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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMicrosoft Mapped Broadband Affordability Gaps Because The U.S. Government Couldn't Be Bothered To
https://www.techdirt.com/2022/07/15/microsoft-mapped-broadband-affordability-gaps-because-the-u-s-government-couldnt-be-bothered-to/?fbclid=IwAR3qSmXI4YFCZVFdVh94oa28ejz_YwtRlOegkoxibruahS0HMN96wft101IU.S. taxpayers have spent more than $350 million for FCC broadband maps that overstate broadband availability and speeds, downplay widespread monopolization and consolidation, and cant even be bothered to measure affordability, one of the biggest obstacles to widespread adoption.
You only need to spend a few minutes to plug your address into the FCCs broadband mapping website to see how the government data all but hallucinates competitors and speeds. Bad data makes it easier for entrenched broadband monopolies (and the regulators, lawmakers, think tankers, consultants, lobbyists, and academics paid to love them) to downplay pretty obvious market failure.
Fortunately theres starting to finally be some movement on this problem. In 2019, Congress passed the Broadband DATA Act, which demands the FCC do a better job verifying broadband data coming from ISPs, use a broader selection of data sources, and stop using dumb, flawed methodology (the FCC long declared an entire census block served with broadband if just one home in that block could get service).
The FCCs maps historically also havent been willing to map broadband prices and affordability. To that end, the NTIA has been doing some good work trying to illustrate broadband affordability gaps, again caused by regional monopolization.
As has Microsoft, which, last week, offered an updated look at digital equity, a measurement that heavily integrates broadband availability and affordability:
The new tool was developed by Chief Data Science Officer Juan Lavista Ferres and the Microsoft AI for Good Lab, and aggregates public data from the Census Bureau, Federal Communications Commission (FCC), BroadbandNow and Microsofts own Broadband Usage Data.
It goes census tract-by-census tract, examining 20 different indicators of digital equity such as broadband access, usage, education and poverty rates to create one of the most complete pictures of digital equity in these areas to date.
The full Microsoft dashboard is interesting and worth a look. And it reiterates some important realities, such as the fact that the digital divide isnt just a problem for remote, rural areas:
Its important to understand that for thirty years, government broadband data has helped downplay the real problem in U.S. telecom: regional monopolization, mindless consolidation, and the state and federal corruption that protects it.
But bad data doesnt just help obscure the impact of monopoly and duopoly power.
Entrenched broadband giants actively exploit the bad data to block government funding to competitors or innovative new cooperative and utility-based community broadband ventures...
And while its great the FCC appears to have finally gotten the message, much of this money is coming after weve started distributing more than $50 billion in COVID relief and infrastructure broadband funding. And there are already complaints that telecom monopolies will still be able to exploit the new mapping system to falsely inflate broadband coverage or block funding going to competitors.
You cant fix a problem you cant measure, and its absolutely gobsmacking that were thirty-plus years into the broadband revolution and the wealthiest country on the planet still cant accurately measure the problem were trying to fix.
You only need to spend a few minutes to plug your address into the FCCs broadband mapping website to see how the government data all but hallucinates competitors and speeds. Bad data makes it easier for entrenched broadband monopolies (and the regulators, lawmakers, think tankers, consultants, lobbyists, and academics paid to love them) to downplay pretty obvious market failure.
Fortunately theres starting to finally be some movement on this problem. In 2019, Congress passed the Broadband DATA Act, which demands the FCC do a better job verifying broadband data coming from ISPs, use a broader selection of data sources, and stop using dumb, flawed methodology (the FCC long declared an entire census block served with broadband if just one home in that block could get service).
The FCCs maps historically also havent been willing to map broadband prices and affordability. To that end, the NTIA has been doing some good work trying to illustrate broadband affordability gaps, again caused by regional monopolization.
As has Microsoft, which, last week, offered an updated look at digital equity, a measurement that heavily integrates broadband availability and affordability:
The new tool was developed by Chief Data Science Officer Juan Lavista Ferres and the Microsoft AI for Good Lab, and aggregates public data from the Census Bureau, Federal Communications Commission (FCC), BroadbandNow and Microsofts own Broadband Usage Data.
It goes census tract-by-census tract, examining 20 different indicators of digital equity such as broadband access, usage, education and poverty rates to create one of the most complete pictures of digital equity in these areas to date.
The full Microsoft dashboard is interesting and worth a look. And it reiterates some important realities, such as the fact that the digital divide isnt just a problem for remote, rural areas:
The dashboard also confirms what we have long known: the digital divide isnt just felt in rural areas it also deeply impacts cities. In Los Angeles County, where were working with partner Starry to expand access to affordable broadband, more than a quarter of residents arent using the internet at broadband speeds, and roughly one in five households lacks a desktop or laptop computer, cutting off millions from the digital world.
Its important to understand that for thirty years, government broadband data has helped downplay the real problem in U.S. telecom: regional monopolization, mindless consolidation, and the state and federal corruption that protects it.
But bad data doesnt just help obscure the impact of monopoly and duopoly power.
Entrenched broadband giants actively exploit the bad data to block government funding to competitors or innovative new cooperative and utility-based community broadband ventures...
And while its great the FCC appears to have finally gotten the message, much of this money is coming after weve started distributing more than $50 billion in COVID relief and infrastructure broadband funding. And there are already complaints that telecom monopolies will still be able to exploit the new mapping system to falsely inflate broadband coverage or block funding going to competitors.
You cant fix a problem you cant measure, and its absolutely gobsmacking that were thirty-plus years into the broadband revolution and the wealthiest country on the planet still cant accurately measure the problem were trying to fix.
(Throwing this in for the halibut.)
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