IP: How America is Falling Behind in Race for Fast Access

[David Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

> Date: Wed, 8 Sep 1999 11:44:15 -0400
> To: OpenDTV Mail List <OpenDTV () pcube com>
> From: Craig Birkmaier <craig () pcube com>
>
> An interesting commentary from jesse Berst at ZDNet...
>
>
> How America is Falling Behind in Race for Fast Access
>
> Jesse Berst, Editorial Director
> ZDNet AnchorDesk
>
> Producers of "The Blair Witch Project" caught Hollywood moguls
> off-guard. Promoting the low-budget film online proved to be a smart
> move.
>
> Another project: Global Fast Access is playing on other continents.
> And is catching America off-guard. Americans love to gloat over the
> strength of the free-market system. The best products at the best
> prices. The highest standard of living. The envy of the world.
>
> But the system has failed when it comes to fast Internet access. Just
> as "Blair Witch" leapfrogged the traditional Hollywood system, so too
> several other countries are leapfrogging the U.S. in the race to wire
> the planet with fast connections.
>
> The stakes are high. The winners will dominate in the first half of
> the next century.
>
> WHO IS GETTING AHEAD
> The fast-access leaders include:
>
> Singapore: The government's number one project is to connect phone
> lines with the cable TV network through high-frequency optical cable
> lines.
> <http://www.nua.ie/surveys/analysis/weekly_editorial/archives/issue1no
> 85.html>Click for more.
> Malaysia: They're building an ambitious high-tech zone called the
> Multimedia Super Corridor, which is to become a testing ground for
> new information technology and multimedia systems.
> <http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2289969,00.html>Click
> for more.
> Great Britain: Phone giant British Telecom announced a recent big
> investment in
> <http://www.anchordesk.com/glossary/glossary_24.html>DSL with the
> goal of making Britain a world leader in the information revolution.
>
> WHAT WENT WRONG IN THE U.S.?
> Blame for slow rollout in the U.S. is shared by many:
>
> Baby Bells have refused to implement the 1996 Telecommunications Act.
> That's slowed competition, hampering independent companies in their
> efforts to offer fast access.
> <http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/story/story_2799.html>Click for
> more. I experienced it first-hand when I tried to get DSL service
> from an independent provider. But the phone company said it couldn't
> provide the service because of "problems" with the line. However the
> line was good enough for them to offer me expensive
> <http://www.anchordesk.com/glossary/glossary_44.html>ISDN or
> <http://www.anchordesk.com/glossary/glossary_176.html>T1 service. No
> thanks.
>
> Low-budget cable companies have let their systems languish. Many are
> way out of date and not capable of offering fast access. Yesterday's
> announced Viacom-CBS deal should bring faster cable upgrades, but
> it's still taking way too long.
>
> Inability to agree on technical standards has also hurt the push for
> fast access. Lucent's announcement yesterday of its Stinger
> technology is exactly the technical advance we couldn't get before.
> <http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2329469,00.html>Click
> for more
>
> A government that just doesn't get it. The Clinton Administration
> worries about security issues and encryption. And it should. But it
> has failed to coordinate or promote a plan for wide use of fast
> access. Similarly, presidential candidate Al Gore (the man who "took
> the initiative in creating the Internet," remember
> <http://cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1999/03/09/president.2000/transcri
> pt.gore/>click for more) has yet to push for creating the
> infrastructure for a "digital nation."
>
> It's simple really: First build the highways for high-speed data,
> sound and video. But so far, the U.S. government has done little to
> prime the pump or offer the private sector incentives to take the
> financial risks involved in fast access.
>
> You thought "Blair Witch" was frightening. What's really scary is
> watching a tech powerhouse like the U.S. lose the fast-access race
> because it didn't bother to build the proper foundations.