Models for Community Broadband Adoption

At the Roadmap to Adoption Conference a panel discussion was held focusing on models for community broadband adoption, and attempting to answer question such as where to implement such models, who should be targeted and how to manage the programs involved.

The panel was led by Karen Archer Perry, of the Federal Communications Commission National Broadband Taskforce, and included Emily Tseng, Broadband Technology Opportunities Program Officer with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), and Elizabeth Stock, President of Computers for Youth (CFY). Perry began her speech by explaining the goals underlying the FCC's National Broadband Plan with a special focus on the 1002 goal. "The 1002, our aspirational goal, is that by the year 2020, 100 households have a 20Mbps download speed and a 50Mbps upload speed," Perry said. "The key barriers are cost, literacy and relevance." While Perry agreed with a former speaker that choosing to adopt Broadband was primarily an individual choice, she stressed that that choice took place "in a social context." "That social context is very important. There's a neighborhood effect associated with adoption in that if people in my neighborhood adopt broadband, it's more likely that I will as well," Perry said.