Broadband Data Collection and Validation Must Be Rethought, Experts Say at Breakfast Club

Paul de Sa, chief of the Federal Communications Commission's Office of Strategic Planning, said Tuesday that the agency was taking a fresh look at all aspects of its broadband data-collection processes: collection, validation and analysis, and dissemination. The Commission, he said, is sensitive to the need to balance proprietary information with the desire for transparency in its data-collection processes.

John Horrigan, director of consumer research for the FCC's omnibus broadband initiative, addressed the challenges of constructing and merging consistent data-sets. Horrigan said that expanding Form 477 would be analytically useful, "if there is harmonization in data sets then there is a position for rich data analysis." Horrigan went on to discuss the survey conducted of non-adopters and small businesses in the fall of 2009. The data will be released soon after the release of the national broadband plan, said Horrigan