FCC Chairman Declares Nationwide Broadband Integral To US Future

FCC Chairman Declares Nationwide Broadband Integral To US Future

Thursday, August 06, 2009 - by Joel Hruska
FCC chairman Julius Genachowski has been touring California for the past week discussing the national broadband initiative the FCC has been tasked with creating. The FCC has spent months gathering comments from both the public and various corporate interests, but the real challenge may be distilling those comments into a balanced plan that reflects the needs of actual people as opposed to well-fleeced special interests.

Broadband is our generation’s infrastructure challenge,” Genachowski said at a meeting of executives, doctors and health companies, according to Wired. “It is as important as electricity and highways were for past generations." That's quite a comparison to make, particularly given the rather large funding gap between the $7 billion allotted for broadband development last February and the $2.8 trillion (in today's dollars) that the United States government appropriated for the creation of the highway system between 1954 and 1958.

It's also unclear what role Genachowski believes the FCC and/or the US government should play. A recent report from Internet Innovation Alliance suggests that improving broadband speeds could generate a further six billion in consumer benefits, but the same report highlights significant racial disparities in broadband uptake. 82 percent of all Asian households are currently connected to broadband, while just 57 percent of African-American households report the same. The FCC's funding could be used to shrink the digital divide along racial lines, provide connectivity to rural Americans who may currently be limited to dial-up or high-latency, expensive satellite, or defer broadband costs for families at or near the poverty line.

There are other alternatives that don't include funding broadband rollout—the FCC could choose instead to invest in researching future technologies, such as DOCSIS 3.0, or eschew wires altogether and instead focus on long-term wireless rollouts. Despite Genachowski's brave words, the government's seven billion in funding is paltry compared to the scope and complexity of any systemic attempt to tackle the myriad issues.

Building highways may have been easier.
Via: Wired | News Archive | Tags: FCC, Julius Genachowski, broadband adoption, broadband rollout, national broadband
Login or Register to Comment

Comments

By rapid1 on Aug 7, 2009

OMG this is such a non-issue. They should tell large organizations (Read COMCAST, VERIZON, CHARTER, CLEAR CHANNEL ETC) you will give them tax breaks etc. for building the infrastructure. Then a couple years after they are done steal it from them. Is that not what they are doing with health care, and Health insurance!

Then get the whole country wired in Fiber for a quarter of the price. Or use mobile Broadband solutions. This whole thing is actually quite comical, I would assume a large percentage of us have been on the internet for a while. I have been on since before the internet when it was BBS land etc.

Either way why does the US not recognize one of the reasons for this present financial state. It is the Internet! No it is not the only problem in any way, but think about it realistically. If 5-10% of retail is taken by the internet, then 5-10% of communications, then 5-10% of published reading materials (magazines, newspaper etc), then 5-10% of TV time (read advertising effectiveness and programming), then 5-10% of side activities (read sport's, movies, movie rental, reading again, shopping (teenage girls), research, talking on the phone(texting now, young females again). That at 5% is 25% of of a large chunk of many financial areas, at 10% it is 50% of the economy peace meal.

So in all reality how will they loose rather than grow there investment. I think they should follow the path of that city in South or North Carolina. The city or area governments put in local Fiber networks, and charge less than the big guys (comcast, verizon etc). Fiber range, speed ratio, transmission length etc has gone ups large percentages recently. This in many ways lowers the cost of it for implementation.

If the highway system cost that much in four years this will to. However; look at the pay out they got, this nation is completely connected by roads, highways etc. That is why this country grew, transportation! This is the new form of both transportation partially and communications completely (I am speaking in future terms here). I wish the government would wake up, they could also connect all the hospitals, schools, libraries, People, and make all info digital. The investment would pay for itself eventually.

Post a Comment