The latest Pew Internet and American Life Project report on broadband provided some fairly predictable results but ones that can still be useful in determining how we approach broadband policy issues in the coming months.

The study noted that the rate of broadband growth is slowing (which happens as any new market begins to mature); and that a large percentage of non-subscribing consumers don’t believe that the government should be involved in addressing this issue.

The most pertinent findings from the report are that:

• 66% of Americans currently subscribe to high-speed Internet access at home, which equates to 3% year-over-year growth
• There was a 22% year-over-year growth rate in adoption by African Americans, by far the biggest growth rate of any major demographic group
• 53% say the spread of affordable broadband should not be a major government priority
• Respondents older than 50 were most skeptical that they would benefit from the Internet.

In delving deeper into the latter two statistics, Pew reports that, “Those who are not currently online are especially resistant to government efforts to expand broadband access.”  This is not necessarily surprising and points to an issue – relevance (i.e., “How will I benefit?”) – that has repeatedly been identified as a barrier to broadband adoption.

NCTA and the cable industry have been talking a lot about relevance and other broadband adoption issues for the past few years.  On this blog, we’ve talked about broadband adoption and considered the reasons why some people don’t choose to have home access.

In the community, we’ve seen firsthand that some consumers simply see no benefit in broadband…that is until they start using the service and then they can’t stop.

High-speed Internet service is available to 95% of American homes, but the Pew report found that 21% of American adults still do not use the Internet (and about 90% of those people say they aren’t interested in going online in the future).  So, while we seek to deploy broadband to areas that do not have access, we must also find ways to increase adoption of broadband technology.  The statistics clearly show there are a significant number of people who can get Internet service at home, yet have not jumped on the broadband bandwagon.

To help give adoption a push forward, NCTA and cable operators are finding ways to encourage adoption, improve digital literacy, educate on broadband issues and provide affordable broadband access, including:

• Digital Adoption Coalition. Led by the nonprofit organization One Economy, this coalition hopes to bring broadband to as many as 250,000 low-income households.  The coalition, which includes computer technology companies, ISPs, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), has applied for funding to get broadband to citizens in public housing facilities via computers, low-cost access, and training programs.
• Adoption Plus. Last year, NCTA proposed the Adoption Plus (A+) Initiative, a public-private partnership designed to provide discounted computer equipment, media literacy training and deeply discounted broadband service for middle school children in low-income households.  A+ program would help give millions of students the opportunity to become digital citizens of the 21st Century by driving sustainable broadband adoption and positively affecting educational outcomes.
• Digital Connectors. Comcast is actively involved with non-profit One Economy in the Digital Connectors program.  This program provides talented youth with technology, leadership and 21st Century workplace training in return for their volunteer time providing service to their friends, families and community.
• LULAC Partnership. This summer, Time Warner Cable (TWC) and the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) announced a partnership to increase broadband technology training.  TWC is providing a three-year grant for technology centers in Latino communities for training, technology and support services.  The technology centers across the country will become a part of LULAC’s Empower Hispanic America with Technology Network which already provides free broadband access to 100,000 people.  The centers will receive computer equipment, high-speed Internet access and educational curriculum.
• Cox’s Computers for Families (CFF) Program. Cox Communications a few years ago began their CFF program in Santa Barbara, California to promote broadband adoption.  This two-year public-private partnership provides sustainable broadband adoption for middle school-aged children in low income households that do not currently receive broadband service.  Sound familiar?  NCTA’s Adoption Plus program builds on this initiative at Cox.  In addition this past May, Cox began a new program in Fairfax County, Virginia called “Broadband CNCT” (Computers & Neighbors Coming Together) where homes of school-aged children in one neighborhood will receive high-speed Internet service at a discounted rate.  This is a pilot program the company hopes to replicate in other areas.

These programs are just a few examples of how industry, government and non-profit partners can address the core reasons why some Americans say they don’t and won’t subscribe to broadband.

With 95% of U.S. households already having access to broadband service with download speeds of at least 4 Mbps – including 50% of homes with access to cable’s DOCSIS 3.0 speeds of 50 Mbps and faster – broadband in the U.S. is a success story that keeps getting better.  Over the past decade, deployment of broadband throughout most of our country has created millions of jobs, added billions of dollars to our economy and unleashed innovators who are developing creative services and applications that have remarkably improved our quality of life.

While acknowledging these successes, the FCC’s Sixth Broadband Deployment Report – or 706 Report – nevertheless concludes that broadband is not being deployed to all Americans on a “reasonable and timely” basis because five percent of American households don’t have access to broadband with speeds of at least 4 Mbps.

It’s worth noting that the 4 Mbps threshold is new and represents a significant increase from the 768 Kbps used in the 2008 report, and the 200 Kbps used in the first four reports.  We have no problem using a 4 Mbps threshold for defining broadband:  I have argued for several years that 200 or 768 Kbps was an inadequate threshold for a policy definition of broadband (pages 5-6).  But if the 706 Report is to retain any value as a measurement tool, the Commission must heed its own advice and use the definition as “a relatively static point at which to gauge progress and growth… from one Report to the next.” If the Commission continually increases the speed threshold to reflect “current demand patterns” and “estimated future demand” as it did this year, it becomes a circular nullity and it will be a certainty that deployment never will be considered reasonable and timely.

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There’s a video of Louis C.K. that’s been floating around the Internet for the past two years called “Everything’s Amazing and Nobody’s Happy.” In an appearance on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, the comedian observed that despite our technological advances, people still like to complain.

I think about this when I hear people complain bitterly that the U.S. is dangerously behind on broadband – there’s not enough broadband available, it’s too slow, it’s too expensive. Nobody can get online!

Of course, we have to ensure that as many Americans as possible have access to the Internet. Read this February post from Kyle McSlarrow or this one from James Assey in March. The cable industry has deployed broadband to 92% of American households. We continue to regularly increase broadband speeds and we’re rolling out wideband service based on the DOCSIS 3.0 standard (now reaching 65+ million homes). We proposed the Adoption Plus program to bring broadband to lower income households.

This is a time when:

• 95% of U.S. households have availability to Internet access with speeds of 4 Mbps or more
• 82% of HHs can choose from two or more wireline platforms
• More than 90% can choose from several 3G mobile options

Internet access is important. We can and should do more to get Americans connected. But are we really so bad off?

I Don’t Think We’ve Surrendered to Sweden.

Last month, we blogged about how high consumer satisfaction is with their current Internet connections, but all you’ll hear is about how slow our connections are.  Surveys show that an increasing number of people are using mobile devices to access the Web, but some wouldn’t count those consumers when measuring “broadband.”

Adam Theirer pointed out last year that the speed of adoption for Internet access is far faster than other technology developments (See this Pew report). With three-quarters of Americans currently using the Internet, adoption hit 50% in a decade, ahead of multichannel video (35 years), wireless phones (20 years), home computers (20 years), telephone and electricity (50+ years). Are we crawling along or well ahead of schedule?

Nokia Siemens Networks’ annual broadband development index, the Connectivity Scorecard, just came out and it showed that the U.S. just lost the #1 slot to Sweden. Sweden is beating us!

Of course, Sweden’s population is 3% of the U.S. population; it’s 4.57% of our land mass; the Swedish government owns 37% of the incumbent telecom provider (TeliaSonora) and the Finnish government owns another 13%, making the incumbent half-owned by the government.  Still, look at how bad we have it.

It’s not like I can buy a little device for a couple hundred dollars that I can carry around in my pocket and access most of the Internet, anytime and anywhere. It’s not like I can watch one of thousands of movies 24 hours day by firing up my Wii to reach the Netflix library or by tuning to my VOD service. It’s not like I can get on an airplane and fly across the country while surfing the Web.

Oh, wait. Yes, I can.

[NOTE: I should probably mention Louis C.K.'s terrific FX show Louie. And check out George Ou's debunking of the Berkman study – a key tool used to "prove" how the U.S. is behind – here and here.]

While the enormous growth and progress of U.S. broadband over the last decade continues to be under-appreciated by some in Washington, real consumers who use the service everyday continue to express their satisfaction with their service.

The latest data comes via a report from Leichtman Research Group, finding that, “71% of US broadband Internet subscribers are very satisfied with their current Internet service at home.”  On top of that, the report says people are even pleased with the speed of their Internet connection.

If this sounds familiar, the FCC’s own broadband study which we covered here a few weeks ago that said 91% of home broadband users report being at least somewhat satisfied with the speed of their service (with 50% saying they are very satisfied).  Also similar to the FCC’s survey, the Leichtman research notes, “77% of broadband subscribers do not know the download speed of their Internet service at home.”

This last data point raises an interesting question – If consumers are satisfied with their broadband service and it performs the functions they want, is it important to know the exact speed of your home broadband service?

The Institute for Policy Innovation recently tackled this question and raised some interesting analogies:

Can most people rattle off the horsepower of their car or their lawnmower? Can most people even tell you what “horsepower” means? (Horsepower is a measurement of work over time. Move 33,000 pounds one foot in a minute and that is one horsepower). What about their furnace? Can they opine on how many BTUs it produces? (BTU stands for British thermal unit. Heat one pound of 60 degree water by one degree at a pressure equal to one atmosphere and you have one BTU).

I am guessing that people are satisfied with their service because it consistently works, it consistently zips along at a pace that accomplishes what the user is trying to do, and it consistently helps them with school, business and entertainment activities.

It is great news that most consumers are satisfied with their Internet service, but cable is continuing to invest so we can offer even faster Internet speeds and a variety of tiers for consumers to choose the service that best meets their needs.

Cable operators have invested more than $160 billion over the last decade in infrastructure upgrades, maintenance and equipment, but more is happening everyday.  And many cable operators are increasing speeds for customers, often without increasing price.

Ultra-fast Internet – or DOCSIS 3.0 as we know it – was deployed to 52 million homes and business around the country, or 43% of cable’s national footprint, by February 2010.  Offering speeds from 50 to 100Mbps, DOCSIS 3.0 is providing cutting edge services for many homes and businesses now, and well into the future.

The reason why we continue to invest in our network and increase the speeds we’re delivering is to ensure this satisfaction continues.

Yesterday, the FCC voted 3-2 to approve a Notice of Inquiry to change the legal framework of Internet access by reclassifying it under Title II of the Communications Act.

John Eggerton of Multichannel News and Broadcasting & Cable wrote an overview of the FCC meeting and the  day’s happenings.

We issued a statement from NCTA President & CEO Kyle McSlarrow:

“Over the past decade, broadband deployment in America has been an unparalleled success story. That success has been greatly aided by the farsighted judgment of prior Democratic and Republican Commissions to promote innovation and investment in new networks through the exercise of regulatory restraint. As we revisit this question with the start of today’s inquiry, we see little benefit to changing course and great danger in attempting to shoehorn modern broadband services into a Depression-era regulatory regime without serious collateral effects to investment, employment, and innovation.

“We appreciate that Chairman Genachowski is seeking comment on alternatives to a Title II approach. We also very much appreciate and agree with the Chairman’s statement of support for legislative efforts to provide much needed certainty. We believe that is the right next step, and we can preserve our ability to protect consumers, maintain an open Internet, and encourage continued investment and innovation through carefully targeted legislation.”

Comcast also issued a statement from EVP David Cohen.

Here are just a few stories following the FCC’s vote:

• New round in FCC broadband fight
• FCC Advances Internet Plan Backed by Google, Amazon
• FCC Formally Launches ‘Third Way’ Process, Asks for Comments
• FCC seeks comment on broadband reclassification