The Unconnected Home

Like any economic good, the availability and consumption of broadband services is a balance of supply and demand.

The problems with supply, especially in the U.S., are well-noted. The U.S. ranks 15th in broadband penetration worldwide, according to figures released this summer by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. And the U.S. is headed in the wrong direction; it was ranked as high as fourth place as recently as 2001.

On the demand side, the story appears just as troublesome. According to a survey of 50,000 consumers by broadband advocacy group Connected Nation, the major barrier to broadband adoption wasn't price or availability but perceived need — 44% of those surveyed simply said, “I don't need it.”

“The more technologically literate any community, state or region is, the more successful they'll be in economic development,” said Mark McElroy, chief operating officer for Connected Nation. “If roughly half of the households [in an area] are simply choosing not to subscribe, that's a real, palpable opportunity for growth.”

It goes without saying that national broadband policy is a highly politicized issue. And as with any political story, every advance or retreat can be viewed as a victory or defeat, depending on one's vantage point.

That was certainly the case in October, when a long-awaited new bill — the Broadband Data Improvement Act (S. 1492) — was passed unanimously by the House and Senate and then quickly signed into law by President George W. Bush. The bill addresses the supply side of the equation by calling on the government and service providers to more accurately collect data on broadband penetration. Specifically, the bill requires the FCC to report on broadband deployment numbers annually; it adds a question in the Census Bureau survey about broadband Internet usage; and it aims to fund programs and studies to examine barriers to broadband adoption. The bill follows a similar order by the FCC itself, adopted this summer, to expand its data collection efforts, including differentiating from mid-band and broadband data services.

Such so-called broadband mapping efforts are crucial to get a true view of deployment shortfalls and advances because it is hard to make solid policy decisions without accurate data to back them up.

But critics were just as quick to note that the Senate bill signed into law represented a significant pull-back from an earlier House version. That bill set aside $40 million a year for the next five years to help fund the effort and mandated carriers to share their broadband deployment data to create a true nationwide map. U.S. Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) expressed disappointment, saying he “wish[ed] the Senate bill contained the more rigorous data collection and disclosure.”