美国宽带可用性2010年6月至2012年6月

A Broadband Brief Published: May 2013 Inside this Brief: •Current Availability By Speed and Technology•Changes in Availability: June 2010 – June 2012•Rural and Urban Disparities•States with Greatest Access to Broadband Speeds•Percentage of Counties with Access to Various Broadband Speeds About theBroadband BriefsSeries This report on the availability of broadband, authored by the National Telecommunications andInformation Administration (NTIA), is the first in a series of Broadband Briefs that uses publicly availabledata collected by the Department of Commerce to examine broadband availability in greater detail. TheU.S. Department of Commerce publishes key economic and demographic data that support effectivedecision-makingby policymakers,businesses,and the American public.Information andCommunications Technology is critical to economic growth and the Department plays a leading role inthis area by overseeing programs that expand broadband access and adoption and also measure currentavailability and adoption across the country. The Department makes data available from its broadband-related programs—including the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP), the StateBroadband Initiative (SBI), and the Current Population Survey (CPS) Computer and Internet UseSupplement—for use by researchers and the public to conduct economic, financial, demographic, andother studies. In addition, the Department conducts its own research and analysis to further examinethe availability of broadband and the factors associated with increased broadband deployment. This report uses current data from the June 30, 2012 State Broadband Initiative (SBI) dataset, which isthe same data that populates the National Broadband Map (NBM), as well as historical data from June2010 and June 2011. NTIA, in collaboration with the FCC, and in partnership with the 50 states, fiveterritories and the District of Columbia, updates the SBI data and publishes the NBM twice a year. Eachstate, or its designee, collects broadband data by census block or road segment. More informationabout data collection, verification, and publication is available in theAboutsection of the NBM. All dataare publicly available in theAnalyze,DeveloperorData Downloadsections of the NBM and all previousdatasets are also available onNTIA’s website. The description of how NTIA and the FCC process thesedata is available on theTechnical Overviewsection of the National Broadband Map. Data Definitions Used in this Report NTIA’s broadband availability dataset contains, among other information, advertised speeds at thecensus block level. In census blocks larger than two square miles, the data is collected by road segment.For the purposes of NTIA’s data collection, broadband is “available” if it can be deployed to a business orconsumer within 7-10 business days and without an extraordinary commitment of resources. Thisdefinition is in contrast to “adoption,” which means that a consumer or business subscribes to or usesbroadband at a particular location. The definition of broadband does not specifically include price,latency, bandwidth limitations, or other factors that may impact a user’s ability to purchase or use theservice. This report examines broadband availability, from the most basic speed levels, which allow a user toaccess several basic web tools, to the fastest speeds, for which developers are now beginning to designapplications. NTIA begins its analysis at the combined advertised connection of 3 Mbps downstream and768 kbps upstream, which is the closest combination of speeds for which NTIA collects data that wouldallow a consumer to “access a basic set of applications that include sending and receiving e-mail,downloading Web pages, photos and video, and using simple video conferencing.”7Downstream speedmeasures the rate at which a user can download data from the Internet, including viewing Web pages,receiving emails, or downloading music. Upstream speed measures the rate at which a user can uploaddata to the Internet, including sending email messages and files. The report also assesses broadbandavailability at seven download speed tiers, as follows: o≥ 3 Mbps and < 6 Mbps;o≥ 6 Mbps and < 10 Mbpso≥ 10 Mbps and < 25 Mbpso≥ 25 Mbps and < 50 Mbpso≥ 50 Mbps and < 100 Mbpso≥ 100 Mbps and < 1 Gbpso≥ 1 Gbps While the basic speed combination of 3 Mbps/768 kbps allows a consumer to access a basic set ofapplications, many institutions, such as schools and libraries, and applications, such as distance learning,telemedicine, and high quality video conferencing, require much faster speeds. For example, aNovember 2010 report published for the U.S. Small Business Administration found that distance learningand telecommuting activities require download speeds of at least 25 Mbps in order for a single user to have an “OK” experience, and 50 Mbps for a “Good” experience.8 In addition, if more than one personshares a connection (for example, two parents and two children in one hou