Shooting the Messenger

No amount of industry spin can excuse the problems caused by lack of broadband competition, or the irreparable harm to our economy if we fail to address the mounting crisis.

Shooting the Messenger
S. Derek Turner, Free Press

Turner dispels the many myths manufactured by the telecommunications industry to excuse America's poor broadband performance compared to the rest of the world.

The latest data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) ranks the U.S. 15th in the world in broad penetration per capita, down from fourth in 2001 and 12th just six months ago. But instead of addressing America's digital decline, federal policymakers and industry representatives have attacked the OECD's methodology.

Free Press found that the critiques leveled at the OECD fall apart under scrutiny. Among the findings of the report:

No matter how one measures broadband penetration -- whether it's per capita or per household -- the United States still ranks 15th in among the 30 OECD nations.
There is absolutely no correlation between a country's population density and its broadband penetration. The geographical size of the United States doesn't explain the poor state of broadband adoption and availability.
Critics claim the OECD measures are flawed because they don't count mobile wireless. But a cell phone is no substitute for a true broadband connection -- and if these phones were counted, the United States would fare even worse in the world rankings.
While U.S. consumers have at best two choices for a wired broadband connection, in Europe consumers have many choices -- sometimes dozens -- among providers on just a single platform.
Many of the countries ahead of the United States in the world rankings still have higher levels of absolute broadband growth. And the U.S. broadband penetration growth rate during the second half of last year was the second lowest in the entire OECD.