US launches first national broadband map

The Department of the national telecommunications and information Administration (NTIA) Commerce has unveiled the national broadband map for the United States. The map is the first public map, searchable nationwide availability of broadband Internet: its goal is to help expand broadband access and adoption in Communities at risk of being left in the economy of the 21st century, as well as aid to businesses and consumers who seek information about their high-speed Internet options.

The NTIA created the national broadband map in collaboration with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), using data that every State, territory and the District of Columbia (or their delegates) collected from broadband providers, or other data sources. The result is more than 25 million searchable see records where the broadband Internet service is available, the technology used to provide the service, the maximum advertised speed of service and the names of service provider. Users can search by address, display data on a map or compare broadband in different geographic areas (States, counties or districts of the Congress).

The map shows that between 5-10 percent of Americans do not have access to broadband at speeds that support a set of applications, including the downloading of Web pages, photos, videos and use simple video conferences. This is a rather confused, as the FCC defined broadband in July 2010 as throughput 4Mbps downstream and 1Mbps upstream to support these applications. The NTIA only data collected in the intervals between 3 .6Mbps and 6 to 10Mbps download speeds advertised, which means that all connections were grouped in category 3Mbps broadband. The FCC found in December 2010 that 68 percent of us broadband connections were not really broadband.

"The national broadband map shows there are still too many people and institutions lack the level of broadband service, needed to fully participate in the Internet economy."We are pleased to see the increase in broadband adoption last year, particularly in light of the difficult economic environment, but a digital divide remains, Lawrence e. Strickling, Assistant Secretary for communications and information and NTIA administrator, said in a statement. "Through the program opportunities NTIA's broadband technology, digital literacy activities and other initiatives, including the instruments that today we are releasing the Obama administration is working to address these challenges."

The NTIA has also published a new report preview of data collected through the survey on the use of the Internet of 54,000 households, conducted by the U.s. Census Bureau in October 2010. Here are a few highlights:

Broadband Internet access at home continues to grow: 68 percent of households have broadband access compared to 63.5% last year. (In the survey, broadband is defined as the Internet access service that uses DSL, cable modem, fiber optic, mobile broadband and other high speed Internet access).Significant disparities between demographic groups: people with low income, disabled, elderly, minorities, the less educated families, not family and non-employed tend to other groups in home broadband use.While since 2007, has reduced the digital divide between urban and rural areas, remains significant. In 2010, 70 percent of urban households and only 60 percent of rural households accessed broadband Internet service. (Last year, those figures were 66% and 54%, respectively).Overall, the two most commonly cited reasons for not having broadband Internet access at home are that it is perceived as unnecessary (46%) or too expensive (25%). In rural America, however, the lack of broadband availability is a big reason for non-adoption than in urban areas (9.4% vs. 1%). Americans also cite the lack of a computer as a factor.Despite the growing importance of the Internet in American life, 28.3 percent of all persons do not use the Internet anywhere, down from 31.6% last year.

If you want to read the report in all 28 pages, check it out here: February 2011 digital nation (PDF).