Stories on Senate Broadband hearing
ANSWERS SOUGHT FOR US BROADBAND DECLINE
[SOURCE: PCMagazine, AUTHOR: Chloe Albanesius]
A U.S. innovation brain drain, coupled with sloppy government handling of subsidy programs and data collection, have contributed to a decline in the country's broadband standing, technology experts told the Senate Commerce Committee on Tuesday. The hearing was held a day after the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) issued new global broadband per-capita penetration data that saw the U.S. fall from 12th to 15th place out of 30 countries. Some viewed the results as a sign that the U.S. is falling behind its global counterparts, while others said it was unfair to compare the U.S. against the smaller and more densely populated countries that beat the U.S. in the OECD rankings. The questions that panelists tangled with mainly dealt with issues of geography. In Europe, where per-capita broadband penetration is growing, world powers like the United Kingdom are smaller geographically than California. The person-to-person proximity also allows infrastructure buildouts to serve more people. While this isn't a problem in major cities, serving rural customers with broadband access is still a thorny issue. One of the issues left undefined was the definition of "broadband".[Note] Add to that the lack of reliable government data, and the problem becomes even more complicated, witnesses said. Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), who chairs the Commerce Committee, said that he would soon introduce a bill to promote innovation and improve the federal commitment to basic research on communications. He is also penning broadband data development legislation that would call for the collection of broadband data collection at the federal and state levels, a complaint that was voiced by several speakers.
pcmag.com
Note [fac: I commend reading "What is Broadband?" a chapter out of the e-book, Bringing Home the Bits at: books.nap.edu ]
* Statement by Sen Inouye:
"The broadband bottom line is that too many of our international counterparts are passing us by. For this we are paying a price. Some experts estimate that universal broadband adoption would add $500 billion to the U.S. economy and create more than a million new jobs."
commerce.senate.gov
* Statement by Sen Ted Stevens:
commerce.senate.gov
* U.S. Broadband Access Slips Further
businessweek.com
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MARKEY HOLDS HEARING ON INTERNATIONAL BROADBAND
[SOURCE: Rep Ed Markey (D-MA)]
Rep Edward J. Markey (D-MA) chaired a hearing of the House Commerce Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet Tuesday on lessons the United States broadband industry can learn from international broadband expansion. In his opening statement he said, "It is clearly time for us to look beyond our borders in developing our nation?s broadband strategy. While U.S. broadband adoption is certainly increasing and deployment continues, in international broadband rankings a nation must essentially run in order to stand still. Relative to other countries, however, it appears as if America?s broadband penetration is stalling at ?dial up? speed while other nations have developed national plans and are moving ahead." ...
"Advanced, high speed broadband service is the indispensable infrastructure of the 21st Century. It will be the vehicle through which countless other economic, civic, and cultural activities occur. As we assess where we stand today, I think the way to achieve greater progress is not from more hortatory rhetoric or excuses for poor rankings the U.S. needs a plan. In my view, the United States started out on the right path. The 1996 Telecommunications Act mandated a robust unbundling and interconnection regime designed to jump-start competition both between and among technology platforms. The idea was that competition would reduce prices, improve service, and spur innovation including the deployment of broadband by incumbents and competitors. Gradually, however, we lost our way, as regulators became convinced that competition within a platform actually hindered overall broadband deployment. As a result, we now have a residential broadband duopoly marked by relatively slow speeds and high prices. Many other nations took one look at our broadband situation, learned from our experience, and took the opposite approach. In Japan and the U.K. for instance, they implemented policies such as local loop unbundling and broadband resale that facilitate competition using the incumbent?s plant, regardless of technology. As a result, Japan and the U.K. today have faster broadband, cheaper broadband, and more broadband choices."
markey.house.gov
* Upton Comments on Broadband
At the same hearing, Rep Fred Upton (R-MI) said, "As a result of ... FCC and judicial actions, we at long last have a semblance of a national broadband policy that promotes competition, is pro-investment not anti-investment, and that imposes minimal government regulation upon broadband services and facilities. I am confident that these long sought pro-broadband policy decisions will greatly accelerate broadband deployment. They are only now taking hold as the regulatory uncertainty that hung over broadband was, as we thought in 2002, an investment stifling factor. We heard last week at the wireless hearing about how the spectrum resulting from the DTV transition will permit wireless providers to provide significant broadband services. So, rather than look for new regulatory solutions, we must continue to promote competition, promote new technologies, promote and foster broadband network investment, and rely on competition and deregulatory not government regulation."
house.gov
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WHY THE US DOESN'T MEASURE UP
[SOURCE: Free Press, AUTHOR: Ben Scott]
In testimony before the Senate Commerce Committee today, Free Press Policy Director Ben Scott urged lawmakers to pursue a comprehensive national broadband policy that will bring more broadband competition to American households. ?Above all, we need competition policy to drive down prices, accelerate speeds, and deliver an attractive value to the consumer,? Scott said. ?We must not sacrifice the long-term interests of the country for the short-term interests of incumbents that have long shielded themselves from an open market.? ?This isn?t just a matter of pride at stake,? Scott said. ?This is real money. The economic benefits of higher broadband penetration accumulate exponentially. Even a small increase in broadband penetration can generate a consumer surplus measured in the billions of dollars. While we aren?t capturing these dollars, someone else is.? ?This is a paradigm-shifting moment for American telecommunications,? Scott concluded. ?It is imperative that we choose wisely.?
freepress.net
* Read Scott's testimony at: freepress.net
* U.S. Falling Behind Further and Faster on Broadband
consumersunion.org
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