FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein (wikipedia) and several high-profile technology executives and industry advocates on Tuesday launched an initiative to make broadband access a national priority in the U.S.
At the Personal Democracy Forum in New York, Adelstein and others unveiled InternetforEveryone.org, a national initiative of public interest, civic and industry groups.
It seeks to foster a public dialogue among U.S. citizens to advise the government on how to set a national policy. Freepress has a ton of videos.
Broadband advocates have complained that the U.S. government has not made widespread broadband adoption among its citizens enough of a priority.
Adelstein, who characterized himself as “a frustrated policymaker in Washington,” said a lack of a national broadband policy directly contributes to the U.S. falling behind other countries in its citizens’ adoption of broadband. This puts the country at risk in lagging behind globally in other social, educational and economic endeavors, he said.
Others, such as broadband provider Verizon, disagree and say comparing the U.S. with other countries with much smaller geographies and populations is a bit like comparing apples and oranges.
The U.S. should aim for 100M bps (bits per second) of broadband available to all U.S. residents by 2012 and 1G bps by 2015 in order to catch up to other countries , recommends a study released today.
The study, by the Baller Herbst Law Group of Washington, D.C., also calls on the U.S. to create a national broadband strategy that helps state programs bring broadband to underserved areas. Neither private industry nor government programs alone can build the broadband networks needed for the U.S. to compete globally in the coming years, said Jim Baller, founder of Baller Herbst and the study’s co-author.
The e-NC Authority, a state program in North Carolina focused on broadband rollout, commissioned the study, and many of Baller’s recommendations are focused on how North Carolina can get broadband to the 16 percent of the state’s residents who don’t yet have it. Among the recommendations: Grants to broadband providers, communities working together to finance broadband networks and funding for new broadband competitors.
Countries such as Japan and South Korea have faster broadband available for cheaper prices than in the U.S., and residents in those countries have an advantage over U.S. residents, speakers said.
The average download speed among consumer broadband services in the U.S. is 8.9M bps, slower than average speeds in 18 other OECD countries, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Japan’s average download speed is more than 10 times faster, at 93.7M bps, while France’s is 44.2M bps and South Korea’s is 43.3M bps, according to OECD numbers.
Meanwhile, Taiwan’s M-City Wi-Fi network is expanding to include Kinmen County, a group of islands 200 kilometers from Taiwan, says MuniWireless. Kinmen County (pop. 80,000; 153 square km) is in the southwest of Fujian province (China). The Taipei citywide Wi-Fi project (called Wi-Fly) has some 4600 wireless access points installed in an area of 134 square kilometers, where 90% of the population resides.
Five of Taiwan’s licensed WiMAX operators – Global Mobile, First International Telecom (Fitel), Vmax Telecom, Tatung Telecom and Far EasTone Telecommunications (FET) are rolling out WiMAX services in Taiwan. Global Mobile, Vmax and FITEL won licenses for northern Taiwan, while Far EasTone, Tatung and Vastar Cable TV System won licenses for the south. FITEL expects to have 52 Mobile WiMAX base stations operating in Taipei City by the beginning of June. The Fitel deployment is part of the massive M-Taiwan project to unwire the country.
Dailywireless has more on Worldwide WiMax Deployments and WiMAX 802.16m: 1Gbps.
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