ReasonedResponse.com

I grow weary of the "Woe-Is-US" crowd.  You know, the progressives and pundits so desperate to find fault with the United States that they have spent the past five years trashing our broadband deployment efforts and demanding that we mandate the kind of heavy-handed, draconian regulation that nearly killed the railroads in the 19th Century.

But as William Shakespeare noted in the Merchant of Venice: "Truth will out."

While the "Woe-Is-US" crowd was busy chasing the OECD rankings and wailing about how truly awful everything is here in America, calmer heads were working to determine where the trouble spots were occurring and how we might remedy them.  We knew that our data was insufficient to the task, and that we has best proceed with caution lest we create unintended consequences.  We also knew that with the level of private investment occurring in the broadband markets, and the number of competitors ramping up with lower costs and higher speeds, the OECD rankings couldn't possibly be painting a realistic picture of broadband in the US.

New and better data is starting to emerge, and it's not painting the doom-and-gloom scene you might expect:

• Last week, the National Telecommunications Information Administration issued its "Networked Nation: Broadband in America" study concluding that the objective of affordable access to broadband nationwide -- as stated by President Bush in 2004 -- has been realized "to a very great degree."  The NTIA report drew heavily on an FCC study showing that 99 percent of all US zip codes receive broadband service from at least one provider, and more than 80 percent have at least four high-speed providers offering service. Critics have consistently held that the zip code data is misleading, and the NTIA conceded that more work needs to be done regarding deployment, but that the broadband picture is much rosier than studies to date would have you believe.  I'll add another note that your don't see quoted much:  Maybe the zip code data isn't useless at all.  A study by the Huntington, West Virginia Department of Business and Economic Research found in 2005 that Appalachina businesses in zip code areas in which there was a broadband provider saw productivity gains of between 14 and 17 percent.  Direct correlation that validates at least some of the FCC data.
• Also last week came an analysis from John Horigan of the Pew Internet and American Life Project.  Pew notes that the data showing the US lagging in broadband may not be accurate because government assessment capabilities are inadequate.  Horrigan notes that in rural areas in particular, local governments simply don't have the tools to develop a valid snapshot of broadband deployment or adoption. 
• Finally this week, Connectivity Scorecard (CS) released a report not on how countries are utilizing telecommunications technologies to improve social and economic prosperity.   CS, created by London Business School professor Leonard Waverman, measures countries on 30 different indicators. The
  US topped the rankings, followed by Japan and Canada. South Korea, which normally ranks at or near the top in any Internet study, finished in the middle of the pack. Researchers attribute this to the US usage of technology to increase productivity, while South Korea's usage is not predominantly corporate in nature but consumer applications for entertainment purposes.  The study notes that the top-ranking United States, which has benefited the most from ICT, was rated below 7 out of 10, mostly due to weak usage of vast broadband networks, indicating there is room for improvement for all countries. "These results indicate an opportunity for countries to add hundreds of billions of dollars in economic benefit by rethinking how they measure and enable connectivity," the study said.
  

Finally, we are beginning to understand that the problem may not be with deployment but with adoption.  That is, publicly berating broadband providers because of low adoption rates may be a ploy to push political agendas for network neutrality, open access and mandated terms of service.  When in fact we are doing just fine deploying the infrastructure but need to focus more attention on why there are no applications that are driving greater adoption among some segments of the consumering public; on why people do not have the computer skills and literacy to make use of the Internet; and why some people just don't feel the Internet will ever be relevant to their lives.