A National Broadband Strategy

Former-Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Technology policy Bruce Mehlman believes that if the White House sets an ambitious goal of truly high speed connectivity and universal service, a national broadband strategy can work. He wants the White House to bring in "leaders from the private sector." Every industry that would benefit from universal broadband would be represented, especially health care, finance, and energy. "We would come up with supply side and demand side solutions," he says. "We want strategy, not tactics." How does he respond to the conservative readers of ISP-Planet who feel certain that if the government spends money on broadband, it won't go where it should go? "I share their concern about the idea of government as the solution," says Mehlman. "What excites me about broadband is that it enables market-based solutions in energy, education, health care. It delivers growth. The underlying infrastructure enables more market-based solutions."