Companion Report Reveals Global Broadband Internet Ecosystem Development in Depth

FOR RELEASE: July 8, 2015

Contact: Richard T. Kaplar
The Media Institute
703-243-5700

Arlington, Va., July 8, 2015 – The Media Institute today released The Net Vitality Index In Detail, a companion collection of detailed data used to develop the analysis released in the April 2015 report, Net Vitality: Identifying the Top-Tier Global Broadband Internet Ecosystem Leaders.  This new report provides substantial background and additional context for the Net Vitality assessment, which identifies five countries leading in their development of a robust broadband Internet ecosystem.

Harvard Law School faculty member and Media Institute Global Internet Freedom Advisory Council member Stuart N. Brotman authored both reports.  He compiled the detailed data released today for the benefit of scholars, researchers, and policymakers who desire an in-depth look at the metrics used in assessing the broadband Internet ecosystem capabilities of countries around the world.

Based on five years of research, the Net Vitality Index is the first holistic analysis of the global broadband Internet ecosystem, identifying the United States, South Korea, Japan, United Kingdom, and France as the top-tier leaders.  Unlike the one-dimensional rankings that serve as the basis of most broadband comparative studies, Brotman’s composite analysis takes into account 52 indices developed independently to evaluate countries on an apples-to-apples basis.  Overarching categories assessed encompass applications and content, devices, networks, and macroeconomic factors.

The analysis examines ways to sustain long-term Internet vibrancy, both in the United States and around the world, and inform future government policies that impact the deployment and adoption of broadband technologies.  Unlike other comparative studies that rank countries quantitatively based on a simplistic assessment of broadband speeds, Brotman’s Net Vitality Index also evaluates leading countries qualitatively to discover how they are performing in a global competitive environment.

Brotman’s research indicates that the five global Net Vitality Index leaders have a powerful common driving force: innovation.  Brotman concludes that when innovation is coupled with sustained investment, competition can thrive and the desired goal of promoting continuous Net Vitality can be achieved, without the need for overbearing regulatory intervention.

To download The Net Vitality Index In Detail (released July 8), click here.

To download Net Vitality: Identifying the Top-Tier Global Broadband Internet Ecosystem Leaders (released April 24), click here.

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About The Media Institute

The Media Institute is a nonprofit research foundation working to advance sound communications policy, freedom of speech, excellence in journalism, and the protection of intellectual property.  The Institute’s Global Internet Freedom Program is an advocate for global free speech online, based on the belief that the Internet should be an open and interoperable platform, largely free from government intrusion, where information can be shared freely.  For more information, visit the Institute online at www.mediainstitute.org.

About the Author

Stuart N. Brotman has extensive experience as a global executive, management consultant, international communications and media lawyer, university educator, and government policymaker.  He serves as a faculty member at Harvard Law School, and as a Nonresident Senior Fellow in the Governance Studies Program, Center for Technology Innovation, at The Brookings Institution.  He served two terms as an appointed member of the U.S. Department of State Advisory Committee on International Communications and Information Policy (ACICIP), and serves on the Global Internet Freedom Advisory Council of The Media Institute.  He also served as special assistant to the president’s principal communications policy adviser and chief of staff at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).