California Study Urges Action ASAP for Universal Broadband
California should take extraordinary efforts to assure broadband service for all residents, a year-long California Broadband Task Force study concluded. State policies should encourage innovative educational, business and social uses for broadband, it said.
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Laggard action could deprive the most populous state of economic capital, delay advances in education and health care, reduce civic engagement, weaken public safety and hurt residents and businesses, the report said. It offered a seven-point plan to achieve universal broadband availability and encourage its use.
California’s broadband picture is the best of any U.S. state, with service available to 96 percent of households, said the 83-page report. But distribution is uneven. The task force mapped exactly where service is available and the speeds offered, based on data for 22 million addresses supplied by 25 broadband providers. Access exceeds 99 percent in the San Francisco Bay area and 98 percent in the Los Angeles area, but there is no broadband access for 1.4 million people scattered among 2,000 towns in rural eastern California and in the Northern Sierra region. Broadband reaches only 57 percent of Northern Sierra households and just 60 percent in eastern border communities.
Broadband speeds vary widely where service is offered. In the Los Angeles area, 95 percent of broadband-available households can buy service at speeds exceeding 10 Mbps, while in the San Francisco Bay area, only 6 percent can get speeds above 10 Mbps. Rural broadband service speeds seldom exceed 1.5 Mbps. On a statewide average, the report said, 44 percent of households get broadband speeds below 10 Mbps, limiting the utility of broadband service.
Even where service is available, half of the households don’t subscribe. Lack of computers in lower-income households may be a major reason, the report suggested. “A disproportionate percentage of low-income families do not have a computer at home, suggesting affordability is a barrier,” the report said. In households with incomes below $25,000, 42 percent have no home computer, while in households with incomes exceeding $70,000 only 9 percent lack home computers. Many people don’t know how broadband in the home can improve life, discouraging them from buying the service, the report said.
Convening the task force in 2006, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger invited recommendations that “remove barriers to broadband access, identify opportunities for increased broadband adoption, and enable the creation and deployment of new advanced communication technologies.” The task force says the state should: (1) Build out broadband infrastructure to bring world-class high-speed access to every Californian. (2) Streamline permit processes and encourage collaboration among providers. (3) Reward broadband innovation and research with grants and other support. (4) Promote adoption and use of broadband and computer technology to conduct everyday business and personal affairs. (5) Create a statewide E-health network. (6) Weave broadband into K-12 education to reach youth and low-income residents. (7) Keep exercising state-level broadband leadership on a statewide basis.
The state should consider bond issues to augment and encourage private investment in broadband infrastructure, the report said, giving no estimate of how much state debt would suffice to prime the broadband investment pump. Tax credits and other financial incentives might work, it said. The report urged particular attention to children and their access to technology through public-private partnerships and other tactics to ensure that every household with young children has a broadband-connected computer and the basic skills to use it, connecting schools to a single high-speed network, and adding technology literacy to the mandatory basic public school curriculum.
The report encouraged use of existing state programs such as the California Teleconnect Fund, Emerging Technology Fund and Advanced Services Fund to encourage deployment of high-speed broadband to unserved areas. The Emerging Technologies Fund has $20 million for grants this year to nonprofits for broadband expansion in disadvantaged communities, while the Advanced Services Fund has $100 million to help broadband service providers expand into unserved areas.
The report drew applause from AT&T and Verizon, SureWest Communications, VoIP provider 8x8 Inc., Cisco Systems, the Public Utilities Commission, the California Children’s Partnership and others. Supporters lauded the report for laying out the steps for achieving 21st Century broadband service, defining where in the state efforts are most needed, and drawing attention to the importance of broadband for the state and its citizens.