IP Democracy: U.S. Copes with Broadband Statistics Void

(Washington, DC) Although most experts agree that broadband connectivity is essential for both economic development and national competitiveness, the U.S. lacks any reasonable set of statistics to measure what kind of broadband is available and where. Experts from the public and private sectors, academia and public interest groups assembled here today at BroadbandCensus.com's conference to discuss solutions to this broadband data void problem.

The FCC's ongoing broadband data collection effort is widely considered to be inadequate, plagued by carrier confidentiality protections which limit the granularity and utility of the data, among other problems. States are doing what they can to fill the gap but, as California State PUC Commissioner (and former FCC Commissioner) Rachelle Chong noted, data collection is a "huge challenge for state regulators [because] we don't regulate broadband." In order to get broadband providers to play ball, "we schmooze them," she said.

The fundamental problem, of course, is that broadband providers "don't want to give it up," according to Art Brodsky, Communications Director, Public Knowledge. It's not enough that broadband providers report where broadband is available and at which price, Debbie Goldman from the Communications Workers of America said. Broadband speed data is equally critical to understanding national competitiveness.

On this measure, the U.S. seems to lag the rest of the world. "I almost feel like I'm coming from a third world country in terms of communications speeds," she said.

Drew Clark, founder of BroadbandCensus.com, said the current FCC policy of masking granular data in underserved areas is almost designed to prevent competition among broadband providers because those are the areas that most need new entrants. "We believe the public is served by the greatest possible disclosure," Clark said.

It's hard to develop innovative public policy without data, University of Texas Professor Ken Flamm said. "We really don't have a lot of scientific data available on broadband right now," he said.

A lot of diverse third-party efforts are underway that seek to collect the missing data. Virginia Tech has one such effort, the e-Corridors Program, aimed at documenting broadband service in Virginia. e-Corridors is reverse engineering the process by asking users to report data on their service options and it's already yielding surprising results. "By mining these utilities, we find that Blacksburg, VA doesn't have three providers [as existing data suggest]; it has ten," Virginia Tech's Jean Plymate said.

One real question is which governmental entities, the states or the federal government, should be responsible for collecting basic broadband data. "The idea that we would let the states figure this out seems mildly insane to me," Jeffrey Campbell, Director of Technology and Communications Policy at Cisco, said.

But, "the states must bear this responsibility," Jane Smith Patterson, head of a North Carolina initiative called e-NC Authority, said. "States have an imperative that does not exist at the federal level and that's economic development," MIT Economist William Lehrer said.

Ireland has taken a web-based approach to monitoring and fostering broadband growth through a portal called broadband.gov, explained Eamonn Confrey, First Secretary, Information and Communications Policy, Embassy of Ireland. Broadband providers post their available services through this site -- and consumers then locate the various options available.

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on September 26, 2008 1:52 PM to IP Democracy