for even more Hispanics to experience how the Internet can be relevant – even indispensable – to their lives.

Information about The Hispanic Institute is available at the organization’s website, www.thehispanicinstitute.net.

Visit www.mobilefuture.org to view a video about the report and download copies of the paper in English and Spanish.