Puerto Rico Digital Equity Capacity Grant Implementation

Puerto Rico's official Digital Equity Plan documents severe digital-divide gaps: about 30% of residents report no home internet access (versus roughly 10% nationally), with home broadband adoption as low as 18% in some central mountain municipalities. A quarter of the population lacks any computing device (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.
In November 2024, the U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) approved and recommended a $9.8 million State Digital Equity Capacity Grant for Puerto Rico, funded under the federal Digital Equity Act. The Puerto Rico Broadband Program is using the award to build digital-literacy training for workers in healthcare, education, agriculture and government, to fund cybersecurity and privacy training for government IT staff through the Puerto Rico Innovation and Technology Service, and to establish a network of certified "Digital Navigators" intended to eventually serve every region of the island.
As of mid-2026, this is chiefly a well-documented, externally reviewed baseline assessment and an approved, funded implementation plan rather than a track record of completed outcomes: no independently verified count yet exists of how many residents have been trained or how many Digital Navigators have been certified under this specific grant.

Read the full analysis: https://broadbandbreakfast.com/ntia-approves-digital-equity-funds-for-five-states-puerto-rico/