BROADBAND: Help for rural areas
The stimulus bill includes $7 billion for broadband deployment in rural markets across the USA.
That high-speed Internet access is counted as "infrastructure" is illuminating in itself, says Gene Kimmelman of Consumers Union.
Under the Bush administration, broadband service was treated as a luxury, he says. The Obama-backed stimulus package, in contrast, "treats Internet communications as an essential service, just like our highways," Kimmelman says.
With that baseline established, Kimmelman says, he expects major public policy shifts to follow, with the goal of making broadband available and affordable to all Americans. Though final language is still being worked out, the $7 billion plan offers "grants," or funding, to companies willing to deploy broadband — wireless or wired — in "underserved" or "unserved" markets.
But there are regulatory strings attached, notes Paul Glenchur of Stanford Group in Washington, D.C.
Companies must offer broadband services in a "non-discriminatory" fashion. That's code for "open access," a politically charged notion that says carriers must treat all Internet services the same.
Likewise, trying to define "underserved" or "unserved" markets could prove challenging, he says.
Why: Satellite-based Internet services already are available in most rural markets. Phone and cable TV companies have also spent billions deploying broadband in hundreds of markets, including rural areas.
The government's plan to essentially subsidize competition in these areas through a grant program "raises a basic question of fairness," Glenchur says.
Kimmelman disagrees. Satellite-based broadband costs around $90 a month, he says, putting it out of reach of many consumers.
By Leslie Cauley
Stimulus Bill to help
Member #: 21483
Registered: 2/12/2003
Posted:
151
Name:
Bob Jones
Name:
Bob Jones
Company:
N.W.Digicom
Occupation:
Upgrade,Sweep,Construction
Location:
Eagle River, Alaska
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