Why Broadband Utilization Matters More Than Deployment/Adoption

[Commentary] To dates, the US has been focused on broadband deployment, figuring out how to get every last home online and how to encourage more deployment of faster networks. Increasingly the conversation also now turns to issues of broadband adoption, or how do you get everyone online. But what's too often missing in this equation are questions surrounding broadband utilization, or how people and organizations are actually using broadband to improve their lives and how can we encourage more of that use. The reason this is so important is simple: why are we building broadband networks? Is the end game to have viable, self-sustaining infrastructure? Is it to make sure that everyone's connected to that infrastructure? Or is what really matters what we do with that infrastructure once we've got it?