As 2003 began, the average percentage of zip codes with at least some access to broadband in the nine states served by BellSouth was 91%. Though this regional average was close to the 88% of zip codes nationwide with broadband service, there was wide variation among individual states in the southeast.

At the high end was Florida, with broadband service available in 99% of its zip codes. At the low end of the region's broadband availability was Kentucky, where only 73% of zip codes could boast at least one broadband service provider at the end of 2002.

Figure 1. Percent of Zip Codes with Broadband Service

Florida was also an early target for broadband expansion. As far back as yearend-1999, 87% of its zip codes enjoyed some broadband availability, as contrasted with only 35% in Kentucky, and 59% in the nation as a whole. A year later, the percentage of Florida's zip codes lacking broadband service had dropped to a mere 2%, compared to half of all zip codes in Kentucky and a quarter in the nation as a whole. Though these unserved percentages had dropped to 35% for Kentucky and 21% for the U.S. by the end of 2001, they still trailed well behind Florida.

As the broadband industry entered 2003, Florida outranked every other large state in the nation on this zip-code-based measure of availability, sharing the number-two spot with Connecticut. The leader on this metric was another small northeastern state, Delaware, where at least one broadband service provider was active in every zip code. Kentucky, in contrast, ranked 46th on this metric, near the bottom of the pack.

At the end of 2002, 77% of Florida's zip codes were served by at least four broadband service providers, with at least seven companies operating in 42% of the state's postal zones. This contrasted with 19% of Kentucky zip codes reporting at least four operators, and only 1% served by seven or more.

Since income levels and housing density are among the factors likely to determine broadband economics, one would expect Kentucky to rank relatively low on these metrics, while Florida ranked relatively high. And, indeed, this is the case.

In terms of income, Florida ranked first in the region and 19th nationwide, with a per-capita income almost exactly the national average. Kentucky's per-capita income was 84% of the national average, placing it 41st in the nation and 7th in the southeast region.

Florida also ranked first in the region in terms of average housing density, compared to a sixth-place regional ranking for Kentucky. On a national level, Florida's housing density ranked 9th, with Kentucky ranked 23rd.

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