When it comes to broadband, the United States is running backwards.

So says a sobering new report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a group that includes most of the world's top economic powers.

According to the study, the United States has dropped from 12th to 15th in broadband penetration among the 30 member nations in the last 6 months.

Here are some other disturbing statistics about the situation from testimony by Ben Scott of Free Press before the Senate Commerce Committee today:

37% of ZIP codes have one or less cable and/or DSL provider. Given that FCC ZIP code data overstates the level of broadband deployment, this should be viewed as a conservative figure.

Some states have large gaps in coverage. Over 40% of South Dakota households are not wired for cable broadband. Over 40% of New Hampshire and Vermont households are not wired for DSL.

The broadband market remains a duopoly. 96% of residential advanced services lines are either cable or DSL.

There are no viable 3rd “pipe” competitors. From June 2005 to June 2006 there were only 637 new broadband over powerline (BPL) connections added, bringing the total to just over 5000 nationwide, or 0.008% of all U.S. broadband connections.

Clearly, free and open competition among broadband providers would go a long way toward moving the United States up in the rankings.

The current U.S. market for broadband is nowhere near competitive, by any measure. American consumers are lucky if they now have two choices for broadband service -- the cable company and the phone company. Some have only one -- or none at all.

Scott of Free Press offered a laundry list of suggestions to spur competition in his testimony to the Senate Commerce Committee today. It's well worth reading.