Beer and Broadband Mapping at TPRC

"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 at George Mason School of Law on Friday, September 25. The discussion, which was sponsored by The Benton Foundation, BroadbandCensus.com and the New America Foundation included many notable academics from TPRC, and from the Obama administration. Charles Benton, chairman of the Benton Foundation, began the discussion by noting the importance of broadband data disclosure. 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 in policy on August 7, calling for disclosure of carrier data, under the Notice of Funds Availability, at the Census block level. He also talked about the importance of data including actual speeds versus advertised speeds, and pointed out that actual speed data was not a requirement of the NoFA. Unfortunately, he noted, pricing data is also not required under the NoFA. Michael Calabrese, vice president and director of the Wireless Future Program at the New America Foundation, began his opening remarks by stating that the Recovery Act and the Broadband Data Improvement Act set aside up to $350 million for state mapping data. There is much more data out there for researchers and policy makers to layer over the inventory data, but only if they had the proper funding. Examples include actual household speeds and data on connection reliability.