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Bush Declares Broadband 'Connection Accomplished'

New report touts accomplishments for Internet connections in US

By Martin H. Bosworth
ConsumerAffairs.com

January 31, 2008 

But critics charge the report is based on flawed data and does not accurately depict the true state of broadband usage, one where rural and low-income communities only have one choice for Internet service--when they can get service at all.

The "Networked Nation: Broadband In America" report was prepared by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), an arm of the Commerce Department that advises the White House on communications policy.

The report stated that since President Bush took office in 2000, the total number of broadband lines in the United States has grown by over 1,100 percent from almost 6.8 million lines to 82.5 million in December 2006.

The NTIA report, using data provided by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), also stated that number of broadband service providers in America than tripled from December 2003 to December 2006, and that home broadband Internet adoption home broadband usage has increased from 9.1 percent of households in September 2001 to 50.8 percent in October 2007.

Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez credited the Bush administration's largely market-oriented, deregulatory policies as facilitating a better environment for broadband adoption.

"The President's policies have made a significant impact on the availability and affordability of broadband in the United States," Gutierrez said. "The broadband policies put in place by the President have created a competitive environment to foster innovation and provide effective technologies, services and cost-effective solutions to revolutionize health care delivery, education, society and the economy."

But according to Derek Turner of Free Press, the Bush administration does not have much to crow about regarding broadband development in the US.

"Declaring mission accomplished won't reverse America's rapid disappearance from the ranks of world broadband leaders," Turner said. "Just ask the tens of millions of Americans still stranded on the wrong side of the digital divide."

"[W]hile the Bush Administration stands by and cheers over Internet connections barely faster than dial-up, countries like England and South Korea are bringing affordable and fast broadband to their citizens," Turner said. "Americans will be left on the sidelines as these countries reap the huge economic and social benefits of innovative technologies."

The FCC data that the NTIA report used as its basis for evaluation has been criticized for counting a single address in a ZIP code as indicating broadband availability. In a 2005 report written by Turner, Free Press, the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) and Consumers' Union repudiated the FCC for ignoring the lack of competition in cable and DSL markets, and for setting the benchmark for "broadband" at 200 kilobits per second--barely enough to handle streaming video.

The FCC's data collection methods are considered so spotty that the agency itself has promised to reevaluate its procedures for collecting data on broadband availability. Senator Daniel Inouye (D-HI) introduced legislation last summer to overhaul the FCC's broadband data gathering procedures, but the bill has languished since then.

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