Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 122.djvu/4121

This page needs to be proofread.

12 2 STA T .4098PUBLIC LA W 110 –3 8 5—O CT. 10 , 2008 (F)others o u r c eso fb ro ad ba n d ser vi ce ca p abi l it yw hich consu m ers re g ularly use or on which they rely

and ( G ) any other information the C ommission deems appropriate for such purpose . ( 2 ) PUBLICAV AILABILI TY . —T he Commission shall ma k e publicly available the results of surveys conducted under this subsection at least once per year. (d) IMPRO VI NG C E N S US D ATA ON B ROA D BAND.—The S ecretary of Commerce , in consultation with the Federal Communications Commission, shall e x pand the A merican Community Survey con - ducted by the Bureau of the Census to elicit information for residen- tial households, including those located on native lands, to deter- mine whether persons at such households own or use a computer at that address, whether persons at that address subscribe to Inter- net service and, if so, whether such persons subscribe to dial- up or broadband Internet service at that address. (e) PROPRIETARY IN F ORMATION.— N othing in this title shall reduce or remove any obligation the Commission has to protect proprietary information, nor shall this title be construed to compel the Commission to make publicly available any proprietary informa- tion. SEC.104 .S TUDYONA DD I TIONA LBR OADBAND M ETRICS AND STAND - ARDS. (a) IN GENERAL.—The Comptroller General shall conduct a study to consider and evaluate additional broadband metrics or standards that may be used by industry and the Federal Govern- ment to provide users with more accurate information about the cost and capability of their broadband connection, and to better compare the deployment and penetration of broadband in the U nited States with other countries. At a minimum, such study shall con- sider potential standards or metrics that may be used— ( 1 ) to calculate the average price per megabit per second of broadband offerings; (2) to reflect the average actual speed of broadband offerings compared to advertised potential speeds and to con- sider factors affecting speed that may be outside the control of a broadband provider; ( 3 ) to compare, using comparable metrics and standards, the availability and q uality of broadband offerings in the United States with the availability and quality of broadband offerings in other industriali z ed nations, including countries that are members of the O rganization for E conomic Cooperation and Development; and ( 4 ) to distinguish between complementary and substitutable broadband offerings in evaluating deployment and penetration. (b) R EPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall submit a report to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the H ouse of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce on the results of the study, with recommendations for how industry and the Federal Communications Commission can use such metrics and comparisons to improve the quality of broadband data and to better evaluate the deployment and penetration of comparable broadband service at comparable rates across all regions of the Nation. Recom me nda-ti on s.