Broadband Access, the Difference Between Can and Do

The following was published in Dairy Business on March 28, 2019
by Megan Nelson, Economic Analyst

How an FCC Survey Question May Overstate Broadband Access in Rural America

At issue in the rural broadband debate is the way in which internet service providers are asked if they provide internet services to customers. The survey question posed to services providers is if they “could” or “do” provide services to at least one location in the census block being surveyed. The ambiguous nature of this question results in a significant disconnect when measuring the availability of broadband access across rural America – as the ability to provide services is comingled with service that is actually provided. Today’s Market Intel reviews two measures of broadband connectivity and shows that the digital divide in rural America may be a lot larger than estimated by the Federal Communications Commission.

One of the largest hurdles to full deployment and adoption of highspeed broadband services is the ability to accurately determine where broadband services currently are, and where they are not. According to the FCC’S 2018 Broadband Deployment Report, by December 2016, approximately 92 percent of Americans had access to high-speed broadband, representing a 2 percentage point increase over 2014 levels and an 11 percentage point increase from 2012. The report also includes the updated broadband deployment maps, which utilize information gathered from the FCC’s Form 477, a mandatory document filed semiannually by broadband providers. Figure 1 illustrates the most up-to-date fixed broadband deployment data from the FCC.

However, as many farmers and ranchers can attest, the accuracy of the Commission’s map is up for debate. One of the primary issues with the data provided to the FCC is a result of the way in which the survey question is presented. The question posed to service providers asks if they can or if they do provide services to at least one location in the census block being surveyed. The terms mean substantially different things, particularly when it comes to assessing where policy initiatives are needed to provide broadband. As a result, survey responses likely inflate the percentage of Americans with access to broadband as service providers may consider many customers as those they “can” provide services to without actually providing any services.

When looking at broadband usage data, however, the story looks much different. Data analysis from both Pew Research Center and Microsoft’s broadband usage data indicate that the true rate of fixed broadband deployment is closer to 50 percent to 65 percent of the U.S. population, as opposed to the 92 percent estimated by the FCC, Figure 2.

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According to the FCC’s data, Mississippi has the lowest percentage of fixed broadband availability in the U.S., with 2.2 million citizens, or 72 percent of the Mississippi population, with access to the internet at broadband speeds (25 mbps/3 mbps). However, when looking at Microsoft’s usage data, only 487,000 citizens, or 16 percent of the Mississippi population, use the internet at broadband speeds. This 56-percentage point decrease in broadband availability marks a substantial difference in the perceived number of citizens able to participate in a growing digital economy. Figure 3 shows Microsoft’s county-level snapshot of FCC broadband availability versus Microsoft’s usage data for the state of Mississippi.

Read the full article and the see additional data by clicking here.