Intel's Grove Calls for Easing Broadband Rules
Tuesday June 19 01:36 PM EDT
By Robyn Weisman, newsfactor.com
dailynews.yahoo.com
I hope I may violate the "don't talk politics" rule and comment on some of Grove's statements.
ease rules concerning broadband Internet access
Yes. Why even any rules at all?
Grove said it is imperative that the federal government assist in the rapid development and adoption of nationwide broadband access.
Government assistance? Really?
loosening restrictions on high-tech exports
Yes, any high-tech inventions will diffuse anyway over time.
providing small businesses with tax incentives for buying broadband equipment and services
Bad one. If broadband offerings are serving a need then businesses will invest anyway, without any tax incentive. If the services are useless it's a misdirection of funds. It's hard to believe that Grove is not aware of this argument. Is Intel's situation getting desperate? I am reminded of Chamber's plea to lower interest rates.
allowing Baby Bells to dominate their respective markets
Why not? Why should public institutions think about "allowing" or not at all?
"If we want to see broadband," he added, "we have to follow the money, as simple, as cruel, as out-there as it is."
Yeah, munnee.
Grove employed a barrage of slides to stress that Internet traffic continues to grow
Surprise.
Grove's viewpoint appears to coincide with that of those backing the controversial Tauzin-Dingell telecommunications bill, which allows for the Baby Bells to enter the nationwide high-speed Internet market without having to provide competitors with access to their local markets.
The Telecommunications Act of 1996, supposed to provide fairness, has created so much justice that another round of fair policy is required.
Hurley [program manager of e-networks and broadband access for the Boston, Massachusetts-based consulting firm Yankee Group] told NewsFactor that relaxing the strictures of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 is not necessarily the best idea.
Said Hurley: "As the regulations [of the 1996 Act] enter the adolescent stage of application, the landscape at this time may give benefits back to the incumbents," even though the act was designed to prevent just that kind of dominance.
At the same time, Hurley said, the act created a competitive landscape that introduced new technology, new technology opportunities, and a variety of new business models for the industry as a whole.
Has Hurley worked for the FCC before having joined the Yankee Group? |
