Puerto Rico Digital Equity Capacity Grant Implementation

Puerto Rico faces a significant digital divide: about 30% of residents lack home internet access (versus about 10% nationally), with broadband adoption as low as 18% in some central mountain municipalities; a quarter of the population lacks computing devices (versus 7% nationally) and 24% rely solely on smartphones for internet access (versus 8% nationally), against a median household income of $21,967, less than a third of the U.S. median.

The initiative aims to close these gaps by funding digital-literacy training for workers in healthcare, education, agriculture and government, cybersecurity/privacy training for government IT staff, and a network of certified 'Digital Navigators' intended to eventually serve every island region.

In November 2024 the NTIA approved a $9.8 million State Digital Equity Capacity Grant for Puerto Rico under the federal Digital Equity Act; the Puerto Rico Broadband Program is deploying the award to fund the training programmes described above.

As of mid-2026 the initiative represents primarily a well-documented baseline needs assessment and an approved implementation plan; no independently verified count yet exists of residents trained or Digital Navigators certified under this specific grant.

The programme is grounded in a well-documented needs assessment (validated through NTIA's review of the state Digital Equity Plan), but has not yet produced documented implementation outcomes.