Understanding Broadband Needs in a Diverse America

A Federal Communications Commission workshop on Broadband Access and Adoption on Diversity and Civil Rights Issues revealed that we need much richer data on who does not have access to broadband and who is not adopting broadband and why. The answers we have are not sufficient to help us craft an intelligent National Broadband Plan to promote advanced telecommunications services to all Americans. We need more granular information. As FCC Consumer Research Director Dr. John Horrigan stated, several studies suggest that "broadband adoption in the United States stands at close to two-thirds of Americans." But these studies are problematic on a number of fronts. The first problem is that the studies assume that we already have a clear definition of broadband, when, as Santa Clara Law Professor Catherine Sandoval noted, not even the FCC has been reliable about the definition of broadband. The definition of broadband is made even more complicated by the suggestion that some groups are adopting wireless broadband, when we do not have sufficient information about which applications are available to this rising group of wireless broadband users. Dr. Horrigan also noted that "education and income are the two strongest predictors of whether you have broadband at home." But education and income are not the only predictors. Region, ethnicity, and other factors are also important. As Rutgers Dean Jorge Schement said, "it's not just about money; there's something else going on that prevents people in the same income group from having the same levels of access to information technology. Technology access is also dependent on aspects of ethnicity."