FCC Report Finds U.S. in Middle of Broadband Pack: That Isn't the Point

The latest Federal Communications Commission report on global broadband suggests the United States ranks about ninth for mobile broadband adoption among Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development member countries and 12th for fixed (DSL or cable) broadband on a per-household basis.

In March 2010, economists at the Phoenix Center said “historical trends suggest the United States will likely move to 13th in broadband adoption by 2012 even without significant policy changes.” The latest FCC (News - Alert) report shows that was an accurate forecast. But nobody should expect the United States to rank much better than where it is, for historical reasons. The United States ranks no better than 15th in global measures of telephone density. But nobody really suggests the United States has a fixed-line voice availability problem. In fact, most observers say demand for that product is declining. So where does the United States currently rank on per-capita measures of broadband penetration in early 2010? 15th, as it turns out; precisely where it has long ranked in terms of fixed-line voice line penetration. But assessing broadband availability is more complicated than it used to be, in large measure because of mobile broadband, an area where the United States is forecast to lead, at least in terms of fourth generation Long Term Evolution deployments.