A report from the Pew Charitable Trust Pew finds that improved data collection is the key to more effective use of broadband technology.
“To Improve Broadband Deployment, Enhanced Data Collection Is Key” begins by highlighting how much money has been spent bringing broadband to citizens of the United States. The document details the flaws in how the investments are being assessed is leading to less-than-optimal outcomes.
The core of the document is the identification of four persistent challenges and presentation of possible responses.
The report said the first problem is that broadband availability data is aggregated and assessed at the census block or census tract level. This leads to an obvious problem: Some addresses reported as having access to broadband simply do not.
The second challenge is that federal broadband data sources self-report. Studies show that data from ISPs overstate the availability of broadband services and advertised speeds when they are compared to findings from the research community. There also is a need for more information on the type of connection — cable, DSL, fiber, etc. — that is being used.
The third challenge is that definitions of broadband-related concepts are inconsistent across agencies. Strengths and weaknesses associated with each type of broadband connectivity “remain unaccounted for in any evaluation or analysis relying on available federal data,” the report says.
Federal data is useful but limited. The report says that it does not include “historical standards or definitions for digital equity or impact assessments, including assessments of broadband affordability and digital skills to monitor adoption and track trends in internet use.”
The final challenge is a lack of what the report refers to as consistent impact assessments. Pew found that the impact in some areas is better understood than others.
“The Urban Rate Survey and Current Population Survey detail average prices, speed tiers, and technology types for urban consumers but don’t contain such information about rural areas or include variations in affordability across the country,” the report says.
The conclusions of the report are that investments must be made to improve data on network performance and quality and that better ways must be developed to assess how outcomes are influenced by the availability of broadband.
“So, if policymakers, particularly those at the federal level, want to answer questions about the impact of broadband, they would need to direct federal or state funding to collect the necessary data to make those impact assessments possible.”
Though it is in flux, the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) is the highest profile broadband investment program. Here is a state-by-state update of the BEAD changes, which were announced on June 6.
