Government estimates of broadband access are low
The number of Pennsylvania homes without broadband access exceeds the federal government’s estimate of 800,000, early research suggests.
And not only are the cable, fiber lines and satellite build-outs a bigger problem in rural areas when compared to cities, but even the state’s urban centers are digital deserts where internet access is either unavailable or too costly for residents, which is a form of mortgage red lining, a practice by some lenders decades ago to deny loans in certain neighborhoods, Penn State University researcher Sascha Meinrath said Monday at a conference in Downtown.
“It’s willful, self-inflicted naivete,” Mr. Meinrath said about government estimates, which are compiled by the Federal Communications Commission. “This [digital] divide will rapidly expand.
“Why can’t we seem to get this right?”
Mr. Meinrath, who is surveying broadband access and speeds in Pennsylvania for a state legislative report due in December, was a keynote speaker at a conference sponsored by Next
Century Cities, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that advocates for universal high-speed broadband access.
According to the FCC, some 30 million Americans do not have access to broadband that meets minimum speeds, an estimate that Mr. Meinrath disputed, calling the government figures a “map to nowhere, filled with inaccurate and useless information.”
The American shift to an industrial from an agrarian economy caused significant economic disruption in the form of high unemployment and migration to the cities, he said.
And the shift now underway to a digital economy from an industrial economy will be more painful still. The shift is leaving people who live in rural areas further behind than city residents, who typically have more choice in broadband service providers and faster internet speeds than rural areas.
“The on-the-ground impacts are devastating,” Mr. Meinrath said, adding that the economic changes are happening at glacial speed, making them easy to miss. But despite the pace of economic change, the impact will be significant, he said.
“It’s going to hit Pennsylvania like a tsunami,” Mr. Meinrath said.
The answer, former FCC Chair Mignon Clyburn said in an earlier address to the group, is in making the business case for expanding broadband access: improved health care, economic expansion and educational advancement.
She also said the FCC needs to redouble its efforts to expand broadband access nationwide, eliminating the digital divide that has left low-income people and others in rural areas offline.
“Too many in our communities are waiting for 3G, 4G, when we’re talking about 5G,” Ms. Clyburn said, referring to the generations of wireless technology and speed. “The benefits of broadband-enabled technologies are vast, but the challenges, particularly for the economically disadvantaged and geographically challenged, are many. Those not able to fully adopt are often left behind and if this is not addressed, they may never be able to catch up.”