[RTC List] Unwired in 2008

[Tina Nerat]

SF Chronicle editorial, in case you did not see it. 
http://tinyurl.com/2a59qn

 

Four years ago, President Bush set a national goal: "We ought to have
universal affordable access for broadband technology by the year 2007," he
said. Now the National Telecommunications and Information Administration has
released a report saying that, in effect, we do. 

"A reasonable assessment of the available data indicates," the report says,
that affordable access to broadband has happened "to a very great degree."

Oh, really?

"That statement's laughable on its face," said S. Derek Turner, research
director at Free Press, a nonpartisan organization dedicated to consumer
advocacy on communications policy. "There are 1.4 million people in
California alone who don't have access to broadband at any price."

What is going on here?

As it turns out, the "available data" aren't so reliable: They've been
criticized by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office as well as
many outside experts. But the larger problem here is one of perception. The
Bush administration - and most Americans - believe that broadband access is
a consumer item, not a crucial part of our national infrastructure.

That's why the private sector has been allowed to "develop" broadband access
only as it sees fit. And the private sector simply isn't interested in
developing access, at affordable prices, to areas of the country it
considers unprofitable - rural and inner-city areas.

But going into the future, it's slowly becoming clear that having broadband
access is going to be as important to the average citizen as having a
telephone line or postal service. How else will we be able to compete with a
global, wired world? We're only beginning to understand now how access to
the Internet, streaming video and many other applications that require
broadband is going to affect scientific research, basic education, and
emergency preparedness, but there's little doubt that broadband's role is
going to be huge. We simply can't afford to leave its development to chance.


Then there's security. Much of the chaos and carnage that occurred following
the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks as well as Hurricane Katrina could have been
tempered if emergency response workers had had access to better
communications, for instance, and broadband is a crucial element of that.

"We need to look at how other countries have created choice in their
broadband markets," Turner said. The U.S. could, for example, insist that
providers open their networks on a wholesale basis - which would lead to
competition on a retail level. Many European countries have done this, and
as a result they have faster broadband at lower price points than the U.S.
does. 

We've got to do something besides just pretending that the problem doesn't
exist. In this century, broadband access isn't going to be a luxury. It's
going to be a necessity.

This article appeared on page B - 10 of the San Francisco Chronicle

 

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