Broadband Falls Short in the United States

Large swaths of Western and southern United States do not have access to broadband fixed wireless or wired, according to a new national broadband map released by two US agencies on Thursday.

First national broadband map the nation show that between 5% and 10% of the US population has no access to broadband that supports basic applications, including downloading of Web pages, photos and video, said information Administration (NTIA), and United States ' national telecommunications. The NTIA released the map in collaboration with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.

The broadband map was developed using open source software, such as the OpenGEO Suite, WordPress and agencies will provide the map API (application programming interface) for all developers and entrepreneurs who want to offer services related to the map, NTIA and FCC officials said. The agencies will update the data in the map every six months, and the map includes a feature where users can report information about broadband provider in their area.

The map will help broadband providers and Government agencies to target areas where broadband services and service consumers compare and speed, Julius Genachowski, said Chairman of the FCC. The first version of the map is "just the beginning," said during a press conference.

"Millions of Americans live in areas where they cannot get broadband even if they wanted to because the infrastructure is not simply there," he added.

The NTIA has also announced new information broadband adoption Thursday. Approximately 68.2% of residents of the United States now Subscribe to broadband, compared to 63.5% a year ago, said Rebecca Blank, acting Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Department of Commerce, NTIA's parent Agency.

Growth is "good news, but when you dig deeper into the data, it is clear that we still have work to do," Blank said.

White families have an adoption rate of around 20 percent higher than families African-American or Hispanic, he said. The adoption rate in rural areas is about 10 percent behind urban areas, he added.

The broadband map also shows that schools and libraries slower broadband speeds they need, added Larry Strickling, administrator of NTIA. Schools with 1000 students should have broadband speeds from 50 to 100 Mbps, but two thirds of schools in the United States have speeds of less than 25 Mbps, he said. Only 4 percent of libraries have speeds of up to 25 Mbps, he added.

Some critics of the American recovery and Reinvestment Act, passed by Congress in early 2009, said that the draft law must have authorized the NTIA and the rural utility service of the United States to award approximately $ 7 billion in grants for broadband deployment and loans before the map was successful. The legislation required the two agencies to award the money by the end of 2010, while the deadline for the map will be available was Thursday.

Strickling said he suspects the map broadband will confirm that the choices of NTIA facts, even if the Agency more focused on building access middle-mile broadband and bringing to the Community institutions with respect to residential broadband service map exhibition.

The map allows users to search for address. The map that shows the area around the FCC's headquarters in southwest Washington, D.C., has 14 wired or wireless broadband providers that offers download speeds of 768 Kbps or faster, but only one provider that offers 10 Mbps at 25 Mbps and no one offering speed.

Fessenden, North Dakota, a rural community with approximately 600 residents have two wired and two mobile telephony providers, although one wired service provider offers 25-50 Mbps, according to the map. Riverside, a city with about 60 residents in South-central Wyoming, has a speed of broadband provider offering 1.5 to 3 Mbps.

The project map, which will cost approximately $ 200 million in five years, includes money for States to update their data. Data from broadband providers around 1600 are included in the map, officials said.

Verizon Communications has praised the broadband map, saying it will be beneficial to consumers.

But some critics have challenged the accuracy and usefulness. NTIA has created a "good map" with a lot of useful information, but no solid data on broadband speeds, said consultant broadband Community settles Craig.

"It's a shame that the potential value of the map is severely crippled by the incumbents ' refusal to provide the unique element of data that are the key to the primary reason for having the map--accurate speed," he said. "In general, this map will always be incomplete. The two pieces of data needed from Governments federal, State and local to create useful broadband policy and spending money effectively for broadband projects are actual speeds plus a true picture of the competitive landscape within any given area. "

Crowd sourcing capabilities of the map will update slowly Settles added. "More importantly, if a community does not have a broadband connection crowd sourcing data from them will be a bit difficult," he added.

Grant Gross covers technology and telecommunications policy in the Government of the United States for the IDG News Service. Follow Grant on Twitter at GrantGross. E-mail address is grant_gross@idg.com of Grant.