U.S. broadband A-OK

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
Reply-To: <dewayne () warpspeed com>
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2005 17:47:11 -0800
To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <dewayne-net () warpspeed com>
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] U.S. broadband A-OK

  U.S. broadband A-OK

  By Declan McCullagh
<http://news.com.com/U.S.+broadband+A-OK/2010-1071_3-5517695.html>

  Story last modified Mon Jan 10 04:00:00 PST 2005

It's become fashionable to fret about the purported need for a
"national broadband policy," a concern typically accompanied by laments
that the United States lags other nations in adopting speedy Internet
connections.

Federal Communications Commission Commissioner Michael Copps, a
Democrat, recently complained that "the United States is ranked 11th in
the world in broadband penetration!...When we find ourselves 11th in
the world, something has gone dreadfully wrong. When Congress tells us
to take immediate action to accelerate deployment, we have an
obligation to do it."

  One commentary piece published on CNET News.com last week worried that
the United States is "falling behind" other countries in broadband
connectivity. Another from last year offered "several recommendations
that could help form a national broadband agenda" and touted South
Korea as a "success" story.

But is the United States truly faring so poorly? A careful look at the
numbers gives reason to be skeptical.

  The now-traditional source of dismay about U.S. broadband adoption is
a set of figures compiled by the Organization for Economic Cooperation
and Development, a kind of governmental think tank. The June 2004
figures say the United States has 11.2 broadband subscribers for every
100 inhabitants, in 11th place and far behind South Korea's
24.4-people-per-100 top ranking.

  Those figures are misleading. South Korea is roughly 100,000 square
kilometers, about the size of the state of Indiana, with a population
clustered around large cities like Seoul. In those cities, Koreans tend
to live in high-rise apartment buildings. Population density makes it
relatively easy to provide high-speed connections--it's perfect for
speedy VDSL lines--and boosts the nation in the OECD's rankings.

  By contrast, the United States sprawls over nearly 10 million square
kilometers--100 times the size of South Korea--with a population more
evenly distributed between rural areas, towns and cities and far more
likely to live in single-family homes. Geography and demographics
explain why broadband will take longer to become available in the
United States. Copps might as well complain that the more spread-out
United States has fewer subway lines per capita and less smog too.
  To be sure, complaints about U.S. lagging refer both to slow adoption
of broadband and the slower broadband speeds available. It's true that
South Korea and Japan may offer connections measured in the tens of
megabits, but fiber connections are finally happening in the United
States. By the way, if you've got complaints about the rollout speed,
the best way to accelerate it would be to eliminate wacky government
regulations stemming from the 1996 Telecommunications Act--not add to
the confusion with new ones.

  It's not just South Korea. All the nations that the OECD ranks above
the United States are either much smaller (Netherlands) or happen to
have people clustered around large cities that can be wired more easily
than rural areas (Sweden, Norway).

  Canada, in third place, falls into the second category. Nearly
everyone chooses to live close to cities like Toronto, Montreal,
Vancouver and Ottawa along the not-quite-as-cold southern border. A
Canadian province bordering Greenland called Nunavut is larger than
Alaska, but its entire population would fit in a football stadium with
room to spare.

  "We're not doing a bad job"
  "These numbers that the OECD throws around and (that) keep getting
used are a convenient way to make the U.S. look bad," says Jeff
Carlisle, senior deputy chief of the FCC's Wireline Competition Bureau.
"But if you really look at the numbers, it's hard to say that we're
doing a bad job...If you're talking about the broader issue, the U.S.
comes out looking pretty good."

[snip]


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