The Broadband Performance Index: A Policy-Relevant Method of Assessing Broadband Adoption Among Countries

Abstract

In this paper, we present a new and policy-relevant means of comparing the broadband adoption rates among countries — the Broadband Performance Index (BPI). Unlike the OECD, which ranks countries' broadband performance using raw, per capita subscription data alone, the BPI is a policy-relevant means of comparing broadband adoption among countries because it measures whether actual broadband penetration in a country meets, exceeds, or fails to meet its expected performance. We generate the BPI for each OECD country with econometric techniques that take into account a number of factors, such as income, income inequality, education, population age, and population density. The BPI shows that among OECD countries, broadband adoption in the U.S. generally meets expectations. Interestingly, countries often cited as broadband miracles, like Korea and Japan, are average performers like U.S., and several countries ranked higher than the U.S. by the OECD (such as Denmark and Norway) are significantly underperforming. Countries like Portugal and Turkey, each of which rank behind the United States in the OECD rankings, are actually surpassing their demographic and economic endowments substantially.