Data & Mapping

The Senate Commerce Committee approved a number of bills and nominations in executive session including two of particular interest:

The particulars of how the Biden Administration will execute the American Jobs Plan are scant for now, and it’s far from guaranteed that all of the $100 billion will make it through Congress unscathed. As more details emerge on how exactly this $100 billion would be spent, though, here are some major considerations that could determine how successful the plan will be.

On April 9, 2021, Federal Communications Commission Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel wrote to various Members of Congress regarding the Oct 1, 2020 Government Accountability Office report entitled "FCC Should Enhance Performance Goals and Measures for Its Program to Support Broadband Service in High-Cost Areas". In their Sept 17, 2020 response to the draft report, the Managing Director and Chief of the Wireline Competition Bureau noted that the FCC has adopted targeted performance goals and measures for specific high-cost support mechanisms.

The Comprehensive Broadband Connectivity Act, originally co-sponsored in the New York state Assembly by Mike Norris (R-Lockport), tasks the state Public Service Commission to study the availability, reliability and cost of broadband services. The Public Service Commission is tasked with: identifying barriers to the delivery of internet at a census block level, which is the smallest geographical census unit; problem solving for underserved areas with available technology; and identifying providers' noncompliance with franchise agreements where local governments have complained to the commiss

As part of the Federal Communications Commission’s Broadband Data Collection effort to collect comprehensive data on broadband availability across the United States, the FCC is encouraging the public to download the FCC’s Speed Test app, which is currently used to collect speed test data as part of the FCC’s Measuring Broadband America program. The app provides a way for consumers to test the performance of their mobile and in-home broadband networks.

The Federal Communications Commission's Office of Economics and Analytics (OEA), in conjunction with the Wireline Competition Bureau (WCB) and the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (WTB), released updated data on fixed broadband deployment, and mobile voice and broadband deployment as of June 30, 2020. These data were collected through FCC Form 477 and are available on the Commission’s website.

Rep Antonio Delgado (D-NY-19) reintroduced legislation to help end the digital divide and deliver affordable, quality broadband service to rural Americans.

Reps Antonio Delgado (D-NY-19) and David McKinley (R-WV-1) introduced bipartisan legislation to help end the digital divide and deliver affordable, quality broadband service to rural Americans.

Internet service providers (ISPs) and their defenders are repeatedly claiming that the US did better than other network neutrality countries (specifically, the EU27) when it came to handling the crush of Covid-19 induced traffic. Unsurprisingly, they credit the lack of regulation for this amazing response. Once again, this claim does not hold up to real scrutiny. As with the investment nonsense, this is a highly complicated area and therefore subject to a lot of spin and heated arguments over what the data actually show and how to explain it.

Before spending an additional $100 billion of public money on rural broadband, avoiding the mistakes of the past decade would be a good place to start.

Lesson #1: The digital divide was not a consequence of rural economics; it has been the policy of the federal government. Broadband is not simply a speed at a point in time. Rather than focus on a short-term goal of attaining any particular speed, public funding is better spent on long-term infrastructure, best defined as assets with a life of at least thirty years.