{"id":15955,"date":"2022-03-10T06:07:11","date_gmt":"2022-03-10T11:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/?p=15955"},"modified":"2024-06-06T09:11:31","modified_gmt":"2024-06-06T13:11:31","slug":"what-if-you-build-broadband-but-they-dont-come","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/?p=15955","title":{"rendered":"What if you build broadband, but they don&#8217;t come?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The following commentary appeared on <a href=\"https:\/\/cartt.ca\/commentary-what-if-you-build-broadband-but-they-dont-come\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Cartt.ca<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div style=\"float: right; padding: 10px;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/o3c_pJ_CLJQ\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>If you build it he will come.<\/p>\n<p>Often misquoted as &#8220;If you build it, they will come&#8221;, the mantra from &#8220;Field of Dreams&#8221; has become a metaphor driving many business plans. <\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, reality shows that if you build it, whatever &#8220;it&#8221; may be, all you do is improve the chances for them, whoever &#8220;them&#8221; may be, to come. <\/p>\n<p>The Field of Dreams business case philosophy has been a driving force behind many government broadband programs. Just get broadband built, people will sign up. Build broadband pipes into this community and knowledge-based workers will work from home. Build municipal fibre networks, and companies will relocate and expand. Employment will skyrocket.<\/p>\n<p>Build it and they will come. <\/p>\n<p>And if you subscribe to that view, what if we apply that philosophy to improve broadband adoption among low-income households.<\/p>\n<p>We know that broadband adoption rates vary with income. Fewer low-income households have broadband connections than higher income households. According to Statistics Canada&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/3Ig6QeJ\">2020 Canadian Internet Use Survey<\/a>, 93.6% of Canadians have access to the internet at home. That sounds pretty good, but there is tremendous variability based on income: only 80.9% of Canadians in the lowest income quartile have home internet, compared to 99.6% in the highest income quartile. <\/p>\n<p>Internet access cannot be considered a luxury. That&#8217;s why the overwhelming majority of low-income households have access to a wide range of heavily discounted broadband services, such as Rogers <a href=\"https:\/\/roge.rs\/3ph5nxh\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Connected for Success<\/a>, TELUS <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/3t6sR8B\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Internet for Good<\/a>, or nationally under ISED&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/3BA43ZB\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Connecting Families<\/a> umbrella.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, we have learned that it isn&#8217;t enough to offer low-priced computers and $10 per month broadband. Indeed, as <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/3578Qrn\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Georgetown University economist Scott Wallsten<\/a> writes [<a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/30X7Px1\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">pdf<\/a>, 1.8MB], the FCC conducted studies associated with its Broadband Lifeline service testing &#8220;consumer responses to a range of issues, including preferences for speed, the effects of different levels and types of discounts&#8221;. Surprisingly, the <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/3vq9Mlc\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">FCC found<\/a> &#8220;only about ten percent of the expected number of households signed up, even with the price of one plan set at $1.99 per month.&#8221; The research also found a significant avoidance of digital literacy training classes. &#8220;In one project, many participants were willing to forego an additional $10 per month savings or a free computer in order to avoid taking those classes.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>As we continue to make significant progress ensuring all Canadian households have access to broadband, we need to conduct more research to learn the non-price factors that are inhibiting people from connecting to the services at their doorsteps.<\/p>\n<p>It isn&#8217;t enough to say that we built it; now we have to make sure everyone comes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The following commentary appeared on Cartt.ca. If you build it he will come. Often misquoted as &#8220;If you build it, they will come&#8221;, the mantra from &#8220;Field of Dreams&#8221; has become a metaphor driving many business plans. Unfortunately, reality shows that if you build it, whatever &#8220;it&#8221; may be, all you do is improve the &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/?p=15955\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">What if you build broadband, but they don&#8217;t come?<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","two_page_speed":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What if you build broadband, but they don&#039;t come? &#8226; Telecom Trends<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The following commentary appeared on Cartt.ca. If you build it he will come. Often misquoted as &quot;If you build it, they will come&quot;, the mantra from &quot;Field &#8226; March 10, 2022\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/?p=15955\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What if you build broadband, but they don&#039;t come? &#8226; Telecom Trends\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The following commentary appeared on Cartt.ca. If you build it he will come. Often misquoted as &quot;If you build it, they will come&quot;, the mantra from &quot;Field &#8226; March 10, 2022\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/?p=15955\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Telecom Trends\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-03-10T11:07:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-06-06T13:11:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/mark_logo_png.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"3484\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1444\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@mark_goldberg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@mark_goldberg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mark\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mhgoldberg.com\\\/blog\\\/?p=15955#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mhgoldberg.com\\\/blog\\\/?p=15955\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Mark\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mhgoldberg.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7a2b80bac06ee3d5cacca8c7708bfe8f\"},\"headline\":\"What if you build broadband, but they don&#8217;t come?\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-03-10T11:07:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-06-06T13:11:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mhgoldberg.com\\\/blog\\\/?p=15955\"},\"wordCount\":436,\"commentCount\":1,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mhgoldberg.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/mhgoldberg.com\\\/blog\\\/?p=15955#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mhgoldberg.com\\\/blog\\\/?p=15955\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mhgoldberg.com\\\/blog\\\/?p=15955\",\"name\":\"What if you build broadband, but they don't come? &#8226; Telecom Trends\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mhgoldberg.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-03-10T11:07:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-06-06T13:11:31+00:00\",\"description\":\"The following commentary appeared on Cartt.ca. 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