Internet Money in Fiscal Plan: Wise or Waste?

Extension of broadband into rural areas of the U.S. (absolutely necessary) will not come close to meeting the real broadband needs of a 21st century America. I am afraid that current proposals mask the real issues and lull us into complacency.

The United States currently ranks 14th (as low as 18 as measured by some) in broadband amongst the nations of the world. We are driving on a two-lane road when a multi-lane superhighway is required.

For the United States to be competitive with the rest of the world, and for our citizens to learn, research and consume in a modern world a high-speed broadband infrastructure is not an option.

According to A new study by the Communications Workers of America (Speed Matters http://www.speedmatters.org/document-library/sourcematerials/cwa_report_on_internet_speeds_2008.pdf) the median download speed in the U.S. is an agonizingly slow 2.35 megabits per second. Compare this to Japan where the median download speed is 63.60 Mbps. In South Korea it’s 49 Mbps and in Finland it’s 21.7Mbps.

All manner of Internet and Web development is stifled without assurance that advanced applications are accessible to a wide-spectrum of user.

South Korea, which already offers its citizens broadband speeds of up to 100Mbps, is planning to introduce 1Gbps service by 2012. That’s a tenfold increase. Comcast and Verizon are only now planning for speeds approaching 100 Mbps by 2010.

The major carriers in the United States are without adequate competition, or in its place, government "stimulation" or mandate. While these carriers concern themselves with maintaining control over what they consider to be THEIR infrastructure and access to the public through it, the rest of the world is moving swiftly to ensure modernity for their societies.

Broadband is a necessary public utility, the development of which requires urgent federal government attention.

220.February 03, 2009 3:30 pm