Enhanced “Take Rate” Census Block Calculations for US Broadband Announced
New report reveals more than 72% of US residents convert to broadband when available.
Cooperstown, NY -- December 1, 2009 – Brian Webster Consulting and WirelessMapping.com recently developed a revised methodology for calculating broadband “take rate” in the United States, resulting in a significant increase over industry estimations. Using enhanced metrics described in a new industry brief, the estimated national broadband take rate where broadband services are available is 72.9% – a 10% increase over current calculations.
“Combining the enhanced census block broadband take rate with other economic data and trends as input to return-on-investment models and analysis builds additional confidence for investors on the merit of the broadband deployment business case,” said Haig Sarkissian, principal Consultant at Wireless 20/20, LLC.
To develop more accurate take rate estimates, Brian Webster Consulting teamed with data provider Gadberry Group in August of 2009 to design and prototype an approach that provides a near address-level provision for broadband consumption.
The new calculation is based on more accurate data and the ability to identify exactly where unserved homes are located, resulting in better-informed deployment strategies and more effective use of funding to address unserved households. It also enables reevaluation of broadband deployments or expansions in areas previously deemed financially unsustainable, based on low household density per square mile.
According to Principal Consultant Brian Webster, this data will strengthen data-driven marketing programs and applications to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), BIP and BTOP stimulus funding programs.
“Earlier this year we provided several first round applicants with block-level demographics, including consumer broadband usage,” said Gadberry Group Principal Larry Martin. “Combining these data with innovative analysis techniques has led to this new perspective on broadband take rate.”
"With the new insight provided by the census block take rate, business case analysis is further enhanced, thereby reducing the risk in the broadband investment and deployment,” Webster added. “By leveraging our years of mapping experience, we help our clients strengthen their business case and go-to-market plans, allowing them to present their cases more clearly with images, as well as hard data.”
The complete report, “Evolving Metrics: New Levels of Accuracy Reveal Increased Take Rates” is available on the WirelessMapping.com website at: http://www.wirelessmapping.com/media/Current_Broadband_TakeRate/ .
To download an industry brief, Click Here.
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About Brian Webster Consulting
Brian Webster Consulting and WirelessMapping.com were created to fill a need for affordable wireless engineering services for those unable to justify the cost of hiring and maintaining fulltime RF Engineering staff. Projects are approached with a creative eye, cost-conscious methodology and nearly 20 years of industry experience. The integration of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) helps present complex engineering and demographic information in clear, color diagrams that help the end user make actionable business decisions. These capabilities allow demographic data and market analysis information to be included as overlays to a client's engineering diagrams, along with raw data for input to financial models.
Brian has extensive experience in municipal wireless (Muni) network design. Most recently, he was an RF Engineering Manager at EarthLink and was responsible for designing the City of Philadelphia's municipal wireless network, one of the world's largest wireless mesh deployments. His responsibilities included reviewing and approving the work of EarthLink engineers and Motorola contractors. http://www.wirelessmapping.com/
About WirelessMapping.com
WirelessMapping.com has been providing wireless and geospatial mapping services for seven years, both with and without accompanying demographic reports that show the number of households covered or passed. Most recently, WirelessMapping.com has been involved in census block level mapping and demographic support services to clients developing applications to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) stimulus funding through the NTIA BTOP and RUS BIP. Past and current clients include Lockheed Martin, EarthLink, Covad, Federal Engineering, Sprint PCS, ExteNet Systems, Southern California Gas and Electric, Strix, Thunder Bay Telephone Company and BroadbandCensus.com.
About The Gadberry Group
The Gadberry Group provides location-based services and information data products for clients who demand the most current, accurate and precise household and population data for their site location analysis. MicroBuild Ò , Gadberry's patent-pending product, is unique because only MicroBuild Ò uses consumer data at the rooftop level to deliver quarterly household and population counts beginning at the census block level. http://www.gadberry.net/
