STATES STEP IN TO CLOSE THE BROADBAND GAP
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Corey Boles [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Tired of waiting for the federal government to act on President Bush's promise
to make high-speed Internet connections available to every home, a number of
states have taken on the task themselves. Kentucky has been so successful --
the state says 95% of its households can now buy broadband service if they want
-- that federal lawmakers and regulators want to replicate its program
nationwide. Rep. Zack Space (D-OH) recently introduced legislation to provide
grants for states to follow Kentucky's lead, and a Senate version of the bill
has passed the Commerce Committee. In October, the House Energy and Commerce
Committee passed a bill sponsored by Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA) that would
compel the Federal Communications Commission to pinpoint where broadband
service is available -- and where it isn't. In his campaign for nationwide
broadband service, Rep Space has formed the Connecting Appalachia Broadband
Task Force, a group of various officials, local leaders and telecom industry
representatives to bring broadband to rural Appalachia. "The FCC needs to do
more. Our government as a whole needs to recognize the importance of broadband
Internet access," he says. "We should be treating broadband with as much
importance as we did the electrification of the country in the 1930s." Why the
urgency? Rep Space worries that the U.S. hasn't kept pace with other developed
countries, and that rural districts like his will lose jobs. The Paris-based
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's most recent ranking of
countries' progress in broadband deployment put the U.S. in 15th place out of
30 countries as of December 2006, down from 10th place a year earlier.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119388040866078585.html?mod=todays_us_marketplace
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