Nortel chief: U.S. needs new broadband vision

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
Date: August 23, 2005 6:27:21 PM EDT
To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <dewayne-net () warpspeed com>
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Nortel chief: U.S. needs new broadband vision
Reply-To: dewayne () warpspeed com


[Note:  Its worth taking the time to read this entire article!  DLH]

Nortel chief: U.S. needs new broadband vision
Bill Owens questions whether government leaders understand technology  
issues adequately

By Grant Gross, IDG News Service
August 23, 2005
<http://www.infoworld.com/article/05/08/23/HNnortelchief_1.html? 
source=rss&url=http://www.infoworld.com/article/05/08/23/ 
HNnortelchief_1.html>
The U.S. government lacks a broad vision for broadband and wireless  
technologies and is losing ground as countries like South Korea and  
India push new technologies from the highest level of government, the  
chief executive of Nortel Networks said Tuesday.

Bill Owens, a former U.S. Navy admiral, stopped short of advocating  
an expansive new U.S. government policy while speaking at the Aspen  
Summit, sponsored by the Progress and Freedom Foundation, a think  
tank that advocates free-market approaches over government  
regulations. But he did question whether U.S. government leaders  
understand technology issues as well as their counterparts in other  
countries with fast-growing broadband services.

Owens challenged broadband providers to move toward 20-megabit  
connections across the U.S. in order to keep up with Internet  
improvements in other countries. "I just wonder who in the United  
States government is at a level where they're seeing that vision ...  
where they must do something to look into the future," he said. "I  
wonder if the lawmakers and the cabinet members and the senior people  
in our government understand how rapidly this is happening, how  
quickly the world is changing."

Owens didn't offer many concrete proposals, instead raising questions  
about the U.S. focus on future technologies, although he suggested  
more telecom regulation should be done at the national level, instead  
of the state level.

Concerns about broadband adoption in the U.S. aren't new, with the  
U.S. falling from the 13th place in 2004 to 16th this year in  
broadband penetration rates, according to the International  
Telecommunication Union. But Owens told his audience changes in U.S.  
policy are needed urgently.

He predicted that offshore companies would begin offering voice over  
Internet Protocol (VOIP) service over mobile phones to U.S. residents  
for a lower price than most current wireless phone plans within a  
couple of years, and current U.S. regulations could do little to stop  
that service from happening.

"So on my mobile phone, I can call you anywhere around the world and  
do it for US$20 a month, and use everybody's networks," he said. "I  
wonder what that does to the companies who have invested billions of  
dollars in infrastructure: Our wireline companies, our cable  
companies, our wireless companies.

"What happens when people start to poach on that investment?" he  
continued. "I believe we need to take regulatory steps to make  
certain that we protect our businesses and people who have put money  
into these networks so that they can get a fair return."

Asked if the U.S. should adopt a government-driven broadband build- 
out similar to South Korea's, Owens said that may not work in the  
U.S., where government has less authority to unilaterally move ahead  
with its policies. "There are great opportunities for us here as we  
look around the world and take lessons from other countries and  
realize that we can be a leader of this telecom world," he said. "We  
shouldn't take the lead from Korea or Japan or India; we should start  
to have visions of our own."

While Owens and some panelists in a radio spectrum policy discussion  
criticized the U.S. government for not doing enough to promote new  
Internet technologies, Michael Gallagher director of the National  
Telecommunications and Information Administration (NIST) in the U.S.  
Department of Commerce (DOC), defended the work done since President  
George Bush took office in 2001. The Bush administration is working  
to free up radio spectrum for commercial and unlicensed uses, with an  
auction of spectrum, scheduled for mid-2006, that would increase  
mobile wireless spectrum by 45 percent.

[snip]

Weblog at: <http://weblog.warpspeed.com>



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