About the Report
Both the European Commission (EC) and the U.S. government have recently conducted or commissioned studies providing detailed information about the extent of broadband coverage as of the end of 2011 and 2012. These studies report coverage levels for a wide range of speed tiers and technologies in both urban and rural areas. Although the European mapping study focuses on Next Generation Access (NGA), which it defines to be service providing download speeds of at least 30 Mbps, a close analysis reveals that the study actually reports data for 25 Mbps service. Data from these studies served as the basis for analysis in this report.
These mapping studies were supplemented by other studies conducted or commissioned by the EC or the Federal Communications Commission that examine other key information, such as broadband investment, pricing, and download speeds.
The author thanks Broadband for America for its financial support for the study.
About the Author
Christopher S. Yoo is Professor of Law, Communication, and Computer and Information Science and Founding Director of the Center for Technology, Innovation and Competition at the University of Pennsylvania.
His research focuses on exploring the insights that the principles of network engineering and the economics of imperfect competition can provide into the regulation of the Internet and other forms of electronic communications. He has been a leading voice in the “network neutrality” debate that has dominated Internet policy over the past several years. He is also pursuing research on copyright theory, standard essential patents, as well as the history of presidential power.
He is the author of Networks in Telecommunications: Economics and Law (Cambridge, 2009) (with Daniel F. Spulber) and The Dynamic Internet: How Technology, Users, and Businesses Are Transforming the Network (AEI, 2012). Yoo testifies frequently before Congress, the Federal Communications Commission, and the Federal Trade Commission.
He received his J.D. from Northwestern University, his M.B.A. from UCLA, and his A.B. from Harvard University. He also clerked for Justice Anthony M. Kennedy of the Supreme Court of the United States and worked at Hogan and Hartson (now Hogan Lovells) under the supervision of now-Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr.