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Because every American
should have access
to broadband Internet.

The Internet Innovation Alliance is a broad-based coalition of business and non-profit organizations that aim to ensure every American, regardless of race, income or geography, has access to the critical tool that is broadband Internet. The IIA seeks to promote public policies that support equal opportunity for universal broadband availability and adoption so that everyone, everywhere can seize the benefits of the Internet - from education to health care, employment to community building, civic engagement and beyond.

What is IIA?

Library

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Rey Ramsey at the Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy
Launch Video

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Broadband Investment and the Multiplier Effect
Launch Video

From the Fact Book

Recent policy initiatives seem to indicate a distaste for granular network management and instead a preference that operators should be strongly encouraged (if not simply forced) to “invest their way out” of congestion problems by expanding capacity

Read more from our Fact Book

Broadband Stimulus

Stimulus

IIA Broadband Principles

  • Every American should have broadband Internet access.
  • Solutions need to address the 5% of Americans who any lack access whatsoever (supply side) and the 45% of Americans who choose not to sign up (demand side).
  • Universal broadband sill require coordinated and complementary action from both public and private sectors.
  • Public policy should encourage competition, education and investment.

Stimulus: Funding Priorities

Grants Should Focus on Targeted Areas, Timely Deployment and Temporary Funding
Use stimulus funds to stimulate

Broadband expenditures in 2009 should seek projects that are well-defined, and, to the maximum extent possible, shovel ready.  They also should reflect previous experience, such as the benefits of connecting libraries and community technology centers.

Focus on what we know

5% of Americans have no broadband options whatsoever, while 45% do not see value in adoption.  The top priority for stimulus investments should be deployment of broadband to unserved areas where residents do not have access to wireline broadband or satellite broadband Internet services.

Tap local knowledge

States, cities and non-profit organizations should play a leading role as they are in the best able to identify community needs and offer creative, region-specific solutions.

Implement sustainable solutions

Do not set rules on the $7 billion of stimulus funding that discourage the more than $60 billion annually invested by the private sector.  Focus on the importance of digital literacy and consumer education for improved broadband adoption and usage.

What Does the Stimulus Program Mean for Consumers?
  • Increased momentum toward providing broadband technology to consumers in rural and other previously unserved areas.
  • New research and data to help pinpoint communities that do not have broadband, why they lack service and what can be done to connect them.
  • Greater competition in the broadband marketplace to spur new applications and innovation.
  • Underscore the importance of digital literacy for all Americans by showcasing the benefits of broadband, including access with alternative devices.
What’s in the Stimulus Plan for Broadband?

Read more: Stimulus: Funding Priorities

Stimulus: A National Broadband Strategy

Increasing Broadband Access Through Good Public Policy

A National Broadband Strategy should be adopted that focuses on the “supply side” (promoting broadband deployment and access) and the “demand side” (encouraging broadband adoption and addressing gaps in understanding). Read more about IIA’s national broadband strategy.

Read more: IIA’s National Broadband Strategy.

FCC Notice of Inquiry on National Broadband Strategy

The FCC released a Notice of Inquiry on developing a national broadband plan that will seek to ensure that every American has access to broadband capability. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 requires the FCC to create a national broadband plan and to deliver it to Congress by Feb. 17, 2010.

Read more: Stimulus: A National Broadband Strategy

Stimulus: Timeline

  • February 13, 2009 – Bill Passed By Congress
  • February 17, 2009 – President Obama Signs Stimulus Into Law
  • March 10, 2009 – First NTIA/RUS/FCC Meeting On Stimulus
  • March 24, 2009 – FCC Releases Request For Comments On Key Definitions
  • April 8, 2009 – FCC Releases NOI On National Broadband Strategy
  • April 13, 2009 – Comments On Key Definitions Due To FCC
  • June 2009 –  Publish Notice of Funds Availability
  • 4th Quarter 2009 – (Tentative) Initial Grant Awards Made
  • February 2010 – FCC NBS due to Congress
  • Early 2010 (Tentative) – Second Round of Grants Made
  • All Awards to Be Made September - 2010


 

 

Stimulus: What Others Are Saying

“We want to ensure that everyone has access to broadband, and we also want to ensure that everyone has access to broadband at meaningful speeds and affordable prices and can benefit from competition among service providers.”

— Chairman Rick Boucher (Hearing on the Oversight of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act: Broadband, April 2, 2009)

“…the best way to assure the bulk of stimulus funds are targeted and expended in the most efficient manner possible is to, as Congress directed, rely extensively on the States.”

— National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners: (NARUC, Letter to USDA, 4/2/09)

Raul Katz, director-business strategy research at the Columbia Institute for Tele-Information (CITI), said that while the construction of broadband facilities under the ARRA would create about 128,000 jobs - about 44,000 fewer than would be created by equivalent spending on traditional infrastructure such as roads and bridges - the impact of network effects could range from a net loss of 1,000 jobs to a net gain of 270,000 jobs.

— (February 19 2009, TR Daily)

“In addition to hardware, urban families need help with literacy- appropriate training and content, and a lot of ongoing support to cross the digital divide. Giving families the ability to earn these services via "sweat equity" is a proven way to help them overcome the barriers to broadband adoption and incorporate the innumerable benefits of the online world into their daily lives.”

— Greg Goldman, CEO Wireless Philadelphia (Washington Post, March 14, 2009)

“As specified by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, government can play a role in stimulating both supply and demand. Programs that integrate what we consider six key drivers: adoption, public/private partnerships, intentionality, affordability, sustainability and innovation can support the development of a digital ecosystem and promote a culture of use. These six drivers should serve as a framework for evaluating requests for broadband stimulus funding and drive our national goal to bring access to unserved and underserved communities.”

— Dr. Nicol Turner-Lee, One Economy Corporation, (Hearing on the Oversight of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act: Broadband, April 2, 2009)

Further Reading

Special Reports The Economic Impact of Broadband Investment

In this paper we analyze the economic impact of broadband deployment on consumer welfare, job creation, and economic output. This study represents an update of prior studies conducted in 2001 and 2003, in which we made several projections based on the best available data at the time. We begin by comparing those predictions against the actual U.S. broadband experience during the past decade. As it turns out, many of our predictions concerning economic welfare and employment/output effects were conservative because we could not envision the myriad applications made possible by broadband connections; nor could we envision the rate at which broadband access prices would fall. In a largely deregulatory climate, broadband penetration skyrocketed to nearly 65 percent penetration by the end of the decade as absolute and quality-adjusted prices fell, and first-generation technologies—cable modem, DSL, and 3G wireless—individually covered approximately 90 percent of all U.S. households and collectively covered even more.

In the second part of the paper, we analyze how much additional investment will naturally occur to wire the country with next-generation technologies. That new investment will expand domestic output and it will create jobs. We also estimate the output and job effects under an alternative scenario in which next-generation deployment is accelerated and is expanded in scope. Recognizing our limited ability to conceptualize next=generation applications, we attempt to estimate the spillover effect of next-generation technologies on other sectors of the economy. Finally, we briefly assess various policy options facing regulators. Given the amount of investment that continues to be deployed in this sector and the precarious current state of the U.S. economy, and given the linkage between that investment and jobs/output, regulators must diligently avoid taking any steps that might undermine the industry’s incentives to invest.

Read more: Economic_Impact_of_Broadband_Investment_Broadband_for_America_.pdf

Special Reports Fighting the Next Good Fight

Sometime in June we’ll see the start of a nationwide mad dash for $7.2
billion that is the down payment on a U.S. national broadband strategy.
Expect this to be a highly competitive process.

Read more: http://www.successful.com/msp/snapshot-4-09.pdf

Special Reports IIA Broadband Stimulus Overview

Over $7 billion has been earmarked for broadband expansion in the federal economic stimulus. The top priority for stimulus investments should be deployment of broadband to unserved areas.

Read more: IIA_Broadband_Stimulus_Overview.pdf

Special Reports FCC NOI - A National Broadband Plan for Our Future

The FCC Notice of Inquiry seeks comment to inform the development of a national broadband plan for our country. Its focus is to enable the build-out and utilization of high-speed broadband infrastructure.

Read more: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-09-31A1.pdf

Op-Eds As Washington Wakes Up to Broadband, Adoption and Availability Must Be Addressed

To paraphrase Mark Twain, for the past decade, there has been a lot of talk in Washington about broadband, but no one has done much about it. That changes today, as the Department of Commerce, the Department of Agriculture and the Federal Communications Commission will explain how the Obama administration intends to use the provisions of the stimulus bill to ensure that broadband technologies are available to, and affordable for, every American.

Read op-ed