Broadband Review | Berkman Center

This project has been concluded or is on hiatus. Information here may be out of date or superseded by more current research.

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The Berkman Center conducted an independent expert review of existing literature and studies about broadband deployment and usage throughout the world, in order to help inform the FCC’s efforts in developing the National Broadband Plan. more >

Project History:

July 14, 2009: announcement
October 14: draft released for public comment (PDF) (reminder and additional comment)
November 16: public comment period closes
December 10: FCC workshop on broadband deployment research
December 21: update memo released (PDF)
February 16, 2010: final report submitted to the FCC (PDF)

We are grateful for the support we received for this project from the Ford Foundation and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

FINAL REPORT »

Open Wireless vs. Licensed Spectrum: Evidence from Market Adoption

The paper reviews evidence from eight wireless markets: mobile broadband; wireless healthcare; smart grid communications; inventory management; access control; mobile payments; fleet management; and secondary markets in spectrum. I find that markets are adopting unlicensed wireless strategies in mission-critical applications, in many cases more so than they are building on licensed strategies.

authored by yochai benkler, published on 7 nov 2012

berkman interactive

[Book Talk] Susan Crawford on Captive Audience: The Telecom Industry & Monopoly Power in the New Gilded Age

In the Internet era, a very few companies control our information destiny. In this talk, and in her new book "Captive Audience: The Telecom Industry and Monopoly Power in the New Gilded Age," Susan Crawford—a professor at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and a former special assistant to President Obama for science, technology and innovation policy—demonstrates how deregulatory changes in policy have created a communications crisis in America. The consequences: Tens of millions of Americans are being left behind, people pay too much for too little Internet access, and speeds are slow. But everyday people can change this story—and what happens in the year ahead could change the game for good.

Next Generation Connectivity: Berkman Center releases final broadband study for the FCC

berkman interactive

Radio Berkman 143: Fast, Cheap, and Everywhere

When the Federal Communications Commission announced in April of 2009 that they would be pursuing a National Broadband Plan – picture something as ambitious as the interstate highway initiative but for bytes instead of cars – web surfers with a need for speed began warming up their mouse muscles. It seems like we’ve sat on the side of the road while our friends in Europe and Asia have zoomed past us in the race to faster net speeds at cheaper prices. But how does the US really stack up to the rest of the world? As part of their Broadband Plan the FCC commissioned Yochai Benkler and a team of researchers at the Berkman Center to put together an international review of broadband deployment and policy. The result is an exhaustive 333-page report showing the US roughly in the middle of 30 industrial nations – in terms of speed, penetration, and cost. How did we end up in the middle? And more importantly, how did so many other countries get ahead? Yochai sat down with David Weinberger to talk about how they found these results, and what the US could do to ambitiously pursue a faster web.

David Weinberger interviews broadband study PI Yochai Benkler for "Broadband Strategy Week"

Next Generation Connectivity

Berkman Center releases final broadband study for the FCC

The Berkman Center is pleased to announce that its independent review of broadband Internet transitions and policy from around the world has been finalized. The Final Report was submitted to the FCC on February 16.

16 feb 2010

Casting a Wider Internet: Yochai Benkler interviewed by the Council on Foreign Relations...

berkman interactive

FCC "Workshop: Review and Discussion of Broadband Deployment Research"

On December 10 the FCC held a public workshop on two independent studies that were requested in connection with the development of the National Broadband Plan: the Berkman Center's "Next Generation Connectivity: A review of broadband Internet transitions and policy from around the world"; and the Columbia Institute for Tele-Information (CITI)'s "Broadband in America: Where It is and Where It is Going."

Updating the Berkman Center's broadband study for the FCC

In October the FCC posted for public comment the Berkman Center's draft study "Next Generation Connectivity: A review of broadband Internet transitions and policy from around the world." Today (December 21) we are making available a memorandum that outlines the most important updates we plan to include in the final report.

21 dec 2009

Reviewing comments on the Berkman Center's broadband study for the FCC

Last night the period for commenting on the Berkman Center’s broadband study for the FCC came to a close. We would like to thank those who took the time to provide substantive feedback and also to respond briefly to reports that incumbent broadband providers were negative in their assessments of our work.

17 nov 2009

Berkman Center for Internet & Society

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