Let's find our broadband gaps and close digital divide

by Jeanne Kohl-Welles

We play games on them, calculate taxes, send messages, write letters, conduct research, get driving directions, buy shoes, find recipes and read news. For many homes, a computer is just as essential an appliance as a stove or refrigerator.

In a data-intensive world, accessing information over the Internet without broadband is wearisome if not impossible. The digital divide describes more than those who have access and those who don't. It is a snapshot of opportunity and promise that is out of reach -- literally -- for millions.

In this country, the gulf is considerable. The Pew Internet & American Life Project found last year that 39 percent of American urban and suburban households had high-speed Internet access, compared with 24 percent of rural households. The demographic implications are as vexing. This year, according to the Progressive States Network, 62 percent of households with annual incomes above $100,000 have broadband at home, while just 11 percent of those with annual incomes below $30,000 are subscribers.

And a chasm is widening between our country and the rest of the world. The United States' edge in the global race to bring broadband services to its citizens is slipping. Six years ago we ranked fourth in the world in broadband deployment. Today we rank 16th, according to an October 2006 policy paper released by the Communications Workers of America. Countries that rank ahead of us, such as Korea and Japan, have government policies for developing this technology. We do not.

The financial implications are enormous. A 2001 study by the Brookings Institution estimated the widespread adoption of broadband could add $500 billion to the U.S. economy and create 1.2 million new jobs per year. But there was a caveat. The growth will accrue to communities that use the technology. Those that don't will be left behind unless we take steps now to bridge the digital gap.

Simply put, we will not be able to promote economic growth, increase participation in civic life, or improve the delivery of such vital services as education, public safety, health care, job training and tools for independent living. The price? Declining global competitiveness and domestic stagnation.

Trying to get a fix on just where broadband is available has been a frustrating exercise. A major study by the Federal Communications Commission, using 2005 data, found that 99 percent of the country's population lived in areas with high-speed Internet access. But the data, derived from ZIP codes, assumed broadband access if just one person in the ZIP code had access. The Government Accounting Office debunked the results. The bottom line: There is no reliable information at the national level about access.

As a state, we've never collected such information. But others are making progress: In Maryland and Indiana, legislators are leading efforts to accurately map who has access and the speed of that access, following the lead set by Kentucky, which set up a mapping project in 2004 to measure broadband access.

Once Washington was such a leader. The Legislature's creation of the K-20 Telecommunications Network in 1996 connecting school districts, educational service districts, universities, colleges and libraries across the state put Washington in the broadband vanguard. But we are losing ground fast and must catch up.

To this end, I introduced Senate Bill 5120 to obtain the information we need to target resources and policies to increase broadband access for Washington residents, particularly in rural areas. The bill calls for a survey to collect and interpret statistically reliable geographic, demographic and telecommunications information to identify any broadband deployment disparities in the state.

In addition, the survey would produce a profile of households and businesses, determining factors relating to those with no available broadband access; those with access but who haven't purchased an option; and the purposes for which broadband is used by those who have access.

While my bill did not survive a legislative cutoff, the plan is to include funding for the study as an operating budget proviso. I am not the only one in Olympia who thinks this is an essential tool for economic, educational and social development. Gov. Chris Gregoire's capital budget request includes $5 million for a grant program to be run by the Department of Community, Trade & Economic Development to fund broadband capacity in remote jurisdictions of the state.

We can't close the divide without knowing more. A study is the critical first step.

Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-36th Legislative District, is chair of the Senate Labor, Commerce, Research & Development Committee. She also serves on the Senate Health & Long-Term Care, Rules and Ways & Means committees.

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