Connected Nation: National Broadband Policy Or Big Telco Front?
from the questions-questions dept
For years, we've pointed out that, unlike most every other nation these days, the US lacks any sort of comprehensive broadband policy. Whether or not you think that's a good thing may depend on your perspective -- even among free market supporters. If you believe that broadband is a national infrastructure question involving a natural monopoly (a la the highway system) then it's a shame that there's no national broadband system that allows competition at the service level. If, instead, you think that broadband is not a natural monopoly then perhaps competition at the infrastructure level makes sense, even if it decreases competition at the service level. However, there's definitely been a lot of clamoring from folks that the US needs a national broadband policy. For years, the big telcos have resisted this push, often with incredibly misleading statements about how the government needs to keep its "hands off" their network. That's misleading because they leave out how much of that infrastructure was subsidized by the government -- whether through direct subsidies, grants of rights of way or tax breaks.Either way, it appears that the telcos have recognized that they need to get behind a "national broadband policy" before one is handed to them -- so they've created their own, called Connected Nation. We discussed this back in February, when there was some question about whether Connected Nation really was a reasonable policy or just a front for the telcos. One of the biggest problems? The more you look at Connected Nation, the more difficult it is to figure out what it actually does. Broadband Reports is taking a look at the problems with Connected Nation, noting that the big telcos are all claiming that it represents a good national broadband policy, but that's hardly supported by the details.
For example, Connected Nation's broadband plan doesn't seem to involve anything resembling consumer advocates, or any objective look at ways to get broadband to those not served by it. But what does Connected Nation actually do? Basically tells the rest of the government that everything is groovy and not to do anything. Officially it takes taxpayer money to create its own questionable maps about broadband penetration, most of which come back showing that there's plenty of broadband penetration (nothing to see here, move along now). Then it sends out marketing material to local leaders about the importance of broadband -- effectively advertising incumbent telco broadband offerings with taxpayer money. Whether or not you support a national broadband policy, this seems pretty questionable all around. It seems to just divert taxpayer money to broadband advertising, without doing much to actually improve broadband.
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Filed Under: broadband policy, telcos
Companies: connected nation
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Now that FISA was passed, what else did the Telcos get?
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National Policy might be a bad idea
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A Public Broadband Census
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Connected Nation Exposed
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Comments on Connected Nation
We hope that all states will be working towards guaranteeing that their citizens have access and that the prices are affordable for access. States themselves must take on the bully pulpit for this effort but the Federal Government also has a roll to play. Really valid information for decision making is necessary in whatever mapping program we determine is best for each state and the country. Being 15th or 2nd best in access to broadband infrastructure for our citizens will not make our country able to compete in an information economy effectively. We must not be sipping from an Internet pipe that is 10, 20 or 100xs smaller than our competitor nation's infrastructure. Person who can not afford the access must also be assisted similar to how the Life Line Link Up Program of the FCC worked with spreading telephone access to persons who were unable to pay the going price. We should look at that Uinversal Services Corporation program.
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Connection btw CN and state bills
Of course, she is absolutely wrong about this. As another reader noted, the effect of the bill will be to say that the mapping issue has been taken care of, and that 'there's nothing to see here, move along.' Thank you TechDirt for uncovering this threat to high-speed Internet freedom, and uncovering the shadowy ways of the telecom oligarchs.
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iplate
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