Monday, December 7th, 2009
WASHINGTON, December 7, 2009 - A new
report using an innovative approach to broadband data finds that the percentage of households in the United States that have adopted high-speed internet services is 72.9 percent.
The report was generated by comparing the Census blocks in which broadband is available with the number of subscribers that carriers report to the Federal Communications Commission.
By linking the number of subscribers in a particular state (from FCC data) to a data-set of Census block-by-Census block tabulations of broadband availability, consultant Brian Webster believes that he is able to peg the nation-wide broadband adoption rate for homes passed at 72.9 percent.
That number is about 10 percentage points higher than what other studies have found. That's not surprising - precisely because he is attempting to count adoption of homes passed, and not of the population as a whole.
“That’s a difference that could have a significant impact on the decisions made to deploy broadband in the remaining un-served markets,” says Webster.
One other facet to the data used in the report: the FCC data used in the report also includes mobile broadband counts, in addition to wireline broadband counts. Because a home could have two or more broadband...
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Monday, November 30th, 2009
By Drew Clark, Editor, BroadbandCensus.com
WASHINGTON, November 30, 2009 -
The news that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration aims to seek access to the Form 477 database is positive news -- providing that the public obtains access to the database, too.
Even before the founding of BroadbandCensus.com more than two years ago, the individuals associated with the data side of BroadbandCensus.com have been urging the public disclosure of basic broadband data. We call this the Broadband SPARC: for Speeds, Prices, Availability, Reliability and Competition.
In comments
in July 2008, BroadbandCensus.com urged greater disclosure of this data.
We repeated these comments, adding a new twist - that a National Broadband Plan must be accompanied by a National Broadband Mashup -
in June 2009.
As readers of BroadbandBreakfast.com are aware, Broadband Census LLC has recently split our operations between our news and events, which we publish on BroadbandBreakfast.com, and our data operations, which continues on BroadbandCensus.com.
BroadbandBreakfast.com continues our tradition of reliable news reporting, as BroadbandCensus.com continues to urge disclosure and - through our mapping from publicly-available sources - create the best possible database of broadband speeds, prices, availability, reliability and competition.
The news of the NTIA's interest in the Form 477...
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Sunday, October 11th, 2009
By Christina Kirchner, Reporter-Researcher, BroadbandCensus.com
WASHINGTON, October 11, 2009 – Current measures of broadband comparisons between the United States and the rest of the world – and within the country – have limitations, according to a study by the Government Accountability Office released on Friday.
Under the Broadband Data Improvement Act, passed in October 2008, GAO was asked to conduct a study about broadband metrics and standards, including comparisons of international broadband services.
These limitations including the “lack of comprehensive measures from the government to compare price, actual delivered speeds, and service reliability data from providers,” and information that was gathered through international broadband comparisons that are not comparable across countries.
Based on the information that it received, the GAO said that data collected from the Federal Communication Commission from its semiannual report constituted another setback, as information collected from providers does not include information pertaining to speeds, price, availability and service reliability.
According to the report, Form 477 used by the FCC used to gather their data does not require “broadband providers to report on price or actual delivered speeds.” This effects the comparisons used on other parts of the country, which then affects policy positions or investment decisions.
Even after the National Telecommunications...
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Tuesday, September 29th, 2009
By Andrew Feinberg, Deputy Editor, BroadbandCensus.com
WASHINGTON, September 29, 2009 - Current broadband mapping data is not specific enough in detail to help the Federal Communications Commission produce a national broadband plan, despite recent revisions to agency data-collection practices, staff members said Tuesday.
That assessment came during presentations at the agency’s marathon open meeting, which lasted more than three hours and included presentations from many members of the broadband task force, which is responsible for crafting a strategy by February 2010. The workshoprepresented an opportunity for a "mid-course correction" after numerous open workshops and public meetings - an open process that chairman Julius Genachowski (D) called "unparalleled in FCC history."
The most important part of the process is starting by examining the facts already in the record, said Omnibus Broadband Initiative Managing Director Eric Garr. But while Garr welcomed the numerous participants in the process so far, he asked for more information and less rhetoric.
"Bring opinions, but also bring your data," he said.
Outside data is especially important to the process because the commission lacks needed information, said broadband task force head Blair Levin. "The task we are being asked to do cannot be done with the resources we have," he said.
The commission's lack...
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Monday, September 28th, 2009
By Christopher Naoum, Special Correspondent, BroadbandCensus.com
ARLINGTON, Va., September 28, 2009 – “Beer and Broadband Mapping” was the informal name appended to a spirited and lively discussion that capped the first day of the Telecommunications Policy Research Conference here at George Mason School of Law on Friday, September 25.
Blair Levin, executive director of the Federal Communication Commission’s Omnibus Broadband Initiative and a keynote panelist at the Friday evening event, joked that the real intelligence among those academics would be among those spending their Friday night talking about broadband data.
The discussion, which was sponsored by The Benton Foundation, BroadbandCensus.com and the New America Foundation, began at around 8:30 p.m., and lasted for nearly an hour and a half. Many notable academics from TPRC, and from the Obama administration, attended the session.
Charles Benton, chairman of the Benton Foundation, began the discussion by noting the importance of broadband data disclosure, which he had emphasized in his opening statement at the U.S. Broadband Coalition on Thursday, September 24.
Drew Clark, executive director of BroadbandCensus.com, followed by presenting the company’s public and transparent map of Columbia, South Carolina, that shows broadband speeds, technologies, and providers It is available at
BroadbandCensusMaps.com. Clark referenced the major change...
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Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009
By Drew Clark, Editor, BroadbandCensus.com
WASHINGTON, September 22, 2009 – Public and transparent broadband data has now been elevated to the level of a fundamental principle, at least in the Monday speech by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski.
But it’s worth reflecting on the time – not so long ago – when the quest to collect this kind of broadband data was an unrealized vision at the losing end of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.
On
Monday, I recounted the history and aftermath of this FOIA request and lawsuit that the Center for Public Integrity filed again Kevin Martin’s FCC. In many ways, that defeat directly set the stage for the launch of BroadbandCensus.com in the fall of 2007.
All this week, during One Web Week, I’m speaking about the history of BroadbandCensus.com from a personal perspective. In this series of blog posts, I’m going to speak about what we’ve been through, who we have worked with to advance the principles of public and transparent broadband data, and what we ultimately aim to achieve at BroadbandCensus.com.
- Part 1: The debate begins with the Freedom of Information Act lawsuit in 2006.
- Part 2, on One Web Day: The founding...
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Monday, September 21st, 2009
By Drew Clark, Editor, BroadbandCensus.com
WASHINGTON, September 21, 2009 – Broadband data is important for the future of our country – and public and transparent broadband data is even more important.
Today, at this moment, new Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski is making a speech in which he is highlighting the vital principle of public and transparent broadband data.
For three years now, this principle has been the core belief animating my efforts as a journalist, and as the entrepreneur founding BroadbandCensus.com. Now, as we enter the fourth year since this saga began, it’s time to take stock and reflect on what BroadbandCensus.com has accomplished.
And with One Web Week having arrived, I’d like to lay out this history from a personal perspective. In this series of blog posts, I’m going to speak about what we’ve been through, who we have worked with to advance the principles of public and transparent broadband data, and what we ultimately aim to achieve at BroadbandCensus.com.
- Part 1: The debate begins with the Freedom of Information Act lawsuit in 2006.
- Part 2, on One Web Day: The founding of BroadbandCensus.com in the fall of 2007.
- Part 3: The Broadband Census for America Conference in...
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Monday, August 3rd, 2009
From BroadbandCensus.com Weekly Report
WASHINGTON, August 3, 2009 – Less than two weeks remain before the first round of applications are due in the federal government’s broadband stimulus grants. The key issues facing the government can be summed up in three words: data, data and data.
Last week began a three-ring affair to sort out the mess that is the current state of our nation’s broadband data. In one circle is the Federal Communications Commission, which opened an inquiry concerning how it should release the key data that it has about broadband deployment – the Form 477. Specifically, the FCC was asking what it means to “aggregate” data, and whether and how confidentiality restrictions should condition its further release of this data. Initial responses were due last Thursday. Many major carrier and non-profit groups have replied.
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration was also buzzing last week on the very same topic. In remarks at a Charlottesville, Va., workshop reported on by BroadbandCensus.com, NTIA chief Lawrence Strickling dusted off a lamp and let the data genie out of the bottle. “We need the data: I think it is a national imperative in which this data be collected,” Strickling said about the $350 million...
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