Broadband Trends, Access Vary Across States

Looking to jumpstart the federal policy process regarding broadband Internet access, the Alliance for Public Technology (APT) has released A Nation of Laboratories, Broadband Experiments in The States, a report examining various broadband policies and programs nationwide.

In its report, APT recognizes that some states have productive programs in place, while others have none at all. APT contends that only a national policy can ensure full and equitable access to advanced telecommunications services.

Upon release of the report, Matthew Bennett, APT’s public policy director, said the fact that such programs are limited to single states undermines the goal of universal service envisioned by the 1996 Telecommunications Act, which according to the Federal Communications Commission, is intended to allow anyone to enter the communications business and any communications business to compete in any market against another business.

Chicago-area businesses seem to be feeling the effects of limited access, even though it is the center of more Internet traffic than any city worldwide, according to the Metropolitan Planning Council (MPC). Many Chicago neighborhoods lack access to even basic broadband technology and existing broadband providers have not matched demand in the area, MPC concludes in its new study From Broad Shoulders to Broadband.

One hope on the horizon is CivicNet, a project that would result in broadband access for all Chicago individuals and businesses. CivicNet seeks to create new infrastructure the city needs to compete for jobs, improve education, train the Internet work force and eliminate the Digital Divide. It would leverage the city’s telecommunications purchasing power to save millions of tax dollars and boost economic development across the city.

CivicNet seems to be stalled, however. The City of Chicago has yet to complete the bidding process for the project that was announced in 1999. According to Mayor Richard Daley’s press office, the project is still on hold and has not been cancelled. Through the release of its study, MPC is calling on the city to move forward with the plans. Similar programs are already found in Houston and Pennsylvania.

In Nebraska, broadband Internet access is rapidly spreading throughout the state, including rural areas. A study recently conducted by the Nebraska Information Network found that four out of five rural Nebraskans live in areas where high-speed connections are available. Additionally, 80 percent of people outside of the state’s most populated cities had broadband access in 2003, compared to 75 percent the previous year.

Research from Parks Associates indicates that the interest in upgrading to broadband service is diminishing and the surge in demand may be short-lived. Parks Associates, a market research consulting firm, recently released a study showing less than one-third of U.S. households with Internet service are interested in upgrading in the next 12 months, compared to the almost one-half of subscribers who were inclined to upgrade in 2002. As interest levels decrease, broadband service providers may need to offer more incentives to consumers such as lower prices or bundled services, Parks Associates suggests.

Although still in the experimental phase, a new technology being introduced in Australia, iBurst, may fit in well with U.S. businesses. The service allows laptop and PDA users to roam up to nine miles away from the base station and still receive a broadband connection. High-end business users in Australia are already subscribing to the expensive new technology following trial periods. Wired.com reports that Personal Broadband Australia, the company launching the network, plans to cover 75 percent of the Australian population and 95 percent of Australian businesses by 2005.

The U.S. should be leading the world in broadband access instead of trailing behind other nations, the APT report concludes, and in order to do so the federal government must take action and go beyond state experiments to incorporate the knowledge gained into a national plan of action.

The APT report is available at http://www.apt.org/publica/.
The Parks Associates report is available at http://www.parksassociates.com.

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