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Internet Essentials from Comcast has helped 10 million low-income Americans connect to the tools and resources they need to succeed in an increasingly digital world. TABLE OF CONTENTS Letter from Dave Watson .................................................................2 Digital Divide in the U.S. ...................................................................5 Program Timeline ............................................................................6 Program Retrospective .....................................................................8 Program Design ............................................................................ 10 Elements of Success ...................................................................... 16 Program Impact ................................................................................ 20 What’s Next ....................................................................................... 24 Commitment to Digital Equity ........................................................ 26 Student from Northeast High School III 1 Letter from Dave Watson $ about Comcast’s Commitment 7to 00Digital EquityM When we launched Internet Essentials 10 years ago, we began an ambitious journey to connect low-income Americans to the Internet. Thanks to the hard work and support of so many, Internet Essentials is now the largest and most comprehensive Internet adoption program in the country, connecting more than 10 million* people. Ten million people over 10 years is an exciting milestone, but it’s just the beginning of our next chapter. We are proud to share that over the next 10 years, Comcast is committing $1 billion to reach 50 million people from low-income families and provide them with the training, tools, and resources they need to succeed in a digital world. This investment will allow us to continue providing grants to nonprofit partners, supporting Internet adoption and digital skills Students and Head of School training, and investing in underserved communities. of the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf This is not the first time we have accelerated our commitment over the next 10 efforts to bridge the digital divide, nor will it be years to reach 50 million people our last. Since the earliest days of the Internet from low-income families with Essentials program, we have partnered with incredible connectivity, skills, training, organizations to include more people, improve the Ten years is a remarkable moment signifying an extraordinary amount of and resources. program, and create a bigger impact. We have work, and we did not do it alone. The launch of Internet Essentials, as well as expanded the reach of Internet Essentials 12 times, its tremendous growth and success over the past decade, is a result of those most recently to include all low-income households in our service area, who paved the way through research, tireless advocacy for digital equity, including veterans, seniors, people with disabilities, and more. We have and the creation and adaptation of digital skills training models to meet the increased speeds, from 1.5 Mbps in 2011 to 50 Mbps today, and subsidized needs of community members. I invite you to continue reading to learn more or donated 150,000 desktop and laptop computers. Along the way, we have about the journey of Internet Essentials and the work of our team and our brought home the transformative power of connection to more than 10 million extraordinary partners. people and offered digital skills training and tools to millions more. We are proud of our progress, but we have more to do and more to learn. When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, we expanded again by launching We are excited and energized to take these next steps, and we look forward a first-of-its kind connectivity initiative in community centers. Partnering to working with all of you to get there. with local organizations, non-profit partners, and city leaders, we equipped Sincerely, community centers across the country with WiFi-connected safe spaces, called “Lift Zones”, where students and families can access the Internet. We plan to DAVE WATSON launch 1,000+ Lift Zones by the end of this year, reaching millions more people President and Chief Executive Officer in our communities. Comcast Cable *Cumulative total since 2011 2 3 Student from Strawberry We believe deeply in the power of connection. It is unacceptable Mansion High School in Digital that we have a digital divide in this country, which keeps so many Philadelphia with his mother families from the powerful skills, tools, and resources they need Divide in to succeed. Approximately 25% of American households do not the U.S. subscribe to broadband Internet at home. Ten years ago, we created Internet Essentials to help address the digital divide and the homework gap and give low-income families the opportunity to experience the transformative power of the Internet in their own homes. Over the last decade, we’ve worked with thousands of partners across the country and have collectively made tremendous progress. In our service area, 40% of the growth in broadband adoption among low-income households with school-age children can be attributed to the Internet Essentials program.* CITY COMPARISON Up to 95% of households VS. in affluent cities have a home broadband subscription. Only 50% of households in cities with high poverty rates have a home broadband subscription. This 45-percentage-point gap represents the digital divide in the United States.** *Zuo, G., 2020 (In Press). Wired and Hired: Employment Effects of Subsidized Broadband Internet for Low-Income Americans. To be published in American Economic Journal: Economic Policy. **U.S. Census 2019 American Community Survey 4 5 For Comcast, addressing the need for digital equity has been For 10 years, we have worked closely with our partners Program a decade-long pursuit. In 2010, the Federal Communications to refine the program in meaningful ways and expanded Commission released the National Broadband Plan (NBP), the eligible population numerous times. Together, we are Timeline articulating the barriers to broadband adoption and digital committed to creating and supporting digital equity within inclusion, and focusing attention on the importance of having the communities we serve. a home Internet connection. In 2011, Internet Essentials was the first comprehensive programmatic response by a major Internet service provider to address the main barriers to broadband adoption. 2021 2013 Celebrating 10 years of advancing digital Expanded eligibility to equity include public, charter, 2016 parochial, private, Pilot launch for 2019 Increased speeds to cyberschool, and HUD-housing 50/5 Mbps homeschooled students recipients Expansion to all 2011 low-income people and more to come... Included any family with Expansion of pilot to all including those with Program launch for a school-age student HUD-housing disabilities public-school students from Head Start through recipients receiving free lunch the 12th grade COVID-19 Response • 60 days free service • Launched the offer for new Internet Internet Essentials Essentials customers Partnership Program 2012 2014 2017 2018 2020 through June 30, 2021 to connect large Expanded to Extended program Expansion of pilot • Increased speeds to numbers of students Expansion to Convened the first to Internet Essentials public-school students indefinitely, beyond for low-income low-income veterans Internet Essentials 25/3 Mbps • eligible for a initial three-year seniors National Impact • Waived bad-debt Introduced xFi reduced-price lunch commitment Summit program eligibility parental controls to Internet Essentials Provide amnesty to requirement through Implemented key June 30, 2021 subscribers at no eligible families with COVID-19 response additional cost past due Comcast • Suspended 2015 measures • debt older than one disconnects for late Unlimited access for year Pilot launch for payments Internet Essentials low-income seniors customers to Xfinity WiFi hotspots Pilot launch for • Began the rollout of low-income community 1,000 Lift Zones college students expansions of eligibility innovations (including improving our improvements to the value of the innovations in digital literacy, (available to all eligible streamlined application process and launching service (including speed, in- and including the creation of low-income households) the Internet Essentials Partnership Program) out-of-home WiFi, computer options) 1,000+ Lift Zones 6 12 18 14 9 7 $700M Program Retrospective in 10 years, we have... CONNECTED MORE THAN LOW-INCOME AMERICANS TO THE INTERNET AT HOME In 10 years, our commitment to bridging the digital divide has transformed into an enormous investment in advancing digital equity. Our newly created Internet Essentials Partnership Program and Lift Zone initiative are manifestations of this, as is our significant increase in investment in digital equity partners. 8 9 Program Internet Essentials is about far more than bringing high-speed LOW-COST Internet into a home. From the beginning, we have designed CONNECTIONS our program based on comprehensive and consistent research Design which tells us there are three main barriers to broadband We’ve made tremendous progress toward closing the digital divide. In ten adoption: 1) a lack of perceived need for or interest in (and years, we’ve connected millions of low-income people to the Internet at home, even fear of) the Internet, mostly stemming from limited digital more than 80% of whom were not connected prior to signing

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