Re: Broadband Plan ---

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Brett Glass <brett () lariat net>
Date: January 10, 2009 1:15:19 PM EST
To: dave () farber net, "ip" <ip () v2 listbox com>
Subject: Re: [IP] Re:  Broadband Plan ---

At 10:16 AM 1/10/2009, Larry Press wrote:

> For example, we need to encourage fiber in the last mile.  The OECD
> says FTTx is used in 45% of Japanese broadband connection, 39% in
> Korea, 19% in Sweden, 18% in The Slovak Republic, and 3% in the US.

Given the cost of Internet backbone bandwidth, fiber in the last mile  
is not only unnecessary but wasteful, especially in rural areas.  
Today, bandwidth costs $4 to $6 per megabit per second per month,  
wholesale, at urban peering points... and that's not counting any of  
the expense to deliver it to the consumer, which is greater than the  
cost of the bandwidth itself. In rural areas and even many suburbs,  
bandwidth costs $100 to $400 per megabit per second per month. Fiber  
has far more capacity than is needed to deliver any service level for  
which consumers can actually afford to pay.

Wireless, in particular, is far more cost-effective than fiber for the  
last mile -- especially in areas with low population density such as  
outlying suburbs and rural areas (which constitute most of the land  
area of the United States). The capital cost to cover 9 square miles  
of rural area is roughly $1,000, while the expense of fiber coverage  
for a similar area can run into the millions. This, together with the  
fact that it provides opportunities for competition and consumer  
choice, is why wireless is so important as a "third pipe." Any forum  
on broadband policy which does not include wireless providers, and  
recognize wireless as a viable and economical way of reaching  
consumers, is seriously deficient and incomplete and threatens to push  
our country toward duopoly and inadequate broadband deployment.

--Brett Glass





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