As the
U.S. government wrestles with the final shape of its economic stimulus
package, there is much talk about investing in infrastructure,
including technology infrastructure, as a way to jumpstart our economy.
One of the key themes that Barack Obama has promulgated is providing
broadband access to all Americans. The Obama/Biden position is laid out
on the barackobama.com Web site:
“Deploy a Modern Communications Infrastructure
Deploy Next-Generation Broadband: Barack
Obama believes that America should lead the world in broadband
penetration and Internet access. As a country, we have ensured that
every American has access to telephone service and electricity,
regardless of economic status, and Obama will do likewise for broadband
Internet access. Obama and Biden believe we can get true broadband to
every community in America through a combination of reform of the
Universal Service Fund, better use of the nation’s wireless spectrum,
promotion of next-generation facilities, technologies and applications,
and new tax and loan incentives.”1
There are over 100 million people in the U.S. that do not have
broadband Internet access. Although Americans are usually credited with
“inventing” the Internet, we have fallen woefully behind most of the
rest of the developed world in household deployment of broadband
Internet access. I agree with the Obama team that making broadband
Internet access available to all U.S. residents (and visitors) would
help stimulate our economy. There are both short-term and longer-term
benefits. In the short term, there’s the investment in computers,
cabling, towers, set-top boxes, and jobs for smart local people to hook
everyone up. By bringing broadband Internet access to more people,
we’ll empower young and old, rich and poor, urban and rural. We’ll give
small businesses in rural areas the opportunity to thrive locally while
selling globally, and we’ll make it easy for more people to work from
their homes. In the longer term, we’ll improve the level and quality of
education and knowledge of our citizenry.
It’s one thing to have an intention; it’s another to have a plan. The
best plan I’ve seen to-date, IMHO, is the one being promulgated by my
brother, Andy Seybold! Andrew Seybold
is a leading expert in mobile and wireless communications. His opinions
and his track record are well-respected by executives in the world’s
mobile phone companies, by emergency communications professionals in
local and state governments, and by many of the leaders in the IT
industry. One of the things that makes Andy’s advice so valuable is
that he is very involved with the emergency communications
practitioners—the so-called “first responders” in our nation’s
communities.
My Brother’s Advice to the FCC re: U.S. Broadband Access
You can find Andrew Seybold’s plan in his white paper, Broadband for All Americans, published on December 30, 2008 and in his Open Letter to Acting FCC Chairman Michael Copps, published in Andy’s blog on Tuesday, January 27, 2009.
In his white paper, Andy describes the complicated thicket of
intertwined issues in this way: “We have a number of issues that have
to be addressed: making access available where it is not, making it
affordable to more of our citizens where we already have it, and how to
equip those who want to take advantage of broadband with devices so
they are able to use the service.”
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