Broadband Availability. February 2012 Update

Transcription

1 Broadband Availability February 2012 Update

2 Introduction Connected Tennessee has released broadband availability estimates at the statewide and county levels using the most recently published 2010 Census household data. These availability estimates reveal that 4.8% of Tennessee households do not have access to basic broadband service of at least 768 Kbps downstream and 200 Kbps upstream. In addition, the data shows that 7% of Tennessee households do not have access to higher speeds of at least 3 Mbps downstream and 768 Kbps upstream. Key findings from this update include: 95.19% of Tennessee households have access to fixed broadband service of at least 768 Kbps downstream and 200 Kbps upstream (excluding mobile and satellite services). 93% of Tennessee households have access to fixed broadband service of at least 3 Mbps downstream and 768 Kbps upstream (excluding mobile and satellite services). 4.81% of Tennessee households remain unserved by any fixed broadband provider, representing approximately 120,000 unserved households that do not have access to a fixed wireless or wired broadband service offering (excluding mobile and satellite services). Across rural areas of Tennessee, the percentage of unserved households by any fixed broadband service is 8.4%, representing approximately 110,000 unserved rural Tennessee households. 5.34% of Tennessee households now have access to broadband service of at least 1 Gbps, marking the first time in Tennessee that such high speeds have been reported. Analysis of Tennessee s Broadband Inventory Tennessee s broadband marketplace is affected by its unique geographic and demographic make- up. Almost half of the state s population lives in a handful of very populated counties, leaving the rural areas very scarcely populated. Because so many of Tennessee s households are concentrated in the four largest cities, broadband inventory data show high availability of upper speed tier broadband in the state. Based on Speed Tiers As of October 2011, Connected Tennessee estimates that terrestrial, fixed broadband providers offer basic broadband service at speeds of at least 768 Kbps downstream and 200 Kbps upstream to 95.19% of all Tennessee households (Table 1). This implies that approximately 120,000 Tennessee households (4.8%) lack basic broadband service and remain unserved by terrestrial, fixed broadband. Table 1: Estimate of Broadband Service Availability in the State of Tennessee By Speed Tier Among Fixed Platforms SBI Downstream / Upstream Speed Tiers Unserved Households ( 000) Served Households ( 000) Percent of Households by Speed Tier 768 Kbps/200 Kbps 120 2, % 1.5 Mbps/200 Kbps 126 2, % 3 Mbps/768 Kbps 174 2,319 93% 6 Mbps/1.5 Mbps 188 2, Mbps/1.5 Mbps 278 2, % 25 Mbps/1.5 Mbps 586 1, % 50 Mbps/1.5 Mbps 592 1, % 100 Mbps/1.5 Mbps 1,451 1, % 1 Gbps/1.5 Mbps 2, % Broadband Availability in Tennessee Feb

3 Furthermore, approximately 93% of Tennessee households have broadband available at download speeds of at least 3 Mbps download and 768 Kbps upstream. This means that approximately 55,000 Tennessee households have access to basic broadband, but cannot access fixed broadband service at speeds of at least 3 Mbps downstream and 768 Kbps upstream a service level now often considered necessary to effectively conduct many Internet applications. The NTIA classifies broadband service at download speeds below 3 Mbps download and 768 Kbps upstream as underserved. Broadband is available to 92.48% of Tennessee households at advertised speeds of at least 6 Mbps downstream and 1.5 Mbps upstream. This is an important benchmark as the FCC s National Broadband Plan considers actual broadband speeds of 4 Mbps downstream/1 Mbps upstream to be the threshold level of service for most broadband activity. Based on technology platform Additionally, Connected Tennessee collects technology platform data from each provider. During the October 2011 mapping update, 81 different providers provided data including middle mile and last mile providers, as well as a few satellite broadband providers. Several of the participating providers offer services on more than one technology platform. Table 2 shows a breakdown of broadband availability based on technology platform, along with the number of providers shown on the broadband map with that specific technology. Table 2: Estimate of Broadband Service Availability in the State of Tennessee By Broadband Technology Platform Technology Platform Unserved Households ( 000) Served Households ( 000) Percent of Households by Speed Tier # of Providers on Map DSL 316 2, % 19 Cable Modem 393 2, % 19 Fixed Wireless 2, % 20 Fiber 2, % 10 Mobile Wireless 26 2, From a technology platform perspective, the State of Tennessee is abundant with DSL and Cable Modem service with 19 providers each, accounting for the vast majority of the population. DSL represents over 87% of the households and cable modem service represents over 84%. Fixed wireless may serve less than 14%, but with 20 providers focused primarily in rural areas, it serves a great need. Fiber availability, currently at 12%, will be an important technology to watch over the next few years with several fiber- to- the- home projects scheduled to finish, causing it to increase significantly. Residential survey research conducted by Connected Tennessee in 2011 indicates that 64% of Tennesseans have a broadband connection in the home. The most recent comprehensive broadband network inventory conducted by Connected Tennessee, shown in detail here, estimates that 95.19% of all Tennessee households have broadband available at the basic speeds of 768 Kbps download / 200 Kbps upload. This implies an adoption gap in Tennessee of 31% of households; in other words, nearly one- third of Tennessee households have basic broadband service available but, for various reasons, are choosing not to subscribe to the service in their home. This assessment of the broadband inventory in Tennessee is conducted by Connected Tennessee in partnership with the State of Tennessee as part of the State Broadband Initiative (SBI), funded by the National Telecommunications Information Administration (NTIA). The SBI grant program was created by the Broadband Data Improvement Act (BDIA), unanimously passed by Congress in 2008 and funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) in As part of the SBI grant program, Connected Tennessee produced updated maps of broadband availability in October 2011 to identify served and unserved areas across the state. Broadband Availability in Tennessee Feb

4 Statewide estimates do not necessarily reflect the reality faced by each Tennessee community. Connected Tennessee s county- level availability estimates reveal variances, in some cases large, in measured broadband inventory across counties. These variances highlight the importance of granular data to identify gaps in infrastructure and adoption at the community level. A summary of broadband availability by county is available in Appendix 2. Broadband inventory data at the county and street levels are available through Connected Tennessee s interactive, online broadband inventory map at Also available on Connected Tennessee s website are more detailed tables on broadband inventory across the state by platform and at the county level. Connected Tennessee will continue to update broadband provider service areas and conduct detailed research on the data. Working in collaboration with Tennessee broadband providers helps determine the true extent of the available network more accurately. Connected Tennessee also conducts independent, ongoing validation of the broadband service data submitted by the provider community. Broadband Availability in Tennessee Feb

5 APPENDIX A: Data Sources and Participating Providers The data necessary to compile these broadband inventory estimates were collected on a voluntary basis from broadband providers serving the state of Tennessee. This appendix details which providers did allow the use of their data in the creation of Tennessee s broadband inventory map Access Cable Television, Inc. Ardmore Telephone Company Inc. AT&T Inc. Aurora Cable TV Beasley Wireless Ben Lomand Rural Telephone Coop., Inc. Bledsoe Telephone Cooperative Inc. BreezeAir.net Bristol Tennessee Essential Services Cable ONE Inc. Celina Cable Communications, Inc. Cellular South, Inc. CenturyLink Charter Communications, Inc. Clarksville Department of Electricity Clearwire Corporation Columbia Power & Water Systems Comcast Cable Communications, LLC CRU Enterprises, Inc. DeKalb Telephone Cooperative, Inc. DeltaCom, Inc. DISH Network Corporation ECSIS.NET Electric Power Board for the City of Chattanooga ETC Communications, LLC Fayetteville Public Utilities Frontier Communications Corporation High Country Online LLC Highland Telephone Cooperative, Inc. Hughes Network Systems, LLC igiles.net Info- Ed Inc InfoStructure Inc. Iris Networks Jackson Energy Authority James Cable LLC Ken- Tenn Wireless, L.L.C. Knology of Tennessee, Inc. Leap Wireless International, Inc. Level 3 Communications, LLC Loretto Telephone Company, Inc. Mediacom Southeast LLC MegaPath Inc. MidSouth Satellite, LLC Millington CATV, Inc. Monster Broadband, Inc. Morristown Utilities Commission NetEase NewWave Communications North Central Communications OnWav, Inc. OrbWireless.net Pickwick Cablevision, Inc. Planet Connect Internet Pulaski Electric System QuickRelay Wireless Communications Rural Tennessee Wireless Broadband (RTWB) Skyline Telephone Membership Corporation Softek, Inc. Spirit Broadband Sprint Nextel Corporation Surfmore.Net, Inc. TDS Telecommunications Corporation TEC of Jackson, Inc. TELE- PAGE Inc. T- Mobile USA, Inc. Trenton TV Cable Company Tullahoma Utilities Board tw telecom of tennessee, llc Twin Lakes Telephone Cooperative Corporation Ultranet High- Speed Internet United States Cellular Corporation United Telephone Company, Inc. Verizon Communications, Inc. Wave2Wave Communications Inc. West Kentucky Rural Telephone Coop Corp Inc. WildBlue Communications, Inc. Windstream Communications XO Communications, LLC Zayo Group, LLC Zito Midwest, LLC Broadband Availability in Tennessee Feb

6 APPENDIX B: County Availability Data based on Speed Tier The following table shows estimates of Broadband Service Availability in each county across the State of Tennessee by Speed Tier Among Fixed Platforms. For each column below, the first number shows the maximum advertised download speed and the second number shows the maximum advertised upstream speed. County 768 kbps / 1.5 Mbps / 200 kbps 200 kbps 3 Mbps / 768 kbps 6 Mbps / 1.5 Mbps 10 Mbps / 1.5 Mbps 25 Mbps / 1.5 Mbps 50 Mbps / 1.5 Mbps 100 Mbps / 1.5 Mbps 1 Gbps / 1.5 Mbps Anderson Bedford Benton Bledsoe Blount Bradley Campbell Cannon Carroll Carter Cheatham Chester Claiborne Clay Cocke Coffee Crockett Cumberland Davidson Decatur DeKalb Dickson Dyer Fayette Fentress Franklin Gibson Giles Grainger Greene Grundy Hamblen Hamilton Hancock Hardeman Hardin Hawkins Haywood Broadband Availability in Tennessee Feb

7 Henderson Henry Hickman Houston Humphreys Jackson Jefferson Johnson Knox Lake Lauderdale Lawrence Lewis Lincoln Loudon McMinn McNairy Macon Madison Marion Marshall Maury Meigs Monroe Montgomery Moore Morgan Obion Overton Perry Pickett Polk Putnam Rhea Roane Robertson Rutherford Scott Sequatchie Sevier Shelby Smith Stewart Sullivan Sumner Tipton Trousdale Unicoi Broadband Availability in Tennessee Feb

8 Union Van Buren Warren Washington Wayne Weakley White Williamson Wilson Broadband Availability in Tennessee Feb

9 APPENDIX C: County Availability Data based on Technology Platform The following table shows estimates of Broadband Service Availability in each county across the State of Tennessee by technology platform. County Cable DSL Fiber Fixed Wireless Mobile Wireless Anderson Bedford Benton Bledsoe Blount Bradley Campbell Cannon Carroll Carter Cheatham Chester Claiborne Clay Cocke Coffee Crockett Cumberland Davidson Decatur DeKalb Dickson Dyer Fayette Fentress Franklin Gibson Giles Grainger Greene Grundy Hamblen Hamilton Hancock Hardeman Hardin Hawkins Haywood Henderson Henry Hickman Broadband Availability in Tennessee Feb

10 Houston Humphreys Jackson Jefferson Johnson Knox Lake Lauderdale Lawrence Lewis Lincoln Loudon McMinn McNairy Macon Madison Marion Marshall Maury Meigs Monroe Montgomery Moore Morgan Obion Overton Perry Pickett Polk Putnam Rhea Roane Robertson Rutherford Scott Sequatchie Sevier Shelby Smith Stewart Sullivan Sumner Tipton Trousdale Unicoi Union Van Buren Warren Broadband Availability in Tennessee Feb

11 Washington Wayne Weakley White Williamson Wilson Broadband Availability in Tennessee Feb