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New Statistics From FCC: 19 Million Americans Lack Access to Broadband Internet

New Statistics From FCC: 19 Million Americans Lack Access to Broadband Internet

http://www.scribd.com/doc/103497910/FCC-Eighth-Broadband-Progress-Report-FCC-12-90A1

This is an opportunity for library communication.  Even though many Americans lack broadband Internet access at hmoe, they do usually have access trough their public libraries.  Lots of charts in the document and list of states by broadband penetration.

19 million Americans still go without broadband

USA Today August 22, 2012

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/story/2012-08-21/broadband-adoption-fcc-report/57185496/1

“The report by the Federal Communications Commission shows improvement from the agency’s data last year that showed 26 million were without access to such Internet service. The FCC says its latest report was based on data it had as of June 2011.

The decline partially reflects Internet service providers’ expansion beyond suburbs, but the FCC also attributes it to data collection that improved from its previous efforts.

The lack of access continues to hamper rural Americans in particular. About 14.5 million rural Americans — or 23.7% of 61 million people living in rural areas — had no fast Internet service offered for their homes. In contrast, only 1.8% Americans living in non-rural areas — 4.5 million out of 254.9 million — had no broadband access. The FCC categorizes an Internet service as “broadband” if it transmits at a speed of at least 4 megabits per second.

The report’s ranking of states again underscored the correlation between broadband access and economic productivity. Economically struggling states fared worse than more thriving areas of the country. West Virginia had the least amount of access, with 45.9% of the state without broadband access. Montana (26.7%), South Dakota (21.1%) and Alaska (19.6%) followed.

But the access issue for rural Americans wasn’t isolated to the states with few large cities. In California, more than 35% of rural residents couldn’t order a broadband account even if they wanted it.

Similarly, mobile broadband Internet services delivered by wireless carriers also continued to widen nationwide, but nearly 20 million Americans — or 6.2% of the total population — had no access, the report says.

In July, the FCC announced it’ll spend $115 million to subsidize broadband Internet providers’ efforts to expand service to rural parts of the U.S.

The companies that accept the subsidies from the first phase of the Connect America Fund — $775 per household connected — will be required to invest in and complete the work of building the network infrastructure within three years. About 400,000 residents in 37 states will gain access upon completion, the FCC estimates.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said the FCC’s goal is to make broadband available by 2020 to all 19 million Americans who lack access. “Your chance of getting a job is lower if you don’t have broadband. Job postings have moved online,” he said.

The FCC launched the Connect America Fund last year when it made changes to the Universal Service Fund, which was established to deliver telephone connections to rural towns.”

Stephen

 

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Posted on: August 22, 2012, 9:35 am Category: Uncategorized

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