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Case Study

How Loudoun County, VA Secured Over $17M in Broadband Funding Using Ookla Data to Create Accurate Maps and Challenge FCC Data

“Where Loudoun was not previously eligible for any funding, Ookla data helped us show that FCC Form 477 data was inaccurate. Ookla data was instrumental in our research and our findings helped support Loudoun County’s award of $17 million in state-allocated funding. This funding is invaluable as we work toward our mission to promote the development of accessible, reliable, and affordable broadband Internet access for the underserved in Loudoun County, Virginia.”

Kevin A. Noll
Co-Founder and President, Loudoun Broadband Alliance

Benefits

  • Secured $17M in federal funding by pinpointing where FCC data was inaccurate
  • Identified underserved areas in the county where residents do not have access to broadband
  • Produced an accurate, actionable broadband map to inform policy decisions and allocate funding to specific ISPs based on needs

Virginia’s Loudoun County is interwoven with rural and suburban landscapes, making it especially difficult for policymakers to understand where the county’s residents are — or are not — able to access the Internet. FCC Form 477 broadband availability data shows that nearly 100% of Loudoun residents have access to what the FCC defines as broadband (25 Mbps download, 3 Mbps upload). This is inconsistent with the connectivity experiences of county residents, so Loudoun Broadband Alliance (LBA) set out to create an accurate, reliable broadband access mapping methodology using real-world network performance data.

Loudoun Broadband Alliance (LBA) chose Ookla® Speedtest Intelligence® to research residents’ actual connectivity and network performance. With this data, LBA identified a large number of unserved households in contrast to FCC data which showed them as served. Loudoun County was subsequently awarded over $17 million of funding to help eliminate the broadband gap.

Situation

In an effort to close the digital divide in rural and urban communities across the nation, the United States federal government has allocated billions of dollars in broadband funding with the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act. Funding allocation is based on current federal broadband mapping through FCC Form 477 data. For Loudoun County, FCC data reports:

However, the FCC’s findings were not reflective of the real-world network experience of Loudoun County residents. LBA used Speedtest Intelligence data in conjunction with other publicly available datasets to get a more accurate picture of broadband accessibility in their county.

Solution

Through analysis of Speedtest Intelligence data, LBA developed a broadband score, where a score of 100 means that the geolocation has access to FCC minimum broadband requirements. Green areas on the map show locations that are meeting that threshold while the pink spots represent locations where residents do not have access to broadband at all. Aggregating Ookla with LBA’s own local surveys and research, LBA was able to create their own map that showed a more accurate broadband availability map for the county.

Outcome

Contrary to the FCC’s finding that 99.8% of residents have access to broadband, LBA found that only 93.9% of residents have access to broadband with a minimum download speed of 25 Mbps. This means more than 6% of the addresses (over 8,000 housing units) in the county are underserved. Furthermore, the FCC has been called upon to raise the definition of broadband to a new standard of 100 Mbps download. Under this new definition, more than 10% of the residents of Loudoun County lack access to high-speed Internet. Speedtest results plot where those poor connections exist on the map –– demonstrating the precise geographic boundaries of the digital divide, illustrated with real-world network performance data.

As a result of this work, Loudoun County was awarded over $17M in state-allocated funding through the VATI grant program. LBA demonstrated that accurate and actionable broadband maps can influence policymakers. Ookla empowers local governments to produce accurate broadband maps, challenge FCC data, and secure funding to eliminate the broadband gap in their communities.

Editorial note: This case study was updated on April 25, 2022 to include the broadband funding won by Loudoun County.

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About Loudoun Broadband Alliance

Loudoun Broadband Alliance (LBA) is a non-profit that was formed with a vision to promote development of accessible, reliable, and affordable broadband Internet access for the underserved in Loudoun County. LBA’s effort is driven by research, education, and advocacy to help move the community toward that goal. 

 

 

Ookla retains ownership of this content, including all of the intellectual property rights, data, images, graphs, and analysis. This content may not be quoted, reproduced, distributed, or published for any commercial purpose without prior consent.

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Case Study

How Etisalat by e& Went from Regional Leader to the World’s Fastest Mobile Network Operator in 2020

“This milestone achievement, supported by Ookla network intelligence, is a testament to our relentless efforts towards our strategy and vision to ‘Drive the digital future to empower societies.”

Mr. Haitham Abdul Razzak
Chief Technology Officer

Benefits

  • Proactive network planning and timely response to changing patterns in customer behavior
  • Minimized service disruptions while customers were increasingly reliant on network for work, learning and entertainment
  • Improved network capacity, performance and coverage in critical areas

The upheaval of the COVID-19 crisis has created acute challenges for mobile network operators. As consumers are more reliant on their networks for access to work, education and other vital services, the resulting surges in traffic have disrupted years of careful network planning for most operators. Already the winner of the Speedtest Award™ for Fastest Mobile Network in the Middle East for 2019, Etisalat by e& sought both to maintain its high standard of network performance and quality — and to support the United Arab Emirates’ national initiatives to ensure connectivity while citizens stayed safe at home.

Etisalat used Ookla® Speedtest® data to understand the impact of COVID-19 on the state of networks, to support national initiatives from the Ministry of Education and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) and to consistently improve their network performance and capabilities in the face of unprecedented demand. As a result of their network’s performance, Etisalat was awarded the Speedtest Award for World’s Fastest Mobile Network in 2020.

Situation

As the country locked down, Etisalat was faced with an exponential surge in network demand. In addition to meeting their own customers’ expectations, the operator also needed to meet goals set by the regulatory bodies and to help fulfill national initiatives for the UAE Vision 2021 plan, which aims to establish the country as a cohesive knowledge economy by 2021. In support of these missions, Etisalat focused efforts on improving their mobile network, supporting business continuity in a work-from-home environment, facilitating distance learning and providing entertainment to families at home.

Solution

The global crisis highlighted the importance of having a robust and up-to-date network. In the immediate wake of the lockdown in late March 2020, Etisalat’s network traffic surged exponentially, exceeding planned capacity and leading to downtime. With network intelligence from Ookla, Etisalat was able to understand the state of their networks throughout the first half of the year, make network optimizations and expand capacity to meet demand.

A massive change in network usage patterns emerged overnight due to the pandemic.
Speedtest Intelligence™ data showed a significant increase in consumers testing their network connections with Speedtest in the UAE in the first weeks of the lockdown. With consumers more dependent on their networks in 2020, Speedtest testing volume in the country continued to grow. In Q2 2020, performance test counts in the UAE increased 25.67% over Q4 2019 and 41.96% over Q2 2019.

As soon as the lockdown began, a traffic migration from commercial districts to residential areas was expected. With timely monitoring through Etisalat’s hourly intelligent alert system and traffic insights observed through Ookla’s crowdsourced data in Speedtest Intelligence, the operator proactively planned improvements and capacity expansions on both the 4G and 5G networks to support home workers and distance learning.

Additionally, maintaining network performance and quality during this time was essential to helping businesses maintain their continuity and ensuring consumers had access to educational opportunities and essential services. Etisalat teams worked nonstop to make sure that its customers — including government departments, large enterprises, small businesses and subscribers across the country — stayed connected. Achieving this connectivity was made possible by Etisalat’s digital transformation strategy, which uses automation and artificial intelligence to proactively enhance the customer experience through the operator’s fully autonomous network.

Backed by these insights, new 5G sites were deployed on the lower band, ensuring better indoor customer network experience for home workers and students learning from home — as well as better overall coverage extension, reaching more remote residential areas.

Outcome

Over the course of the year, Etisalat’s average mobile download speed went from 97.80 Mbps in Q1 2020 to 170.74 Mbps in Q4 2020, and average upload speed went from 24.69 Mbps in Q1 2020 to 27.39 Mbps in Q4 2020.

As a result of the operator’s standout network performance in 2020, Etisalat was awarded the Speedtest Award for World’s Fastest Mobile Network with a Speed Score™ of 109.4. The operator achieved the world’s fastest network speeds while also showcasing their commitment to both COVID-19 relief efforts and the UAE Vision 2021 plan. Etisalat’s individual performance greatly impacted the country’s overall performance — and as a result the UAE was ranked the fastest country in the world in January, March, July and November 2020 for average mobile download speed, as reported on the Speedtest Global Index™.

Further benefits from Etisalat’s network improvements:

  • Strengthened network capacity enabled all customers the best possible experience while learning, working and accessing entertainment from home — during an exponential increase in data traffic on the network
  • Enabled over one million students in the country to benefit from free access to distance learning websites and platforms, supporting the government initiative to keep people safe at home
  • Extended dedicated support to local authorities to maintain security and safety, including free access for the public to Dubai Police websites and apps
  • Allocated extra network resources and services to the health sector and front-line workers addressing COVID-19, providing connectivity to the healthcare sector, quarantined areas and other critical populations

 

Editor’s note: This case study was updated on August 20, 2021 to include data for the full year of 2020.

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About Etisalat by e&

Etisalat by e& is the largest telecommunication corporation in the GCC. Headquartered in Abu Dhabi, UAE, Etisalat serves 12 million+ consumers and over 300,000 small, medium and large enterprise and government customers in the UAE. e& (formerly Etisalat Group) has captured significant market share as it expands across Africa, Asia and the Middle East, most notably in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, where the introduction of innovative mobile broadband services has changed market dynamics and provided affordable mobile internet access for millions of people. Etisalat by e& is the winner of the Speedtest Awards for both Fastest Mobile Network and Fastest Fixed Broadband Network in United Arab Emirates for Q1–Q2 2019, as well as World’s Fastest Mobile Network Q2–Q3 2020.

Ookla retains ownership of this content, including all of the intellectual property rights, data, images, graphs, and analysis. This content may not be quoted, reproduced, distributed, or published for any commercial purpose without prior consent.

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Case Study

How Georgia is Leveraging Cell Analytics™ to Enable Virtual Classrooms

“The Georgia Department of Education is using Ookla Cell Analytics to assist our district with the placement of mobile cellular based Wi-Fi transmitter devices. This tool takes away the guesswork of identifying areas of placement with the highest cellular signal strength for the best student experience possible. These Wi-Fi devices will give students in areas with no home connectivity the ability to gather for instructional purposes while practicing social distancing.”

Chris Shealy
Director of Technology Services for the Georgia State Department of Education

Benefits

  • Identified underserved areas in the state where network connectivity and coverage were scarce
  • Determined the best locations to park buses equipped with Wi-Fi hotspots using data on wireless signal strength
  • Will provide students with locations for remote high-speed internet access, serving up to 80,000 student households

With many schools and libraries closed for public safety reasons, Georgia’s most vulnerable students may not have access to the high-speed internet needed to attend virtual classes. To help close this digital divide and to best allocate Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding, the Georgia State Department of Education needed to determine the best locations for mobile Wi-Fi hotspots.

The Georgia State Department of Education chose Ookla® Cell Analytics to identify the gaps in connectivity and the best locations for students to connect — and to determine the best carrier networks and placements for mobile, cellular-based Wi-Fi transmitter devices.

Situation

Beginning the school year in the middle of a global pandemic has forced schools to close and students to rely on remote learning to continue their education. That shift to virtual classes has highlighted that many students in the state of Georgia do not have access to the high-speed internet required for online learning. According to the Department, over 80,000 student households cannot access a wireline service.

Using funding from the CARES Act, educational boards in Georgia are outfitting 2,500 buses with 4G hotspot devices in an effort to provide high-speed internet to students all over the state. Students who lack home internet access will be able to connect to their virtual classrooms through these movable shelters. However, the educational boards needed data to determine the best locations to park the buses. Signal strength and quality are essential for remote learning, especially when multiple students are using the same hotspot for the same virtual classroom.

Solution

The Georgia State Department of Education used Cell Analytics to identify the gaps in internet connectivity in the state and to find the best locations for the hotspot-equipped buses. Cell Analytics data shows performance, coverage and signal strength for all network operators in the area — as well as cell site locations — which can be used to determine the optimal locations and providers for the WiFi hotspots.

Looking at the below example comparing the signal strength, or RSRP (Reference Signals Received Power) of both Verizon and T-Mobile’s networks in the Capitol View neighborhood of Atlanta, the DoE can determine which network will provide the best signal for a given mobile hotspot. In this example, T-Mobile’s network has the stronger signal (indicated in red). Using this information, the DoE can select the best network operator and exact location to provide the best internet connection — and thus serve the most students.

Outcome

As the program continues to develop and the Georgia State Department of Education continues to
bring mobile Wi-Fi to the best locations, more students will have access to the internet and will be able
to continue their education through virtual classrooms. The Department of Education can now make informed, data-driven decisions about where CARES Act funding and resources will make the most impact in their communities.

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About The Georgia State Department of Education

The Georgia Department of Education oversees public education throughout the state, ensuring that laws and regulations pertaining to education are followed and that state and federal money appropriated for education is properly allocated to local school systems. Its mission is to provide leadership, guidance and resources to help schools meet the educational needs of all students and prepare them for success in the global economy.

Ookla retains ownership of this content, including all of the intellectual property rights, data, images, graphs, and analysis. This content may not be quoted, reproduced, distributed, or published for any commercial purpose without prior consent.

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Case Study

How South Carolina launched the United States’ first free broadband map store with Ookla data

“Our data model requires a huge volume of reliable network performance information. Ookla delivered millions of accurately geo-tagged records with granular broadband performance data for the entire state of South Carolina. With this extraordinary data, we were able to bring our broadband maps to life, launch the SC Digital Drive map store, and work toward our goal of ensuring that every home has access to the Internet by 2025.”

Jim Stritzinger
Founder and CEO of Revolution D, leader of South Carolina Digital Drive initiative

Benefits

  • Established nation’s first broadband map store with 250+ maps available for free download

  • Secured $27 million in USDA ReConnect grants to expand reliable broadband access to an estimated 30,000 residents

Policy makers in the United States need accurate, up-to-date broadband coverage maps to determine which communities are underserved and to better understand where local, state and federal resources can provide the most impact on connectivity.

South Carolina Congressman and House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn partnered with Revolution D Founder and CEO Jim Stritzinger and Ookla for GoodTM to create accurate, reliable maps of South Carolina’s broadband network performance. These data-driven maps help South Carolinians determine how to secure and allocate resources to provide reliable internet access to households in underserved areas, improving educational opportunities, economic growth and quality of life.

Situation

Many homes in rural South Carolina do not have access to a fast and reliable internet connection, which has created challenges in education, healthcare and economic development. For example, more than 40,000 children were unable to continue their education in 2020 after school closures during the pandemic due to lack of broadband access. Policy makers in the state needed to understand the best available network technology in each area, which areas were underserved and where network improvements could have the most impact.

Solution

Ookla partnered with Revolution D to develop broadband maps inclusive of real-world network performance data, rather than relying only on self- reported network speeds advertised by internet service providers. Stritzinger, who led the broadband mapping efforts, developed a new mapping methodology to determine the best deployed technology in each census block (e.g., fiber, cable, DSL) and then built a model to calculate the likely available download and upload speeds for that area. Ookla then ensured the integrity of the model by comparing predicted values with actual consumers’ network performance results from Speedtest Intelligence®.

Outcome

Ookla and Revolution D delivered the first comprehensive set of South Carolina broadband maps on August 31, 2019. In October 2019, Ookla and Revolution D presented the maps to the House Democratic Broadband Caucus at the United States Capitol. Soon after, Revolution D launched the South Carolina Digital Drive website to host the rendered broadband maps of all 46 counties for free public download. The maps will be updated on an ongoing basis to reflect changes in network availability and performance and to track progress toward South Carolina’s goal of closing the digital divide. The site also hosts a Speedtest CustomTM instance so that South Carolinians can test their own internet speeds.

Since the beginning of this project, localities and broadband providers have used the information provided by the broadband maps to win grants to expand broadband access in the state — including three USDA ReConnect grant awards:

  • Kershaw County received $9.1 million in funding to give fast, reliable internet access to 6,251 rural households, 24 farms, 15 businesses, four critical community facilities, three educational facilities and a health care center.

  • Underserved areas of Charleston and Berkeley counties won $8.1 million to deploy 96 miles of fiber-optic cable and improve connectivity in more than 3,780 homes.

  • Orangeburg County was granted $9.75 million in funding to provide 3,911 rural households access to reliable internet.

As an initial result of this project, it is projected that over 30,000 residents and 12,500 homes in the state will gain access to broadband, improving educational and economic opportunities, as well as quality of life for South Carolinians.

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Ookla retains ownership of this content, including all of the intellectual property rights, data, images, graphs, and analysis. This content may not be quoted, reproduced, distributed, or published for any commercial purpose without prior consent.