Does Place Really Matter?Broadband Availability, Race and

IncomePresentation by

Ying Li, Ph.D.Research Analyst

Joint Center for Political and Economic StudiesAnd

Mikyung Baek, Ph. D.Research and Technical Associate

Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and EthnicityThe Ohio State University

AtThe National Broadband Map: Early Results from Social Science Research

Washington, DCTuesday, March 22, 2011

Research Questions

• Explore the relationships between broadband availability and race & ethnicity, income, and place– To what extent is broadband readily available in

low-income communities, especially those where minorities are more concentrated?

– To what extent do urban and rural penetration rates show dramatic difference in broadband service deployment?

Three Case Studies

• Los Angeles– majority-minority city with large Asian and

Hispanic populations

• Chicago– almost equal numbers of whites, African

Americans and Hispanics

• South Carolina– large low-income, rural and black populations

General Findings• “Race” was not a significant determinant of broadband deployment

in low-income, high minority communities in all three regions.

• “Income” was more significant in South Carolina and in select areas where residents were low-income, high minority like Inglewood, CA

• Wireline and wireless coverage was uneven by income

• Broadband speed might be an additional barrier in deployment in low-income, minority communities (finding in Inglewood needs exploration)

• Adoption is still a prime issue because even with some level of competition, penetration rates are still low.

Wireline vs. Wireless

Los Angeles: Broadband Providers and Population Density

Los Angeles: Broadband Providers and Household Income

Los Angeles: Broadband Providers and Minorities

Los Angeles: Broadband Providers and Blacks

Los Angeles: Broadband Providers and Hispanics

Los Angeles: Broadband Providers and Asians

Chicago: Broadband Providers and Blacks

Chicago: Broadband Providers and Blacks

South Carolina: Broadband Providers and Population Density

South Carolina: Broadband Providers and Household Income

South Carolina: Broadband Providers and Blacks

Regression Analysis

• Dependent Variable: broadband providers in South Carolina

• Explaining Variables– Model 1: Race and Income, Adjusted R2 = 0.0388

– Subsequent models with more variables, urban/rural, pop. density, even lower Adj. R2

• Need for more in-depth analysis, possibly using GWR, Geographic Weighted Regression

Data and Technical Issues

• Dataset size – time/resource intensive

• Availability of datasets by each geographical unit

• Availability of residential subscription data

• Wireless coverage data in GIS format

• Problem with census block ID, inconsistent with concatenation of ST, CTY, Tract, BG, and Block IDs (e.g., New York data)

Going Forward

• Availability <> Adoption, Why?

• Cost

• Type of service: wireline/wireless in relation to demographics

• Speed

Inglewood, CA: Broadband Speed and Blacks

Research Team

• Ying Li yli@jointcenter.org

• Nicol Turner-Leenturner-lee@jointcenter.org

• Samir GambhirGambhir.2@osu.edu

• Mikyung Baekbaek.7@osu.edu

Thank You!