BE IT RESOLVED that if U.S. cities are to thrive as engines of economic growth and be globally competitive in the 21st Century, then the Administration, Congress and the FCC should take action now to develop a comprehensive national broadband policy that includes high speed broadband deployment to cities as an imperative;
Author: admin
Video of New America Foundation event on Capitol Hill
The panelists discussed the policy recommendations of e-NC and other participating organizations and their implications for developing a national broadband strategy to energize high-speed broadband deployment and adoption throughout the U.S.
New America Foundation event on Capitol Hill to introduce Baller Herbst paper
Although the U.S. once led the world in Internet deployment and innovation, our nation continues to plummet in international rankings in terms of broadband adoption, speeds and costs. As a result, there is growing support for an affirmative national broadband policy to promote more affordable and ubiquitous access to high-bandwidth connectivity.
House Resolution 1292
HOUSE RESOLUTION 1292 – Establishing a national goal for the universal deployment of next-generation broadband networks to access the internet and for other uses by 2015, and calling upon Congress and the President to develop a strategy, enact legislation, and adopt policies to accomplish this objective.
Mighty, Mighty Broadband” (in Wilson, NC)
By Fiona Morgan
Sanborn and Gentry Buchan live in a 1920s bungalow less than two miles from the center of Wilson, a city of 50,000 people a half hour east of Raleigh. The mother of a 2-year-old son, Gentry works from home as a sales rep for a cell phone company. Sanborn is home when he’s not traveling as a tobacco buyer, a rare job these days, but one that used to offer reliable work in Wilson, once a major world tobacco market.
Cathy Swirbul’s extensive interview of Jim Baller
Last year, when few in the public arena were talking about a national broadband strategy for the United States, Jim Baller and his law partner, Casey Lide, wrote two extensive articles making the case for such a strategy and setting forth an eight-step plan to develop one. Since then, an avalanche of discussion on the issue has emerged—and Baller was named the community broadband visionary of the year by the National Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA) “for almost single-handedly putting the issue of America’s need for a national broadband strategy at the forefront of public consciousness.
“Support for a national broadband strategy is growing rapidly across America,” said Baller, a founder of the Community Broadband Coalition and an attorney specializing in communications law. “Individuals and organizations representing a broad cross-section of American life have now called for a national broadband strategy, including the American Public Power Association, NATOA, the National League of Cities, EDUCAUSE, Public Technology Institute, Free Press, Communications Workers of America, and many others. So, too, have many leading high technology companies and organizations, including the Fiber to the Home Council, Amazon, Cisco, COMTEL, Google, and many more. At times, even incumbents Verizon and AT&T have supported the development of a national strategy.”
Commissioner Michael Copps at P&F Conference
US ranks 15th in ITIF’s composite ranking
It is hard to follow broadband telecommunications policy without hearing almost weekly that the United States ranks 15th out of 30 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) nations in broadband adoption. But it is much less apparent why the United States is behind. Indeed, relatively little work has been done to understand why some nations are ahead, and why some, like the United States, are lagging. By examining OECD nations through statistical analysis and in-depth case studies of nine nations, including the United States, this report attempts to do just that.
NewNetworks on industry “Skunkworks”
Are any of these names familiar to you: TRAC, APT, Issue Dynamics, USIIA, New Millennium Research Council, BellSouth, Verizon, SBC, Pac Bell, United Church of Christ, USTA? – Washington is filled with astroturf groups that keep telling everyone they represent the public interest, but in reality represent the phone companies who pay them well. And Issue Dynamics, run by Sam Simon, has organized multiple groups for the Bell phone companies, all tax exempt, and all in an attempt to make regulators and the press believe that they have your best interests in mind.
OECD Broadband Portal
US 15th in OECD in broadband penetration, 14th in advertised download speed, 9th in FTTH, 11th in average price/Mbps, 18th in price/fastest tier, 17th in growth
Technology, Competition and Legal Changes – IMLA, Washington, DC, April 15, 2008
Slate: Jump-starting our tech policy
Perhaps the only thing that’s actually improved over the last eight years under President Bush is technology (if not tech policy). In the sense that Nixon presided over an age of great films like The Godfather, the Bush era was also the age of Wikipedia, search engines, YouTube, and Facebook. But the Bush system of benign neglect can only go so far, leaving plenty to fix as soon as the next president takes office.
A Framework For A National Broadband Policy
The report pulls together two sets of discussions and an array of background readings to outline a new direction for a U.S. national broadband policy. The Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program convened a top-flight group of academics, policymakers, and industry leaders for two conferences — one on the Wye River in Maryland, May 17-18, 2007, and another in Aspen, Colorado, August 15-18, 2007 — to discuss the future of American broadband policy.
Japan
Comparing the broadband positions of the major presidential candidates
Senators Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John McCain differ on many major issues, but when it comes to broadband deployment, they appear to agree on most points, either explicitly or tacitly. To be sure, they do differ in some significant ways, but these differences do not appear to be irreconcilable.