Tomorrow the FCC continues its slate of hearings geared toward helping to develop a comprehensive national broadband strategy. Next up is a look at international lessons. We’ve devoted substantial attention here at NextGenWeb to the serious flaws in the OECD’s international broadband rankings. Bottom line: The “analysis” favors tiny nations like Belgium and does little to inform how a country of the vast geography of the U.S. can address the unique challenges we face in achieving universal connectivity.

As the FCC looks abroad for lessons learned in advancing U.S. broadband, we encourage policymakers to take a more expansive view of the current international state of play:

We’ll start with the Technology Policy Institute, where earlier this summer Vice President for Research and Senior Fellow Scott Wallsten discussed findings in his new paper on U.S. broadband. TPI’s analysis should not fall on deaf ears as the FCC looks into the state of U.S. broadband. According to Wallsten’s report, the U.S. is the global leader in broadband infrastructure investment and offers among the least expensive entry-level broadband plans in the world. Leading progress in capacity and reach? Check. Reducing barriers to access? Check. Where can we do better? Stimulating demand among those who still don’t see the benefits of broadband (another major theme here at NextGenWeb).

Also this summer the Phoenix Center released its Broadband Adoption Index (BAI), which measures broadband adoption by country-specific benchmarks. Again, taking into consideration the vast differences between the size and scope of the U.S. marketplace relative to Latvia and Estonia, the Phoenix Center model paints a much more accurate – and positive – picture of how the U.S. is performing relative to its international counterpoints.

As the FCC continues its search for all the ingredients of a national broadband strategy, we hope that they take a hard look at the OECD methodology and take into account the many competing analyses that paint quite a different picture both of where we are today—and most importantly—the velocity with which we are making progress to deliver ever better, faster and more sophisticated broadband to all Americans.
If we want a national broadband strategy that works, then our efforts must start with a clear-eyed understanding of where we stand right now, and what it will take to achieve our forward-looking goals. Stay connected to NextGenWeb for continuing coverage of the FCC hearings and ongoing efforts to craft a successful national broadband strategy.

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