Pew study finds high speed internet growth slowed last year

The Pew Internet & American Life Project just released its latest report on high speed internet adoption in the United States. Surprise, surprise--the results are troubling.

Less than half of all Americans have access to high speed internet, and even worse, last year's growth rate for high speed internet adoption slowed to its lowest level in five years – 12 percent, compared to 40 percent a year earlier.

But that slowed growth doesn’t reflect a lack of demand for the service:

John Horrigan, associate director for research at Pew, said broadband growth hasn't necessarily reached a plateau.

But clearly, many people who can afford broadband service already have it. In the future, Horrigan said, Internet providers will have to try harder to convince those without broadband that it's worth the cost, typically $20 to $40 a month.

"I think we're at a point where many people in the upper socio-economic groups now have broadband," he said. "You'd expect to see growth continue, but it's going to be in fits and starts."

The Pew study showed very clearly that socio-economic status – as well as geography and race – are directly related to high speed internet adoption.

More than three-fourths of people making $75,000 per year have high speed internet connections, compared to just 30 percent of those making less than $30,000 a year. And while about half of urban and suburban residents connect to high speed internet, less than a third of people in rural regions do. Finally, Hispanics are 40 percent less likely and African Americans are 17 percent less likely to have high speed internet than white Americans.

Although African Americans still lag behind, their adoption rate is a big improvement over years past. In 2005 just 14 percent of African Americans connected to high speed internet; today that figure is 40 percent. As L.A. Seals, an aide to Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), says,

"People always talk about the digital divide, but as customers, we [African-Americans] are closing that," he said. "But we are not doing enough elsewhere, such as developing software for the Internet. There's a lot of room for growth."

[Aaron] Smith, of Pew, said affordable pricing for high-speed Web access is critical, but so is exposure to the Internet.

"As people get exposure to the technology, they tend to want it," he said.

The Pew study makes it clear that both pricing and a lack of exposure to the internet have limited many Americans' adoption of high speed internet.

But to illustrate just how poorly we are faring, it helps to compare high speed internet adoption rates in the U.S. to the rates in other developed countries. In the U.S., 47 percent of the population is connected to high speed internet at home. In Korea, that number is 90 percent; in Norway it's a whopping 98.3 percent.

Not only are many Americans being left behind their fellow citizens, our country as a whole has fallen behind the rest of the world. Pew's finding that our high speed internet adoption rate has slowed to a crawl means that we won't be catching up anytime soon.

Pew Internet & American Life Project

Home Broadband Adoption 2007 (Pew)

Broadband growth slows, study says (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

High-speed Internet hits home (Chicago Tribune)

90% of Koreans hooked to broadband (The Korea Herald)

Nearly full broadband coverage (The Norway Post)