86,000 San Diego households lack high-speed internet. The city has a new plan to shrink that number – San Diego Union-Tribune

Frustrated that nearly 86,000 San Diego households lack high-speed internet service, city officials are launching a comprehensive campaign to shrink that number with new policies, incentives and other efforts.

The city’s first broadband master plan, which was prompted by an outcry from low-income neighborhoods during the pandemic, aims to lower household costs for high-speed internet by increasing competition.

City officials say helping households get quality internet access is a crucial matter of social equity, stressing that it’s nearly impossible to apply for jobs or be a competent student without such access.

The 293-page plan says two-thirds of San Diego households have only one choice for wired high-speed internet, significantly increasing monthly prices in those areas.

The California Public Utilities Commission highlighted the problem in a report this year.

“Broadband pricing in San Diego is heavily influenced by local competition,” the report says. “Where competition is limited or absent, prices are higher.”

City officials say another challenge for San Diego has been the lack of a comprehensive, data-driven plan to boost access to high-speed internet. They say most other large cities have long had plans like the one San Diego is now proposing.

The master plan says those 86,000 households without high-speed internet make up 17% of the city, but the plan stresses that the ratio is much higher in some low-income neighborhoods.

More than 40% of households in San Ysidro lack high-speed internet and one-third of the households in the city’s federally designated “promise zone” in southeastern San Diego lack high-speed internet.

Other areas with low rates of access include City Heights, Encanto and Otay Mesa, the plan says. About 18,000 San Diego households have no internet service at all.

“The Broadband Master Plan identifies a clear affordability-driven digital divide across San Diego,” the plan says.

A key factor in those high ratios, the plan says, was the elimination in 2024 of federal subsidies that provided 104,000 low-income households in the city with $30 per month toward high-speed internet service.

The plan includes some new ideas, such as recommending the San Diego Housing Commission use the leverage of thousands of subsidized housing units in the city to secure them all a bulk-rate plan for high-speed internet.

Some of the ideas are less new, such as a plan to offer internet service providers easier access to city sites for their equipment if they agree to provide discount service to low-income areas.

Other proposals include centralizing permit approvals for telecom companies within the city’s Development Services Department and creating reusable templates for installation designs.

The plan says telecom companies often complain that a challenge to offering discounts is the city’s street preservation ordinance, which charges companies for digging into streets if it requires re-paving or slurry seal.

City officials say telecom companies have exaggerated the impact of that city law.

Other strategies outlined include seeking donations from philanthropists, forging more corporate partnerships and targeting upstart internet providers who may be more willing to get creative.

The plan says San Diego is in a strong position in some ways. Unlike the county with its rural areas, more than 99% of the city has access to high-speed internet — even if many households only have one possible provider.

The city also has 350 public locations offering free Wi-Fi, including all libraries, recreation centers and some parks. City library branches also loan out internet “hotspots” for free.

The plan suggests expanding both of those programs when the city solves its budget crisis.

The plan also suggests the city explore enforcement options for AB 1414, a new state law allowing tenants to opt out of mandatory, landlord-provided internet service.

Another recommendation urges the city to create a regional digital equity coalition that includes public agencies, community organizations and private partners.

The coalition would coordinate funding pursuits, share data and act as an advisory body to support the region’s digital equity needs.

The plan was created by outside consultant Columbia Telecommunications Corporation. The city got input from local stakeholders with the help of six nonprofits.

They are The Urban Collaborative Project, Casa Familiar, City Heights Community Development Corporation, Sherman Heights Community Center, the county’s Black Chamber of Commerce and Somali Family Service of San Diego.