[RTC List] Broadband - US policy items in the news..

[Sean McLaughlin]

  *Two items of potential interest:

New Coalition Touts National Broadband Policy*
*by Roy Mark*
*internetnews.com*
*05/25/07*

A broad coalition of some of the Internet's leading brand names, public 
advocacy groups and grassroots organizations called on Congress today to 
immediately adopt a national broadband policy. The goal, the group said, 
is universal, affordable broadband for all Americans.

Noting that the United States has slipped behind many industrialized 
nations in broadband penetration and speeds, the Open Internet Coalition 
said in a letter to lawmakers the lack of a comprehensive broadband 
policy has led to an uncompetitive market where cable and telephone 
companies control 96 percent of the broadband market.

"Now is the time to give this goal the urgency it needs," the group 
wrote. "A national broadband policy will provide the unifying principle 
to enact a variety of needed reforms and changes to our 
telecommunications laws."

The letter was signed by more than 50 companies and organizations, 
including Amazon, PayPal, eBay, Google, Match.com, Skype and YouTube.

Among the reforms sought by the group is a new focus and initiative to 
bring high-speed services to all parts of the country. Currently, 10 
percent of the U.S. has no access to broadband and in the rest of the 
country only about half have a broadband connection.   --->
/http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/3679916/
/~

and...

/
Bill (S.1492) introduced by Sen. Inouye: "[T]he
bill would require the FCC to reconsider its
current 200 kilobit broadband standard...
create a new second generation broadband
figure for speeds capable of delivering HD video,
require the FCC to report broadband availability
by nine-digit zip codes so that it could more
precisely pinpoint who was and wasn't getting
the service, and require an annual, rather than
periodic, inquiry into deployment.  The bill
would also provide $40 million in yearly grants
to match state investment in identifying bar -
riers to broadband adoption."
 
http://tinyurl.com/2fzz85 <http://tinyurl.com/2fzz85>

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