Comments on: Calls for U.S. national broadband policy intensify

By: Jacomo

Jacomo — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 16:06:17 +0000

How does one compete with the deep pockets of the carriers/MSO and Telco who want to maintain their predominance in, ownership and control of,the various Last Mile Technologies?
We will see a real turf battle as the 700Mhz spectrum is opened up for auction in early 2008. The above players cannot afford to allow new 3rd Parties to gain local access to this golden spectrum. New radios and smart antennas based on 700Mhz will have a dramatic impact on most Broadband last mile networks in place today by providing these 3rd parties tools to bypass the incumbents wired (DSL & Cable Modem)and even wireless (2.5Ghz WiMAX)networks being deployed today.
Unfortunately I feel the big players have little incentive to deploy a potentially disruptive service to their existing profitable networks and might very well side track the spectrum.
We will shortly see(Auction rules due out) whether the FCC or Congess is really interested in providing true Broadband (2Mbps+) coverage in most of the US or helping to replenish our countries coffers.

Jacomo

By: David Hagan

David Hagan — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 14:07:58 +0000

Great article, it is a shame the FCC has dropped the ball when it comes the mandate placed on them by Congress in the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Now is the time to take action to deploy a broadband network to all Americans. Check out the Speed Matters Campaign at http://www.speedmatters.org.

The first thing I did was take the speed test and boy was I surprised at how slow my download and upload speeds were. After that I read their public policy recommendations. The U.S. can do a lot better than their doing today if they would create a “connectamerica program.” If Kentucky can do it at the state level, (see http://www.connectkentucky.org) surely the same can be accomplished on the national level.

By: David Hagan

David Hagan — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 13:49:08 +0000

If the FCC had implemented the Congressional mandate contained in section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and took “immediate action to accelerate deployment of advanced telecommunications capability to all Americans” there wouldn’t be such an outcry for a U.S. national broadband policy.

There are a number of initiatives that are advancing the deployment of broadband in the U.S. One such initiative is ConnectKentucky (http://connectkentucky.org). The U.S. should attempt to replicate this “prescription for innovation” in order to accelerate broadband deployment and penetration throughout the U.S.

The Speed Matters Campaign at http://www.speedmatters.org is another program that has some pretty good suggestions regarding public policy that could stimualte investment through the creation of a “Connect America Program” – a private-public partnership to promote deployment and demand at the local community level.

By: Bob Babione

Bob Babione — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 15:20:04 +0000

Thanks for the article, especially the links to the various congressional and interest-group statements.

On the subject of the lack of “visionary” work in the U.S., I enjoyed reading Michael Hurt’s article, The Mis-execution of Korean “UCC”. While the article is about Korea, I wonder if it may also apply in the U.S.

(You may want to edit “My own is that …” to add “opinion” or “take.”)