When I gave my first public speech about broadband planning process last July, I criticized the quality of analysis in the public comments we had received. Many comments were either uninformative or business-as-usual responses, and few offered concrete or creative ideas as to how to address the issues that caused Congress to ask for a plan.

As I reflect on the last six months, with the plan deadline less than a week away, I have to change my tune. The public record since July is voluminous, with nearly 25,000 filings. They included many documents that shaped our thinking and lead to core recommendations in the plan.  For example, Dr. Gerry Faulhaber, a professor at the Wharton School of Business, filed comments noting the importance of transparency for consumers in broadband speeds and service which provide the underpinning for our recommendations on that topic.

There are other filings I could note but perhaps the most interesting set of filings—or at least the most unexpected from my point of view—were those focused on the importance of personal data in regards to innovation and privacy.  The role of personal data in the online world is not a “new” idea, but its importance to broadband became increasingly apparent through public comments and events beyond the Commission. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) held a series of roundtables, the last of which concludes March 17, focused on the balance between innovative use of personal data and privacy. Congress has spearheaded similar efforts at legislation, led by Rep. Boucher, with several pieces of legislation in the works. Just last week The Economist ran a front page article on the accumulation of information and data online, while over the last twelve months major online companies such as Google and Facebook have focused on enhancing privacy initiatives for consumers.

Many of the most innovative applications on the Internet are based on consumers sharing personal data. The data that businesses collect have allowed them to provide increasingly valuable services to end-users, as they are a source of significant value. Web searching, location-based services and many of the “apps” that consumers use on their smartphones make use of personal data in return for services and goods, which are often free. Targeted advertising uses better data to deliver more focused and relevant information to consumers, who in turn are up to six times as likely to click or act on the proffered offer.

There is a great potential for innovation but it is critical to get the privacy issue right.  At a basic level, privacy online and offline are similar – consumers want a right to the privacy of their data and the proper use of their information if voluntarily shared. They expect that companies and organizations will collect, analyze, share and safeguard their data properly. However, the online world brings additional complexity. For one, data are collected in manners that consumers often fail to understand. Browsing, searching and interacting online can result in the surreptitious collection of data -- for instance with the “cookies” that remember a user (and her information) -- in ways that are not fully transparent or known to consumers. The information being shared and the terms of its use are complex, and while better disclosure standards that are easy to read and simple to understand can help, additional actions are needed. 20th century notions of privacy protection break down once information is put into digital format. Unlike the offline world of paper and photocopiers, sharing of digital information is as easy as a click.

In addition, digital personal data are not just limited to traditional commercial information – health records, energy consumption, educational figures and governmental data are all critical pieces of an individual’s digital profile. As more applications utilize the Internet and more devices connect to the Internet, this information is exploding. Safeguarding this information and giving consumers control and choice are critical outcomes to ensure that any personal information shared benefits consumers and drives innovation.

The plan itself contains several recommendations for personal data in regards to innovation and privacy. It encourages Congress, the FTC and the FCC to work together to clarify the relationship between users and their online personal data profiles. It highlights the potential for Congress to help spur the development of private-sector companies that could aid consumers in better managing their own personal data. In addition, we think one of the most important agenda items for the country is to consider how the Privacy Act should be reformed. While the Act has done a tremendous job for consumer welfare since its enactment in 1974, the 21st century realities of personal data require an update.

These recommendations, taken together, can assure that consumers have control over their personal data and confidence in the security of that data, helping to increase innovation and promote a robust and healthy broadband ecosystem.
 

As Joel Gurin previewed in his March 5th post, today the FCC launched a set of digital tools -- the Consumer Broadband Test and the Broadband Dead Zone Report -- enabling consumers to test their broadband service and report areas where broadband is not available for purchase at their household.

The FCC Consumer Broadband Test, currently in beta, allows users to measure the quality of their broadband connections in real-time for both fixed and mobile broadband.   The broadband test measures broadband quality indicators such as speed and latency, and reports that information to consumers and the FCC.  Test your broadband quality now at www.broadband.gov, or download the new FCC Broadband Test app in the Apple and Android App stores now for free.

Here is a screenshot of the FCC Mobile Broadband Test on the iPhone:

In addition to reporting broadband performance to users, these tools enable the FCC to gather data to help the agency analyze broadband performance and availability on a geographic basis across the United States.  (Read more information on privacy considerations here.)  In the future, the FCC anticipates making additional broadband testing applications available for consumer use and across different mobile platforms. The FCC does not endorse any specific testing application.

The National Broadband Plan, which will be unveiled next week, also contains a series of recommendations aimed at helping consumers understand the gap between actual broadband speeds delivered and the maximum speed tiers advertised. Working recommendations include a scientific third-party study on actual broadband performance, a working group to help inform standards for broadband speeds, and further proposals on disclosure needs for fixed broadband services, such as a “digital label.” These proposals will further the goals of disclosure and transparency and empower consumers to drive competition in a technology-neutral manner.
 
I hope consumers take advantage of the tools made available today.  As these tests are currently launched in Beta version, we seek the public’s input on additional features, testing metrics and testing platforms that can be added in the future.

The broadband networks of the 21st century frequently depend upon the policies that government has for infrastructure that is decidedly 20th century—wooden utility poles, conduits underneath bridges, and easements alongside America’s roads and highways.  Because government controls and regulates many of these infrastructure inputs, there is a tremendous opportunity for enlightened public policy to spur and accelerate broadband deployment.  The draft Plan makes several recommendations that build upon successful efforts undertaken by state and local governments with regard to these important assets.

First, the Plan recommends a comprehensive approach for resetting government policy toward new network construction, which often depends upon access to government rights-of-way, buildings and facilities.

The Plan recommends that the federal government improve the process for locating broadband facilities on federal buildings and property.  The Plan also recommends that all federally-funded infrastructure projects, like bridges and roads, consider broadband build-out opportunities, such as laying conduit or joint trenching, as part of the project.

State and local governments have led the way on many of these infrastructure policies.  For example, in Western Massachusetts, 55 miles of fiber optic cable, with 34 local interconnection points, are now being laid because the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, the Massachusetts Broadband Institute, and the U.S. Department of Transportation made it a point to plan for general broadband deployment when upgrading the traffic management system on that stretch of highway.

The Plan recognizes that there are a myriad of ways in which state and local governments set the fee rights-of-way access, and the Plan will not recommend any specific method or change as to how state and local governments set those fees today.  The Plan instead recommends that the FCC convene an intergovernmental task force of federal, state and local rights-of-way experts that will have the charge of cataloging these different fee structures, identifying rights-of-way policies and fees that are consistent and inconsistent with the goal of broadband deployment, and recommending guidelines and construction and maintenance practices that reduce cost and avoid unnecessary delays and inefficiencies.  We believe that there are tremendous opportunities for costs savings in the industry and hope that by discussing these issues in an open, collaborative forum will expedite deployment of broadband infrastructure.

Second, the Plan makes a number of recommendations designed to maximize utilization of existing infrastructure assets, such as poles and conduits that are controlled by private utilities.  Today, the FCC has the responsibility to ensure that utilities that control access to these infrastructure facilities offer them up to telecommunications and cable providers on just and reasonable rates, terms and conditions.  But the process can be slow and costly, and get bogged down in disputes that linger for months if not years.  These disputes go both ways—in addition to the needs of communication companies for timely and efficient access, electric utilities have legitimate concerns about safety that need to be addressed and enforced.  The Plan recommends several changes to the FCC’s pole attachment regulations that are designed to speed the process, facilitate the exchange of information between pole owners and attachers, lower costs, and resolve disputes efficiently.

It’s often easy to forget that the broadband—both fixed and wireless—and indeed the entire Information Economy ultimately rides over physical wires that need to be tacked onto poles, buried alongside roads, and carried over rivers and across mountains.  Broadband infrastructure is as real as bridges, tunnels and highways, and there are tremendous opportunities for affirmative changes in government policy that can really make a difference in the deployment of broadband deeper into America’s communities

This is a photo of my two-year-old daughter, Sydney, enjoying a cupcake from CakeLove in Tysons Corner, VA.  It was a snowy January day and, having a bad case of cabin fever, my wife and I took our daughter to the mall to run around and have a treat.  Because cupcakes are Sydney’s greatest culinary joy, we made sure that there was a cupcake place in Tysons Corner to help her enjoy her day.

That’s all well and good, but what exactly does a toddler’s love of cupcakes have to do with broadband? 

The answer was found last week at the Broadband and Small Business Forum held in Washington, DC.  The forum featured remarks by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski; SBA Administrator Karen Mills; Todd Sharp, President of Engage, Inc, and Warren Brown, owner of CakeLove.

Brown talked extensively about his experience with broadband and how technology assists him in business.  Brown and CakeLove leverage broadband for:

• Streamline ordering and administrative functions, freeing up store employees to better serve customers.
• Marketing CakeLove, accepting orders on-line, building support for the baking community.
• Promote on-line couponing and building sales, interacting with the social media universe, and “go where people are” (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, etc). 

CakeLove is just one example of how small businesses are using broadband and the new economy to grow and prosper.  As Chairman Genachowski said, “When small businesses use broadband, it’s a double win.  Affordable high speed broadband enables small business to increase revenue by reaching a larger market and reduce costs by cloud-based efficiency tools.  More profit, more jobs created.”

In a time when America is looking for drivers of economic development, broadband’s promise looms large as a tool to help entrepreneurs and small business owners to maximize efficiency and reduce costs, build awareness and revenue and take their enterprises to the next level.   Warren Brown noted, “We’re not just baking cakes, we’re making digital ideas.”
 
Ultimately, the success of the National Broadband Plan will not only mean that every small business and entrepreneur across America can have access to this vital business tool, it will also mean that every father,  in every corner of this country, will be faced with the same dilemma that I faced in January –  when your darling child looks up to you with big, pleading eyes and asks:  Daddy, can I have a cupcake??  Pleeeaasseee????
 

This Tuesday, the Federal Communications Commission will unveil the National Broadband Plan—a roadmap to connect all Americans to affordable, high-speed internet.

• Access and Affordability
• Mobile and Wireless
• Security and Privacy
• Digital Economy
• Internet in Schools
• Open Internet / Network Neutrality
• Others (learn more at Broadband.gov)

By Brian David, Adoption and Usage Director , John Horrigan, Consumer Research Director, and Scott Wallsten, Economics Director (Adoption and Usage Team)

For those following how the Broadband Task Force has characterized the problem of non-adoption, the term “cost of digital exclusion” is familiar. The idea has roots in the academic literature, where Rahul Tongia and Ernest Wilson have argued in “Turning Metcalfe on His Head: The Multiple Costs of Network Exclusion” that the costs of not being online rise faster than the growth of the network. Blair Levin’s “Wired for Social Justice” speech touched on this idea in noting the societal benefits that come about from getting more people online.

A new report prepared by the Digital Impact Group and Econsult Corporation (DIG/EC) adds to the discussion by attempting to quantify the economic impacts associated with digital exclusion. The DIG/EC report, The Economic Impact of Digital Exclusion, finds that the aggregate costs of having one-third of the nation without broadband access comes to $55 billion per year when looking across 11 areas of impact (e.g., health, education, economic opportunity). 

We note that the estimated cost should be approached cautiously.  In addition to the inherent data-related challenges in this kind of undertaking, the report explicitly does not attempt to estimate the net benefits - it does not include the cost of programs that may be necessary to bring about the growth in broadband access that create the estimated benefits.

Nonetheless, we hope that the DIG/EC study will spur an ongoing discussion of the costs of digital exclusion.  Such a discussion among policy-makers, practitioners and economists is crucial to building an inclusive broadband future.  As Mark Cooper of the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) observed in The Challenge of Digital Exclusion in America: A Review of the Social Science Literature and Its Implications for the U.S. National Broadband Plan, “digital exclusion can be seen as exacerbating the underlying problems of social exclusion and inequality.” The DIG/EC study helps us think of the potential opportunities that may come about if more people have broadband access, while challenging analysts to do more to understand the costs of getting there. 

As we approached today's Digital Inclusion Summit, DIG/EDC and CFA remind us of the stakes involved with closing gaps in home broadband access. Broadband is a pathway to benefits that the already-wired among us take for granted: news about our communities and government, better understanding of health care challenges, more information for purchase decisions and job search, and staying in touch with family and friends. The DIG/EC study helps us think in dollar terms about the potential scope of benefits, and CFA focuses on how digital exclusion can harden established patterns of inequality – possibly making it even more costly over time to address access gaps. Stayed tuned for how the Broadband Plan proposes to address these gaps.
 

With just over a week to go before the National Broadband Plan is released, excitement is quickly building. The Broadband Team, FCC & Administration officials, members of congress, and citizens from across the country will come together at the Newseum tomorrow to unveil an overview of The Plan’s recommendations. With broadband in only 65% of American homes these recommendations must bridge an ambitious gap. We will also host a “voices of inclusion” portion in the program where people will discuss how broadband, or the lack of it, has impacted them.

The summit will take place at the Newseum in Washington DC from 9am to 12:15pm ET. No matter where you’re located, you can take part in the event. We’ll be streaming the summit at FCC.gov/Live. Satellite locations have been set up in Akron, Detroit, Miami, Minneapolis/St. Paul, and Philadelphia for people to watch the webcast and discuss broadband in their own communities. You can ask questions during the event by emailing NewMedia@fcc.gov or if you’re on Twitter by tweeting your questions using #BBplan. See you there.

We received many insightful responses, through Blogband and Twitter, to our prompt, “Small business owners – share your stories about how broadband has helped you.” Here are a few ways in which broadband has improved their lives:

Brett Glass said:

Since I joined the FCC I’ve commuted weekly from my home in New York to Washington, which has broadened my horizons for comparative shopping. I get to compare bagels with crabcakes, The Washington Post with The New York Times, and high-speed Internet plans from different parts of the eastern seaboard.

The good news is that Internet service providers (ISPs) are offering a variety of plans with ever-faster speeds to support new applications, video, and games. But the bad news is that it’s not easy to understand what speed you actually need, or what speed you’ll actually get, from a given provider and a given plan. The ISP that serves my Washington apartment offers plans with download speeds of “up to” 15 or 30 Mbps (megabytes megabits per second)**; the one we have in our Westchester home can deliver downloads at up to 1, 12, or 16 Mbps; and a third provider keeps sending me offers for service with download speeds up to 15, 25, or 50 Mbps. These different providers have one thing in common: Each claims that its service is “blazing” fast.

If you’re cost-conscious, it’s important to find the plan that’s right for you; two plans from the same ISP can differ in price by $40 a month. But clear comparisons aren’t easy, for several reasons. First, most people don’t know what Mbps is – they don’t have the same intuitive sense for broadband speed numbers that they do for miles per hour or miles per gallon. Second, if you ask what speed you need for different applications – such as emailing documents, video, or gaming – you may get different answers from different ISPs.  Third, as my experience shows, different ISPs offer different speed “tiers” that aren’t easily comparable from provider to provider. And finally, a service that promises “up to” 50 Mbps may deliver much less than that in practice, due in part to factors that are outside the provider’s control. An FCC study found that real speeds may be only half of advertised speeds, particularly at peak evening usage times.

The FCC’s National Broadband Plan, which will be released on March 17, recommends different measures to help consumers find their way through the Mbps maze. The Plan will outline ways that online tools, labels, and other kinds of information can help consumers understand broadband speeds and choose the plans that work best for them. It will also address wireless broadband, where speeds can vary a lot by local coverage, and where consumers have many more providers to choose from.

The FCC is taking steps to help consumers even before the Plan is released. Next week we’ll launch new media tools at www.broadband.gov to give consumers more information about their broadband connections. And in the months ahead, the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau and others at the FCC will be working hard to help consumers understand and learn about broadband speed. Please add your comments and let us know how you think the FCC can help.

**Note: Updated, with comment below.