A CAR IN EVERY GARAGE, FAST INTERNET ON EVERY PC
[SOURCE: WebProNews, AUTHOR: Jason Lee Miller]
At a hearing of the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, Chairman
John Kerry (D-MA) called on the Bush administration to make a commitment to
making high-speed Internet access more widely available to small businesses and
all Americans. This involves, he said, changes in regulations to ensure
universal broadband access and adequate competition in the marketplace. "To
compete and win in the new global economy, we need a national broadband
strategy that encourages competition and expands access," said Sen Kerry.
"Previous generations put a toaster in every home and a car in every driveway
as signs of economic progress-it's time we do the same with high speed Internet
access." At the same hearing, Federal Communications Commission Commissioner
Jonathan Adelstein echoed Sen. Kerry's call for opening up broadband
competition. "Only rational competition policies can ensure that the U.S.
broadband market does not devolve into a stagnant duopoly, which is a serious
concern given that cable and DSL providers now control approximately 96 percent
of the residential broadband market." FCC Commissioner Michael Copps was
critical of the FCC still calling 200 kilobits per second 'broadband' and
assuming that if one person in a ZIP code has broadband access, everyone else
does as well. "This is 2007, not 1997. We need a more credible definition of
speed and more granular measures of deployment, as well as to start gathering
data on price and the experience of other nations," Commissioner Copps said.
http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2007/09/26/a-car-in-every-garage-fast-internet-on-every-pc
* Commissioner Copps before Senate Committee on Small Business
America's lack of a broadband strategy is imposing huge costs on small
businesses all across the land. Our lackluster broadband performance is a huge
barrier to, and tax upon, innovation and entrepreneurship. Businesses
everywhere are increasingly reliant on broadband Internet access; it has become
as essential as electricity, running water or phone service. Yet many small
businesses in rural America cannot get an Internet connection at all. Even
where they can, they typically pay too much for service that is too slow. The
story isn't all that much better in the nation's metropolitan areas. Prices
are high for service that is, by international standards, uncompetitive. The
Internet should be the great equalizer-leveling the playing field between urban
and rural; large and small; domestic and global businesses. The broadband
system we have today makes a mockery of this great promise and instead creates
competitive disparities. Part of our problem is reliance upon duopoly and
oligopoly where we should be enjoying vigorous carrier and network competition.
How do we turn things around? Let's start with a comprehensive national
strategy. We need a strong statement, combined with serious commitment from
the very top-not just a campaign promise-that broadband is a national priority.
We need to make sure all the departments of government are cooperating to
encourage broadband deployment, using financial tools such as matching grants
and tax incentives. Second we need to start cataloging and benefiting from all
the innovation and experimentation that's occurring outside of Washington D.C.
Third, there is enormous room to improve our competitive telecommunications
policies. Fourth, we need to commit to supporting broadband with the Universal
Service Fund.
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-276881A1.doc
* Commissioner Adelstein before Senate Committee on Small Business
For a long time, the U.S. was the undisputed world leader in communications
technology. Yet, in recent years, we have tumbled from that historic position.
Each year, we slip further down the regular rankings of broadband penetration.
While some have questioned the international broadband penetration rankings,
the fact is the U.S. has dropped year-after-year. This downward trend and the
lack of broadband value illustrate the sobering point that when it comes to
giving our citizens affordable access to state-of the-art communications, the
U.S. has fallen behind its global competitors. There is no doubt about the
evidence that citizens of other countries are getting a much greater broadband
value in the form of more megabits for less money. A true broadband strategy
should incorporate benchmarks, deployment timetables, and measurable thresholds
to gauge our progress. We need to set ambitious goals and shoot for affordable,
truly high-bandwidth broadband. We should start by updating our current anemic
definition of high-speed of just 200 kbps in one direction to something more
akin to what consumers receive in countries with which we compete, speeds that
are magnitudes higher than our current definitions.
http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-276886A1.pdf
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