USA - Analysis of broadband policies mid 2010

Synopsis

It has now been a few months since the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in America launched its National Broadband Plan (NBP), so it is timely to see where the plans are heading.

Critics will say they are going nowhere – this is based on a lack of active results, the rather negative reception by the incumbents, and their excessive but incredible effective lobbying in getting Congress to oppose any changes that would create a more open, innovative and competitive environment.

BuddeComm would however, argue that at least some progress has been made since President Obama took office. Right from the start he gave his support for changes that would see America regaining leadership in broadband and providing its citizens with a world-class telecoms system, rather than the current second-rate service.

When BuddeComm became involved with the Obama Transition Team in late 2008, broadband was not a political issue and there was no groundswell from the electorate asking for change. The most important development since then has been that broadband has become a far more visible political issue. It might not yet have reached electoral levels, but hardly a day passes without broadband being discussed in the major mainstream media.

It looks like that the battle will be fought out in this space, unless Americans become more aware of the need for more, better and above all affordable broadband the incumbents will stay in charge of the political telecoms agenda.