Tag Archives: broadband

We have recently seen reports on the sorry state of broadband network access in the United States (New Broadband Report and Two More Stories About Broadband). Now, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has released an official view of the state of broadband in the U.S in which it emphasizes the fact that things aren't as bad as they used to be and calls that progress. It says that "America’s consumers are now reaping the rewards of the Administration’s pro-investment, deregulatory policies..."

• Networked Nation: Broadband In America 2007, National Telecommunications And Information Administration, United States Department of Commerce, January 2008

The report says that "broadband availability and subscribership have increased dramatically" but ignores the fact that the U.S. has fallen from fourth to 15th in the world in broadband penetration. This is pure politics, it ignores reality, and does nothing to help us move forward.

The report says, "...the Administration has implemented a comprehensive and integrated package of technology, regulatory, and fiscal policies designed to lower barriers and create an environment in which broadband innovation and competition can flourish. The results have been striking." "Strikingly bad" is how most of the recent independent reports would describe the results.

• We have a broadband strategy? Bush administration says "yes" in cheerleading report, By Nate Anderson, ars technica, January 31, 2008
• Ignoring Reality, Bush Declares Broadband Mission Accomplished, press release, Free Press, January 31, 2008

More here.

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This seems to be a week of stories about the need for better broadband access in the United States. Yesterday, we noted the new report from the state of California. Today, we find a story in The Economist and a new report by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.

• Open up those highways, From The Economist print edition, Jan 17th 2008.
• Municipal Broadband: Demystifying Wireless and Fiber-Optic Options, by Christopher Mitchell. (See also: press release.)

From The Economist:

What accounts for the differences among rich countries? Two or three years ago demography was often cited: small, densely populated countries were easier to wire up than big, sparsely inhabited ones. But the leaders in broadband usage include Canada, where a tiny population is spread over a vast area. The best explanation, in fact, is that broadband thrives on a mix of competition and active regulation, to ensure an open contest.

From the ILSR press release:

The United States, creator of the Internet, increasingly lags in high-speed access to it. In the absence of a national broadband strategy, hundreds of communities have invested in broadband infrastructure to solve their problem locally. A new report by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) explores this essential infrastructure and the options now available to communities.

The ILSR Report contends that DSL and cable networks fail to offer the speeds and capacity necessary for the digital future.

"As broadband has gone from convenience to necessity, communities can no longer rely on private providers to satisfy their broadband needs," explains Christopher Mitchell, author of the study and Director of the Telecommunications as Commons Initiative for ILSR.

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A new report on broadband access in California highlights some of the problems of broadband that are often glossed over in other reports.

The report is available in several files including maps and a spreadsheet here: The State of Connectivity: Building Innovation Through Broadband.

The report says that, while 96% of California residences "have access" to broadband of some kind, only half of Californians have access to broadband at speeds greater than 10 Mbps. And though access is available, barely more than half of Californians have adopted broadband at home. Further, "broadband infrastructure is deployed unevenly throughout the state, from state-of–the-art to nonexistent." And 1.4 million mostly rural Californians lack broadband access altogether.

Since by some measures, according to the report, "California remains a domestic leader in broadband adoption", this is not an inspiring situation.

I found the spreadsheet, "Appendix: Broadband Pricing Survey" particularly interesting. It compares more than 100 broadband services throughout the state and shows the price for download speed varies from $3.81 to $144, per megabyte.

Press coverage: California Broadband Task Force Releases Final Report, By Gina M. Scott, Government Technology, Jan 18, 2008.

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