The struggle between those who are building an aggressive fiber-centric network in the United States and those who are not really boils down to which carriers are putting their citizens and communities first and which are making their own interests primary
Category: Other Materials
Transforming Government to Meet the Demands of the 21st Century
Presentation by the Honorable David M. Walker Comptroller General of the United States
Phoenix Center: Broadband Performance Index
Commissioner Adelstein responds to criticisms of OECD data
Cisco CEO calls for U.S. national broadband policy
Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers called on political leaders to develop a U.S. national broadband policy to help the United States close the digital divide and compete more effectively on a global scale. Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers moments ago called on political leaders to develop a national broadband policy, which would help the United States close the digital divide and compete more effectively on a global scale. He also called on the United States to change its definition of broadband to 100Mbps connections.
Free Press refutes criticisms of OECD data
On April 23, 2007, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) released their latest semi-annual broadband penetration rankings, which revealed that the United States had fallen to 15th place among the 30-member nations, down from 12th place just six months earlier. This slide continued a downward trend for America, dropping from a high of fourth place in 2001. The OECD data showed other problems for America: Annual U.S. penetration growth ranked 20th, and semi-annual growth was 24th out of 30 countries.
Scott Wallsten: Everything You Hear about Broadband in the U.S. is Wrong
The supposedly poor state of broadband in the U.S. relative to other OECD countries has generated tremendous consternation. Conventional wisdom about these rankings, however, is wrong and should not be used as a basis for making policies. First, the OECD data are unreliable and misleading. More careful analyses show that the U.S. actually compares quite favorably to the rest of the world in terms of household broadband penetration. Second, comparisons of actual—as opposed to advertised—bandwidth across countries reveal that broadband speeds in the U.S. are similar to most other advanced countries.
China seeks to dominate cyberspace
China is seeking to unseat the United States as the dominant power in cyberspace, a U.S. Air Force general leading a new push in this area said. “They’re the only nation that has been quite that blatant about saying, ‘We’re looking to do that,”‘ 8th Air Force Commander Lt. Gen. Robert Elder told reporters.
ITIF: The Case for a National Broadband Policy
Market forces alone will not generate the societally optimal level of broadband, at least for the foreseeable future.
Scott Wallsten: Towards Effective U.S. Broadband Policies
OECD statistics show that the U.S. has fewer broadband subscribers per capita than some other countries, causing great consternation. This concern has contributed to growing calls for government intervention including open access regulations much like the failed unbundling regime that the U.S. recently ended.
Open Access Coalition: Call for the Adoption of a National Broadband Policy
Letter to members of Congress urging support of immediate adoption of a national broadband policy that will lead to universal, affordable access for all Americans to high-speed Internet connections.
Casey Lide’s CUWin CALEA presentation
What You Need to Know About the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act. Presentation for the International Summit for Community Wireless Networks.
Scott Cleland, The Precursor Group
“A ‘national broadband plan’ is a codeword for a 1970’s-style government ‘industrial policy’ where the government decides what technologies consumers get and which companies will succeed of fail.”
Senate Resolution 191
SENATE RESOLUTION 191 – 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.
Why the US has no national broadband strategy
The OECD global broadband rankings released earlier this week showed the United States dropped further when it comes to broadband penetration. The politicized and polar response to the report is a prime example of why the nation has no broadband policy in place — we simply cannot agree on how to proceed, much less come to a common understanding that there are issues regarding rural broadband deployment in America that may need addressing. A collection of opinions from the week: