TIA Asks Congress For A Broadband Stimulus Package

Adding yet another item to the growing list of suggested "economic incentives" to ease the current financial crisis, the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) has asked Congress to include broadband deployment incentives, arguing the payback could be in the hundreds of billions of dollars annually. In a letter to Democratic and Republican leaders of both houses of Congress, signed by TIA President Grant Seiffert, TIA argued that such a broadband stimulus would result in everything from a reduction of dependence on foreign oil to reduced medical costs, even helping a bit with the housing crisis. "Including broadband incentives in a stimulus package would further a number of important goals and priorities of the Congress and provide substantial benefits to all Americans," Seiffert wrote in his letter addressed to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio). "Broadband networks directly impact the productivity of our industries and our economy and pivotally affect public safety, education, health care, and countless other functions in Americans' daily lives. Like any other infrastructure project, the deployment and use of broadband will significantly increase and maintain job growth well beyond the initial investment in the infrastructure itself. Now is the time to invest in the long-term economic future of our country."