Panelists like David Sutphen, co-chair of the Internet Innovation Alliance, asked that government focus on adoption first, especially among minorities and lower-income groups. “The National Broadband Plan is most important,” said Sutphen. “If we could get everyone who has been worried about open Internet principles focused on the digital literacy and value proposition gap, we’d go a long way towards solving the problem.”
In advance of its deadline to present a national broadband plan to Congress on March 17, the FCC conducted a consumer survey on Internet usage. The commission will be presenting the results at the Brookings Institute today, but via Multichannel News here are some highlights:
The survey, a random phone survey conducted in October and November, found that 80 million adults (and 13 million kids) do not have high-speed Internet at home.
More than one-third of the non-adopters (28 million adults) indicated that they don’t have broadband because either the price of service is too high (15%); they can’t afford a computer; installation costs are too high (10%); or they don’t want a long-term service contract (9%). According to the survey, the average monthly broadband bill is $41.
In the U.S., the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) projects that high-speed connections to the home would increase the number of telecommuters to 19 million by 2012. That would save 1.5 billion hours of commute time—and reduce gasoline consumption by 5 percent.
John T. Chambers, “Broadband Speeds Our Economy,” Gigaom [blog], March 3, 2009.
Portada points to a new report from the U.S. Department of Commerce that shows for Hispanic Americans the digital divide is still in place, despite some recent gains:
43,08% of Hispanics use a broadband (39.74%) or dial up connection (2.98%) at home, while 49.31% uses the internet either at home or anywhere. The percentage of Hispanics who do not have Internet access lies at 50.69% in comparison with a 25.68% ratio for White Non Hispanic.
The Hispanic Institute has released a new report on broadband adoption and minority communities. Multichannel News looks at some of the report’s findings:
[W]hile English-dominant Latinos subscribe to broadband services at a higher rate than non-Hispanic whites (68% of those surveyed having broadband services at home), Spanish-dominant Latinos lag well behind, with only 32% using the Internet in any form in 2006, compared to 78% of English-dominant Latinos and 76% of bilingual speakers.
The full Hispanic Institute report, Toward Access, Adoption & Inclusion: A Call for Digital Equality and Broadband Opportunity, is available online.
GigaOm highlights a new report from research firm Informa that finds fixed-line broadband subscribers will reach 500 million worldwide within the next four years, with developing countries leading the charge.
Discouragement has been cited by the Bureau of Labor Statistics as a reason for an expected increase in the jobless rate this year. As of December, a large number of workers have quit looking for work because they think no jobs are available.
“Our study also shows the enormous potential benefit of community broadband centers for those who are not connected at home,” said Lawrence Spiwak, president of the Phoenix Center. “While broadband use at home delivers significant benefits, shared facilities can be a valuable solution to connectivity gaps in unserved and underserved communities.”
Denmark West, President of Digital Media for BET, discusses broadband adoption in underserved communities, and how Internet-based entertainment deliverables can increase adoption in those communities.
The Hill reports that the idea of tiered pricing for broadband has gained at least some support with the FCC:
FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell, a Republican, said companies should be able to experiment with different pricing models, especially if private carriers are expected to finance the building of faster, bigger networks to expand wireless broadband services. If people pay for the bandwidth they use, it could reduce congestion on the networks as well.
“Pricing freedom has to be essential,” he said on a panel today.
With more and more devices relying on the Internet, the long-standing “all you can eat” pricing structure for high-speed Internet is becoming increasingly unrealistic. The question is, how will consumers react to any sort of pricing change?
A new report from market research firm Pike & Fischer (via Broadcasting & Cable) estimates that new high-speed Internet subscriptions may drop by as much as 10% this year. The firm also predicts that home penetration will reach 65%, leaving 35% unconnected.
CNet reports on a new survey on Internet usage from the Pew Research Center (PDF), which finds that 74% of adult Americans are online. That’s the good news. The bad news is the digital divide remains very much in place, with 76% of white Americans online compared to 59% of African Americans and 55% of Hispanic Americans.
A new report from Pew has some encouraging news about Internet use in the Hispanic community:
From 2006 to 2008, internet use among Latino adults rose by 10 percentage points, from 54% to 64%. In comparison, the rates for whites rose four percentage points, and the rates for blacks rose only two percentage points during that time period.
Latinos still trail whites in Internet use, but the Pew report shows that the gap is diminishing. Unfortunately, when it comes to broadband adoption at home, the Hispanic community saw very little change — from 79% of Internet users in 2007, to 81% in 2008.
A new report finds that U.S. broadband adoption may be better than previously thought. Via Broadband Breakfast:
The report was generated by comparing the Census blocks in which broadband is available with the number of subscribers that carriers report to the Federal Communications Commission.
By linking the number of subscribers in a particular state (from FCC data) to a data-set of Census block-by-Census block tabulations of broadband availability, consultant Brian Webster believes that he is able to peg the nation-wide broadband adoption rate for homes passed at 72.9 percent.
That’s roughly 10% higher than previously estimated.
Multichannel News sat down with IIA Co-Chairman David Sutphen to talk about broadband adoption among America’s minority communities and the role of private investment in expanding broadband, among other things. Check it out.
A new study from think tank Information Technology & Innovation Foundation suggests that one way to increase demand for broadband in poor and rural areas is for the government to pay providers to sign up new customers. From PC World:
The ITIF recommends that the U.S. government run a competition for broadband providers to sign up subscribers in low-income areas. The winner of the competition in each low-income community would get $250 per subscriber, and this one-time contest could raise broadband subscriber numbers by 5 percent and cost $970 million.
IIA Co-Chairman David Sutphen has penned a column for Fierce Telecom on reducing the “digital divide.” Using a recent FCC hearing and informal roundtable discussion as starting off points, Sutphen writes:
The disparity in broadband adoption rates between caucasians and people of color is well-documented. A panelist at the FCC hearing tagged adoption at about 60 percent for the general population, but only 43 percent for minorities. That 20 percent delta is a wide gap—too wide—aptly recognized by FCC Commissioner Michael Copps as the “digital divide.”’
None of the challenges presented in rural or urban America are unconquerable. Many will take time, money and understanding before 100 percent of all Americans enjoy the benefits of broadband.
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