Resources

U.S. Broadband Availability June 2010 - June 2012

This report on the availability of broadband, authored by NTIA, is the first in a series of Broadband Briefs that uses publicly available data collected by the Department of Commerce to examine broadband availability in greater detail. This report uses current data from the June 30, 2012 State Broadband Initiative (SBI) dataset, which is the same data that populates the National Broadband Map (NBM), as well as historical data from June 2010 and June 2011. NTIA, in collaboration with the FCC, and in partnership with the 50 states, five territories and the District of Columbia, updates the SBI data and publishes the NBM twice a year. This report examines broadband availability, from the most basic speed levels, which allow a user to access several basic web tools, to the fastest speeds, for which developers are now beginning to design applications.
Broadband Brief: U.S. Broadband Availability June 2010 - June 2012

BTOP Grant Overview Report

On December 14, 2010, NTIA issued a report that provides an overview of the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program grants awarded. In the report, NTIA highlights various projects in each grant category – infrastructure, public computer centers, and sustainable broadband adoption initiatives – and discusses program benefits to various stakeholder groups, including schools, small businesses, people with disabilities, the unemployed, seniors, and others.
BTOP Grant Overview Report

BTOP Evaluation Study

In 2010, after a competitive procurement, NTIA awarded a contract to research firm ASR Analytics, LLC to conduct an independent analysis of the social and economic impacts of the $4 billion in Recovery Act grants awarded under the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP). ASR performed an extensive analysis of the quarterly and annual reports from more than 200 grantees over a four-year period, and conducted 27 detailed case studies of individual BTOP projects. The case studies were based on site visits that included interviews, observations and data collection. The products of the study include a Final Report, two Interim Reports, the case study documents and a Short Term Economic impacts Report. The study methodology and datasets are also publicly available.

Highlights of the findings include:

• On average, BTOP grant communities experienced an estimated 2 percent greater growth in broadband availability than non-grant communities, which is estimated to generate increased annual economic activity of between $5.17 billion and $21 billion.
• The additional broadband infrastructure provided by BTOP could be expected to create more than 22,000 long-term jobs and generate more than $1 billion in additional household income each year.
• Community anchor institutions, like schools and libraries, served by BTOP infrastructure grantees in the sample experienced a decline in broadband prices of approximately 95 percent, while increasing their broadband capacity almost seven times.
• Based on the evaluation study sample of BTOP communities, more than 4.3 million people across the United States gained broadband availability from June 30, 2011 to June 30, 2013.

All of the reports and supporting information can be found at the links below. For more information, email broadbandusa@ntia.doc.gov or click the ASR Supplemental Information link below.

Reports:

PCC/SBA Case Studies:

CCI Case Studies

Performance Progress Report Data:

All BTOP grantees, including CCI, SBA, and PCC projects, submitted Quarterly Performance Progress Reports (PPR) and Annual Performance Progress Reports (APR) to NTIA. These reports captured accomplishments, progress and planning data, budget information and key milestone indicator information. NTIA used the report information to assess the project’s overall health, to monitor progress made against milestones, and to identify and mitigate areas of concern or risk to project completion and success. Federal staff also reviewed the budget and cost information to assess the overall financial management of each project, to ensure that BTOP expenditures were consistent with the recipient’s anticipated progress, and to monitor the rate of matching expenditures.

As these reports and data are publically available, all BTOP recipients had the opportunity to redact any PPR and APR data for legal or security purposes. The following files are the NTIA-created PPR and APR raw data files that contain post-redaction data and are publically released as part of this ASR study:
SBA PPR_APR Data and Data Dictionary
PCC PPR_APR Data and Data Dictionary
CCI PPR_APR Data and Data Dictionary

ASR Raw Data:

NTIA is releasing the ASR data and an explanation of how the evaluation study team arrived at the results presented in the Final Report.
ASR Supporting Files (38MB zip file download)

ASR Analytics Award Materials: