Another Report on NYC’s Broadband Gap

The Center for an Urban Future is a public policy organization focused on improving the overall health of New York City by targeting problems facing low-income neighborhood throughout the five boroughs. It is no surprise then that their 2004 report “New York’s Broadband Gap” maintains a specific focus on the business communities with little or no access.

In the report the Center outlines reasons for this lack of access: cost, poor infrastructure or lack thereof, and the general lack of competition and thus consumer choice. Along with citing the reluctance of landlords to cooperate with the wiring of their buildings the report also implicates these issues in contributing to the telecommunication industry’s resistance in providing service to underserved areas, perpetuating a problematic cycle. However, similar to the EDC’s suggestion to continue to let the telecommunications industry self-regulate with modest support from the government, the Center’s report advocates that the government help to stimulate the market by offering incentives to companies who extend service to underserved areas.

Another similarity to the EDC report is the recommendations to educate businesses—mainly through industry associations and local business groups—about the benefits of broadband as a way to increase demand, thus stimulating the market. The Center also references the EDC’s programs “Plug ‘n Go” and “Digital NYC” (which used city tax breaks to create pre-wired, Internet ready buildings in lower Manhattan to attract high-tech companies) as a successful approach, although with a caveat that future programs should not be so limited in their focus on technology companies and instead broaden their targets.

However, the Center’s report starts to fall in line with some of the City Council suggestions on their report on the broadband gap. For instance, the Center recommends aggregating telecommunications spending in the city to make it more cost-effective, thus summoning a great deal of purchasing power as a unit when negotiating with companies about service improvements throughout the boroughs. It also urges the city to work with developers and industry leaders to create multi-tenant cluster buildings which would allow many companies using the same building to share expenses when it comes to telecommunications services, like investing in a T1 line. While new infrastructure is being built, the Center advocates for wireless networking as a way to “fill in the gaps,” specifically, it mentions the DoITT’s agreement to lease city lampposts to cell phone companies to increase service, lamenting that the same incentives were not allocated for wireless broadband coverage.

The Center also advocate for more government involvement than the EDC report felt necessary, advising officials to amend the 1996 Telecom Act in order to give the local government authority regarding the requirement of universal service. Additionally, in dealing with the telecom monopoly, the report insists that the government step in to let Verizon know that now they need to actively start building out to underserved communities since the FCC has ruled in Verizon’s favor and they are no longer required to hand over infrastructure use to possible competitors.

You can read the full report here.