Does the U.S. Have a Broadband Problem?

Is U.S. high speed access “a problem” or not? Observers still cannot agree. A new study by the
Information Technology and  Innovation Foundation suggests there isn’t much of a problem, though some will disagree.

Much depends on one’s point of view. When looking only at nominal prices, or typical access speeds, one will tend to think the U.S. situation is not so good, as the United States never ranks among the top countries on such scales.

But the situation looks different when looking at access prices as a percentage of typical household income, as a percentage of disposable income, or some other metrics, such as mobile broadband speeds, or “entry level” pricing, rather than “highest speed” pricing, or pricing within triple-play bundles, or percentage of users with the fastest speeds.

But  “neutral” observers have for some time been pointing out that, in the U.S. market, broadband availability no longer is the key barrier to adoption. Instead, people can buy, but significant numbers of people choose not to buy.

In other words, these days adoption “barriers” are generally encountered because people do not want to buy broadband. That is a different “problem” than broadband access literally being unavailable.

Some would argue the “broadband has value” gap is a problem that naturally resolves itself, much as the “problem” of people not using mobile phones or text messaging likewise resolved itself, once people figured out the value proposition.

Still, some might argue that “quality” or “price” remain big issues. Others might argue that, as a percentage of typical household or personal income, U.S. broadband access prices are among the lowest in the world.

Also, consumers are fully capable of exercising choice, and a significant percentage of consumers seem to prefer mobile broadband as their primary way of using the Internet, not “fixed network” access.

In fact, higher percentages of some U.S. groups prefer mobile access to fixed access. It is a choice, in other words. Such consumers might depress demand for fixed broadband. But that preference for mobile access is not a problem, but a choice.