Democratic convention brings calls for broadband policy

IDG News Service - The U.S. needs a broadband policy targeting unserved areas that's backed by action, not just words, said several speakers at a technology forum that was held in conjunction with the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

The U.S. has gone from "leader to laggard" in broadband rollout and adoption during the past eight years under President Bush, said Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), speaking today at the forum, which was hosted by Silicon Flatirons, a technology law center at the University of Colorado.

In early 2004, Bush called for broadband to be universally available across the U.S. by 2007, but that hasn't happened, Rockefeller said. "Despite all the rhetoric about improving Americans' access to broadband, the Bush administration never made achieving their goal a serious matter," he added. "Why? For starters, deploying broadband is really hard work."

While several other speakers at the forum, which was webcast, joined Rockefeller in calling for a more aggressive broadband rollout policy, others at the event questioned whether the U.S. was as behind other nations in broadband adoption as some studies have suggested. Commonly quoted statistics from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which ranks the U.S. 15th among its 30 member nations in broadband adoption per capita, ignore several factors, said Michael Katz, an economics and business professor at New York University and former chief economist at the Federal Communications Commission.

If researchers look at the percentage of the population that has access to broadband, instead of broadband lines per capita, the U.S. would be eighth, Katz said. The countries in front of the U.S. generally have smaller household sizes or a higher population density, he added.

"Let's start with the facts," Katz said. "Let's try to have a rational basis for the policy, instead of relying on knee-jerk reactions and slogans. Yes, it'd be great for everyone to have broadband, but how about we look at what it'd cost?"

Other panelists suggested a national broadband policy is necessary because there remain large populations who don't have access to broadband or who can't afford it. Less than half of African-Americans, Latinos, rural residents and people making less than $20,000 a year have broadband, said Larry Irving, president of the Irving Group and a former assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Commerce.

"Whether you think that's important or not, some of those people do," Irving said. "There are young, bright kids in barrios; there are young, bright kids in Appalachia; there are young, bright kids born in the projects who are not getting out because they're not able to go home every night and do their homework."