Before I start my rant, I would like to make it clear that I am all for the collection of data about broadband penetration so that government and private enterprise can make intelligent decisions. But I expect a better standard of collection methodology and consideration for private enterprise than what we are getting.
Case in point…
The State of Nebaska received a Broadband Mapping Grant to map out broadband availability and adoption. Fortunately, the Nebraska Public Service Commission already has an excellent table of broadband availability put together for each community, and just needs to collect the data for the people who live outside of the unincorporated areas of the state. The 2007 Broadband Survey conducted by the Nebraska Public Service Commission is one of the best collections of data gathered about Broadband in an area that I have come across. It would be logical for the PSC to take this information, verify it, add data on the unincorporated areas of the state and then put it in web accessible format so that the results were accessible to the public.
A few days ago, I received an NDA and data request template from the company in charge of collecting the data with instructions to submit the data by February 19, 2010. Here is a list of the data that was requested:
- All subscribers, including addresses, speed packages and delivery method
- A list of all tower sites, including GPS coordinates, frequencies used, height on the tower, types of antennas, what direction they are pointing, capacity by sector
- A list of all middle mile connections, again including tower sites, heights, frequencies, capacity of the connection
- All “anchor institutions” on our network
First of all, there is no flippin way I’m going to turn over that data to an outside company, NDA or not. I doubt that many of the other providers in the state are going to turn over this same information either. I have no problem providing coverage maps of my sites and summary information of how many customers we serve and their speed packages by census block – but turning over the data that they have requested is like giving my bank account information to a Nigerian banker.
If this process is not adjusted to accomodate the need for non-disclosure of proprietary company data, then we are going to end up with another worthless collection of survey information. I remain hopeful that the Nebraska Public Service Commission, and the NTIA, are willing to make the adjustments necessary to make this process work.
We will see.
You are not alone.
In addition to the issues you have with it, I found it perplexing that the state decided that no NE based company would/could do the statistical analysis. The company who is passing out the NDA and collecting the data is based out of VA.