Deployment
Broadband covers about 90 percent of America depending upon which study you believe. Speeds differ between high-density areas and more rural locations. Population density is the single-biggest predictor of broadband speeds.
According to a recent article comparing the U.S. average broadband speed with a country like South Korea is unfair because “South Korea has some 1,290 residents per square mile, making the entire country more dense than New Jersey, our most thickly settled state” while “the U.S. has a national population density of about 80 residents per square mile.” (Jordan Golson, gigaom.com, August 25, 2009).
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is currently working to establish a library of maps showing where broadband currently exists and where it does not. This project is made more complex because of (1) a lack of an official definition of broadband and (2) because of the routes available to consumers to connect to the internet by broadband: cable, telcos, satellite and independent providers for example.
Nevertheless, Broadband for America believes availability of broadband is crucial to the economic and social well-being of America and Americans. To that end Broadband for America will work with federal, state and local governments as well as private stakeholders to ensure the highest-possible level of broadband service extends into every corner of the United States.
