Technology Policy Institute

The Federal Communications Commission released the second of its twice-yearly data on broadband availability on October 29, showing data as of December, 2020. The data, which are available at the Census Block level, show a continued increase in availability and speeds. The Technology Policy Institute (TPI) analyzed the data and incorporated it into the TPI Broadband Map following its release. Highlights of the new data are:

In June 2021, Consumer Reports (CR) released the results of a nationally representative survey related to broadband use. On the heels of that survey, CR launched its “Let’s Broadband Together” initiative, which uses crowd-sourced methods to gather more data.

The Technology Policy Institute's Broadband Connectivity Index (BCI) built into the TPI Broadband Map is derived using a principal components analysis that explicitly takes into account many factors of access to broadband.

The Technology Policy Institute is adding a “Broadband Connectivity Index” (BCI) to the TPI Broadband Map. The BCI incorporates information from multiple datasets in a way that makes it possible to compare overall connectivity objectively and consistently across geographic areas.

The Technology Policy Institute launched a new broadband map intended to help policymakers and others make evidence-based decisions, including how to best implement, evaluate, and take advantage of new infrastructure programs. Users can customize maps and analyses by data type and source, geographic region, time frame, and more. During the current open beta period, users can register to see the map here and will receive a full access link via email.

Kentucky, Louisiana and Tribal areas have the largest shares of households signing up for the Emergency Broadband Benefit (EBB) Program subsidy. The Technology Policy Institute's (TPI) Broadband Map uses EBB data from the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) to display program usage and overall progress across the country.

Internet access for Americans has taken on new urgency since the pandemic. Prior to it, many people without a home broadband connection could manage, perhaps using a smartphone for web surfing or taking a computer to the library to use Wi-Fi for more data-intensive applications. But the pandemic exposed the limits of wireless data plans for schoolwork or working from home, as well as the severe consequences of having limited or no access to the internet at home.

US broadband policy has emphasized the importance of facilities-based competition given its potential to encourage investment, improve quality, and lower prices. A natural question to ask today is whether this competition can encourage more adoption. Using Census-tract-level data from the Federal Communications Commission and the American Community Survey (ACS) from 2017-2019, Wallsten finds that competition between cable and fiber does not seem to bring the last group of unconnected people online.

California’s net neutrality law, which a federal district court upheld in February, is already wading into the regulatory morass that brought down past regulatory regimes charged with maintaining neutrality in rail transport and energy.

Since 2014, the Federal Communications Commission has collected detailed price data on nearly 24,000 broadband plans through its “Urban Rate Survey.” The FCC uses the survey data to “determine the reasonable comparability benchmarks for fixed voice and broadband rates for universal service purposes.” The presence of this data and analysis of it yield three conclusions: