What Does the FCC’s Broadband Deployment Report Tell Us About the Digital Divide?

In 2012, the Federal Communications Commission released its eighth Broadband Deployment Report (the "706 report") and found that approximately 19 million Americans at the end of 2011 lacked access to high-speed internet access. The FCC concluded that "broadband is not yet being deployed in a reasonable and timely fashion." On May 29, 2019, the FCC distributed a press release summarizing findings from its revised 2019 Broadband Deployment Report and stated that at the end of 2017, 21.3 million Americans lacked access to broadband networks. However, the FCC now concludes that this gap in broadband deployment meant that broadband is being deployed in a reasonable and timely fashion. How can 19 million people without broadband be a problem in 2012 but some 21 million without broadband not be a problem in 2019? Politics is an obvious answer. The 706 report can prompt calls for policy intervention and the 2012 FCC was more disposed to action to address issues in the broadband market than today's FCC is. But FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s press release points to two other aspects of the 706 report that deserve attention:

1. The shaky metrics it rests on, and;
2. Its constricted view of the digital divide.

[John B. Horrigan is Senior Fellow at the Technology Policy Institute.]