Roger Entner

Recon Analytics recently conducted the largest survey run to date to assess whether consumers eligible for the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) are actually enrolling and if so, what they are using their ACP funds for. We asked 29,141 ACP-eligible Americans if they use ACP, and, if so, for what. The big question inside the Beltway is whether funding the ACP is a good use of taxpayer dollars. The ReconAnalytics survey indicates that if Congress is interested in seeing itself reelected, extending the ACP funding might be a good idea.

One of the key questions around the happiest and unhappiest home internet counties is where they are and what the driver is behind the happiness and unhappiness. Five of the ten unhappiest and five of the ten happiest counties are in states that are considered “Republican” and “Democratic”, respectively.

In March 2021, Recon Analytics conducted a demographically representative survey of 1,000 Americans using internet and cell phones, asking them about their opinions and attitudes around universal access, funding mechanisms, conduct, and usage. When it comes to broadband in the US, Americans overwhelmingly support two ideas. First, they agree that fast broadband should be available to every American at prices they can afford.

The most likely scenario for success is the addition of broadband service to an existing electric or telephone cooperative’s portfolio. In this case, an entity with experience in running a customer-facing operation and network for decades simply expands its service. The cooperatives are already serving mostly rural customers and do not crowd out for-profit cable and telecom providers. The Federal Communications Commission has recognized this and has explicitly included electric cooperatives in the Connect America Fund II initiative.

We know from the experience in the United States that the fiber and cable networks providing from tens up to 1,000 Mbps speeds are holding up well as traffic has increased. The problem arises at DSL, a technology that allows several Mbps data connections over copper wires, often can only support 15 Mbps or less over short distances from a central office. Next-generation VDSL can provide up to 200 Mbps over distances of less than 200 yards from a central office.

[Commentary] The Federal Communications Commission is conducting a rulemaking proceeding right now in which the agency explains that it is trying to come up with additional regulations for Internet service providers (ISPs) that will protect consumer privacy online. It's a compelling sound byte, but upon closer examination of the FCC's proposal, it appears the agency's focus is on shaping the digital advertising market, not protecting privacy.

The stakes are high among the existing, dominant players so it is not surprising that the FCC wants to wade in. But it is surprising that the FCC seems to want to shield the dominant players from additional competition, an odd motivation when you read the continuous stream of FCC releases on any number of issues heralding its laser focus on increasing competition, not minimizing it. The only thing that the FCC's proposal will do is distort the digital advertising market and protect the dominant market position of the existing providers – the very anathema of American competition policy. Everyone is clear that the "privacy as a currency" business model is here to stay. Let's expose it to more rather than less competition and let's give Americans what they want – a consistent, comprehensive regime that protects them as well online as anywhere else.

[Roger Entner is founder and lead analyst at telecom consulting firm Recon Analytics]