BOUCHER WANTS TO IMPROVE AMERICA'S BROADBAND
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: John Bergmayer]
[Commentary] Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA) gave the opening keynote at the Broadband Policy Summit on June 7. He detailed a number of plans he thinks would help improve broadband penetration in America: 1) He urged summit attendees to contact their Congressional representatives to ask them to support his Universal Service Reform Act of 2007 (HR 2054 see benton.org. 2) He would eliminate legal barriers to municipal deployment of broadband, including municipal WiFi and mesh networks. 3) He sees the pending agriculture bill as providing an opportunity to reexamine funding for rural broadband deployment [see related story below]. 4) He discussed the connection of telecommunications to possible ?smart grid? power systems, and discussed the potential of broadband over power lines (BPL) for providing broadband competition. 5) He cited the example of ?Connect Kentucky,? which he believes has been a successful program for increasing broadband deployment. He thinks that it is an example worthy of emulation and for which a federal complement might be developed.
feeds.publicknowledge.org
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OVER HALF OF US HOUSEHOLDS SUBSCRIBE TO BROADBAND INTERNET
[SOURCE: Leichtman Research Group press release]
New consumer research from Leichtman Research Group finds that 53% of all US households now subscribe to a broadband high-speed Internet service at home. Broadband services now account for about 72% of all home Internet subscriptions -- compared to 60% last year. While broadband subscriptions continued to increase across the country in the past year, broadband penetration remains strongly correlated with household income: 68% of all households with annual incomes over $50,000 now get broadband -- compared to 59% last year -- and 39% of all households with annual incomes under $50,000 get broadband -- compared to 27% last year. Other findings include: 1) While 81% of all US households have at least one computer, only 56% of those with annual household incomes under $30,000 have a computer at home. 2) Just 45% of households with annual incomes below $30,000 subscribe to an Internet service at home -- compared to 92% of households with annual incomes above $75,000. 3) Overall, 7% of all Internet subscribers say that broadband is not available in their area. ?Nearly three-quarters of households in the US now subscribe to an Internet service, and broadband has grown to account for over 70% of all online subscribers at home,? said Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for Leichtman. ?LRG forecasts the total number of broadband subscribers will increase by over 40 million over the next five years.?
leichtmanresearch.com
* Leichtman: Broadband Crosses 50% Threshold
broadcastingcable.com
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NETWORK NEUTRALITY IS ESSENTIAL TO A DEMOCRATIC AND DYNAMIC INTERNET
[SOURCE: HearUsNow.org, AUTHOR: Mark Cooper, Consumer Federation of America]
[Commentary] A recent blog from the Center for Digital Democracy attacked the broad coalition fighting for network neutrality and called on public interest advocates to change their focus on Internet policy. This proposed change would be a huge mistake for public interest advocates fighting to promote consumer and citizen interests. Protecting consumers and citizens from abuse by the commercial sector and promoting consumer sovereignty and democratic discourse are interrelated, but distinct objectives. Both are essential for a vibrant and innovative online economy and public sphere. And consumer advocates must be vigilant about both. The suggestion that a neutral network would be ?open in name only? rests on a fundamental failure to understand what is happening on the 21st century Internet, while projecting the evils of the twentieth century broadcast media model into an entirely different communications space where it just does not fit. Network neutrality/open access is critical because it ensures that consumers and citizens can easily escape from the walled-gardens and gated-communities that the cable and telephone companies like to build. And the world they escape into is a communicative space that is more varied and vibrant than any that has ever existed, or had even been contemplated. The communicative space created by network neutrality/open access combined with the Internet?s ?end-to-end? principle is varied and raucous primarily because the production of content by people (not corporations) dominates in cyberspace, but also because the ease of entry on a neutral, digital network ensures a continuous flow of new commercial content and innovative applications.
consumersunion.org
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