Broadband

In an unprecedented display of consensus, a broad and diverse array of groups concerned about America's broadband future will release a Call to Action that provides President-elect Obama and the incoming Congress a policy framework for a comprehensive national broadband strategy.

Summary

America’s communications infrastructure is stuck at a copper wall. For the vast majority of homes, copper wires remain the principal means of getting broadband services. The deployment of fiber optic connections to the home would enable exponentially faster connections, and few dispute that upgrading to more robust infrastructure is essential to America’s economic growth. However, the costs of such an upgrade are daunting for private sector firms and even for governments. These facts add up to… more

It was just last year that those of us raising alarms about the massive half-decade market failure in the United States to adequately provision broadband services were facing a misinformation campaign that raw numbers mattered more than percentage rankings. According to this argument, the U.S. broadband market was sound because we had more broadband lines than anyone else.

The misinformation brigade got so much attention (mainly due to incumbents funding a propaganda campaign that "everything is fine here, nothing to see"), that public interest groups had to issue… more

EX PARTE COMMENTS OF THE PUBLIC INTEREST SPECTRUM COALITION

The Public Interest Spectrum Coalition (PISC), applauds the Commission for considering a proposal which has the potential to provide wireless broadband access to all Americans. As the Commission well knows, broadband access can have a transformative effect on people’s lives and has become a critical ingredient for education, economic development, and civic engagement. The public interest obligations the Commission intends to impose upon the proposed new AWS-3 service will advance the specific public interest goals of Section… more

...Addressing the New America Foundation, Page painted a picture of slippage in broadband penetration in the United States, framing his comments in Google's mission to “organize the world's information.” In his talk, Page noted that years of successful usage of wireless microphones in the UHF band suggests that unlicensed devices could similarly operate without causing interference. Page believes that tapping the unused TV white spaces for broadband access would be a tremendous opportunity to bring the Internet to more Americans,… more

REPLY COMMENTS OF CONSUMERS UNION, CONSUMER FEDERATION OF AMERICA, FREE PRESS, AND NEW AMERICA FOUNDATION

SUMMARY

Free Press, Consumers Union, Consumer Federation of America, and New America Foundation submit these comments in response to the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service’s request for input into the issue of long-term, comprehensive highcost universal service reform.

We approach this proceeding with a sharp focus on the principles of universal service as embodied in the 1996 Telecommunications Act. Our analysis… more

Ten public interest groups told the FCC that M2Z's proposal for a nationwide, free wireless broadband network at 2.1 GHz is attractive but has too many failings to support. Instead, the groups urged the agency to examine making the spectrum available for unlicensed use or through a license but with strict conditions imposing open access requirements. Google made similar arguments in a separate filing with the agency. The comments added to a flurry of activity at the FCC on an… more

In 1998, Congress enacted the Internet Tax Freedom Act to help the Internet grow.

Congress generously used state and local government tax bases for this assistance rather than federal funds. The act imposed a three-year moratorium on state and local taxes on Internet access and multiple or discriminatory taxes on e-commerce.

Taxes already in existence on Oct. 1, 1998, were allowed to continue. Congress extended the generosity of state and local governments twice… more

All new media, taught Marshall McLuhan, are destined to subsume and extend all old media, and to use the old media as their content, much like large fish filling their stomachs with small fish. The fish metaphor belongs to me, not McLuhan, since he was rarely so dull in his imagery.

The big fish of today is Big Broadband – access to the Web at 10 to 100 megabits per second for homes and 1 to 10 gigabits per second… more