House Leader Names Broadband a Priority for New Congress
Broadband is a key infrastructure priority for the next Congress, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said in a statement on the coming year’s agenda. “We must ensure that all of our people have access to broadband connections,” he said. Hoyer’s endorsement is good news for broadband backers who spoke at a Wednesday conference of the need for activist policies from the Obama administration.
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Policies should focus on how to make broadband affordable for all Americans, and how to get service to areas lacking it, said Rey Ramsey, chairman of the non-profit One Economy Corp., speaking at an Internet Innovation Alliance conference on broadband. One step is better data, he said. In surveying broadband use, the definition of access should focus on access at home, he said. Many surveys count those getting broadband at work or in libraries, skewing the data, Ramsey said.
The new administration should consider an executive order aimed at upping broadband use in affordable housing projects by requiring builders to wire such facilities for high-speed service, Ramsey said. Tax credits in 42 states already encourage that step, he said. “I guarantee that we are going to do something about broadband and public housing,” either with congressional legislation or by executive order, he added.
A national broadband policy will enable governments to better meet public needs, said N.Y. Commissioner Paul Cosgrove at an Internet Innovation Alliance conference Wednesday. New York, which has built its own broadband public safety network, already is seeing benefits with faster response times for emergency calls and better coordination among first responders. The city also is using the technology to improve non-emergency services, he told the conference. Such benefits could come across the nation if Congress and the White House make it a priority, Cosgrove said.
“It’s very clear to me that without a national broadband policy, most cities won’t be able to begin addressing these needs,” Cosgrove said. “Clearly this nation needs a strategy,” said David McClure, president of the United States Internet Industry Association. But it should be based on some principles, he said. First is to do no harm. “We know there are areas where the infrastructure is insufficient and we have to look at those areas carefully,” he said. “We don’t need a blanket program nationwide.” It’s important to target investments where they're needed, he said, and to support programs that help more people realize how broadband can improve their situation, through better education and employment possibilities.
Also Wednesday, two consumer groups urged Obama and the next Congress to drive down Internet prices by 25 percent. In a report on U.S. Internet prices and access, Consumers Union and the Consumer Federation of America said the Bush administration failed to close the digital divide because of its laissez-faire approach. Consumers pay higher prices in the U.S. than in “a dozen other developed nations,” and for slower Internet service, the groups said. In 2007, only about 25 percent of households with incomes less than $25,000 had broadband, but more than 80 percent of those with more than $75,000 did, the groups said. And rural areas lag urban ones in broadband adoption by 10 to 25 percent, they said.