Data-Centric Approach Key to State Broadband Expansion

With significant funds being allocated by federal and state governments, the requisite attention and resources may finally be lining up to make big headway in narrowing the digital divide. However, the focus must shift to expanding broadband access in the fastest and most efficient way. Leveraging extensive data sets from private, public and nonprofit sources and applying artificial intelligence capabilities can provide insights from the largest lens down to a microscopic view of state, county and census block groups. This type of powerful analysis can show how certain decisions would impact revenue and sustainability, allowing states to see the impact of changing various inputs to help not only make the right decisions but also measure success moving forward. The states and carriers that adopt this type of rigorous data-centric approach will be the fastest and most efficient at deploying and operating broadband networks and promoting services newly available to these communities.

[Peters Suh is Accenture North America Communications & Media industry lead and Ryan Oakes is Accenture Global Public Service industry lead.]