Measurement Lab's Comments on the National Broadband Research Agenda

In March 2015, the Obama Administration issued a Presidential Memorandum that sought to support the expansion of broadband deployment and competition. Among other activities, the memorandum included the creation of the Broadband Opportunity Council, responsible for consulting with external stakeholders to produce recommendations on regulatory changes and research opportunities to support broadband adoption in underserved areas of the United States. In the “Broadband Opportunity Council Report and Recommendations” document published later that summer, the Council noted as a key concern that “research on broadband deployment, competition, and adoption has not kept pace with the massive digital changes that permeate our economy and society.” In order to identify areas where investment and research could improve access to broadband, the Council called for a National Broadband Research Agenda (NBRA) to be developed in collaboration with external stakeholders.

In comments submitted to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the National Science Foundation, Measurement Lab applauded the focus of the NBRA and encouraged the Council to include open data and technical measurement in all aspects of the programs supported by the federal government. M-Lab strongly supported one of the most innovative plans, Community Connectivity Initiative, which will harness community-level input on local broadband adoption programs, and connect communities to granular data about local broadband connectivity from mixed sources. The submitted comments noted that the Community Connectivity Initiative could include broadband performance indicators to directly measure the impact of policies and programs. Displaying measurement data in these self-assessment tools would enable more communities to actively monitor the broadband programs themselves, to better direct investments and improve development outcomes. M-Lab also encouraged the NTIA and NSF to support communities in collecting their own measurements, and convene discussions with the researchers and other sectors on standardizing methodologies and improving coordination of datasets.

Last week, the NTIA and NSF released the NBRA after months of stakeholder consultation. In the ambitious document, the NBRA identifies dozens of technical, economic, legal, and social questions across several themes pertinent to promoting next-generation broadband technologies and improving access in underserved areas. These themes range widely and include issues of privacy and monitoring the effectiveness of federal programs. The Agenda describes the important role of research on internet performance in ensuring that American have effective access. One area outlined by the NBRA is better understanding of the role of community anchor institutions, such as libraries and schools that provide access to the public. Meaningful usage and digital inclusion through community anchor institutions is a timely discussion. In its Measuring Broadband in Schools project, New America’s Education Policy Program and Open Technology Institute developed customized measurement tools for schools and libraries to offer performance assessment for their highly-used internet connections. The Agenda’s support for identifying best practices and challenges for community anchor institutions would align with these efforts to promote meaningful internet usage and access.

Moving forward, the NBRA will be implemented and further developed through the Federal Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) Program’s Large Scale Networking Interagency Working Group. The NBRA identified a number of opportunities and principles that will can set the stage for positive Federal support for research and broadband deployment, and M-Lab anticipates supporting NITRD as it continues this objective.