All for Broadband and Broadband for All
Barack Obama is expected to be our country’s most tech-savvy president ever, and his 
campaign had a strong focus on technology as a means for the U.S. to stay competitive. The tech and the telecom communities at large are both poised to see what will top Obama’s agenda after he takes office next month, and this week a group did their part to see that broadband connectivity makes the short list.
A group of 55 signatories, including most major telecom companies and the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, released a “call to action” to the Obama administration, urging the President-elect to make national broadband deployment and adoption a priority. The documents note the importance of broadband access to almost every aspect of life, and suggest everything from open Internet access and network management rights for operators, to broadband network performance and capacity. It also calls for federal, state and local governments to work with the private sector to implement policies that will bolster the nation’s broadband supply and demand. The group will hold an event in the spring to announce more specific policy proposals.
If the next congress passes legislation on a nationwide broadband policy, it could certainly provide the economic boost we so sorely need, with carriers needing to invest in new technologies and build out their networks to reach new regions and accommodate anticipated uptake in service. But in the face of a continuing recession, making these moves in the most efficient and cost effective way possible will be at the top of carriers’ priorities, and they must plan ahead to anticipate demands and design their networks to be lean and mean.
Between this and the upcoming release of “white space” spectrum when our TVs go digital, it seems to me that 2009 is poised to be the year of ubiquitous broadband. What took us so long?
December 6th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
“2009 is poised to be the year of ubiquitous broadband” I would not agree, WiFi technology could have done it years ago and White Space has not even started hardware development. How long have you been hearing about the WiMAX promise?
By JOHN MARKOFF
“Etherlinx, has taken the 802.11b standard and used it to build a system that can transmit Internet data up to 20 miles at high speeds — enough to blanket entire urban regions and make cable or D.S.L. connections obsolete”
(Excerpt from NYT article on EtherLinx)