Press Release
New Map Is a Valuable Tool for Measuring U.S. Broadband Availability
Contact: Timothy Karr, 201-533-8838
WASHINGTON -- On Thursday, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) released a nationwide map that offers perhaps the first comprehensive picture of broadband deployment in America.
Free Press Research Director S. Derek Turner made the following statement:
"We congratulate the staff at NTIA on their timely delivery of the first ever National Broadband Map, which provides a long overdue picture of broadband availability in the United States. The new map is very user-friendly and designed in a way that both casual users and experienced researchers will find valuable.
"However, there are some shortcomings in the map beyond the agency’s control and driven by politics. Under the law, NTIA was required to delegate the mapping effort to 56 different state-designated private entities, leading to 56 different data collection methodologies that could compromise some of the utility of this information. Unfortunately, the map also lacks the most important data for broadband market analysis -- the price of service. This glaring omission is due solely to fierce opposition from the phone and cable industry, which threatened to hold the mapping effort hostage if NTIA required the collection of pricing data.
"We urge the FCC to pick up where the NTIA left off, to stand up to the phone and cable industry, and to use its authority under the law to compel ISPs to report basic, granular pricing and availability data. And all of this information should be publicly available, so that Americans can finally have a clear picture of the higher prices they are paying as a direct result of the dire state of competition in our broadband market."
Free Press Research Director S. Derek Turner made the following statement:
"We congratulate the staff at NTIA on their timely delivery of the first ever National Broadband Map, which provides a long overdue picture of broadband availability in the United States. The new map is very user-friendly and designed in a way that both casual users and experienced researchers will find valuable.
"However, there are some shortcomings in the map beyond the agency’s control and driven by politics. Under the law, NTIA was required to delegate the mapping effort to 56 different state-designated private entities, leading to 56 different data collection methodologies that could compromise some of the utility of this information. Unfortunately, the map also lacks the most important data for broadband market analysis -- the price of service. This glaring omission is due solely to fierce opposition from the phone and cable industry, which threatened to hold the mapping effort hostage if NTIA required the collection of pricing data.
"We urge the FCC to pick up where the NTIA left off, to stand up to the phone and cable industry, and to use its authority under the law to compel ISPs to report basic, granular pricing and availability data. And all of this information should be publicly available, so that Americans can finally have a clear picture of the higher prices they are paying as a direct result of the dire state of competition in our broadband market."
