Lack Of National Broadband Strategy Costs Industry Billions in Stimulus

Discussing the broadband provisions of the stimulus law, Blair Levin, a member of President Obama's tech policy transition team, said that because we didn't have a national broadband policy in place the stimulus package couldn't include as much money for broadband as it may have otherwise. Blair's comment alludes to the fact that with a clear, coherent, comprehensive national broadband strategy in place and everyone supporting it, that our elected officials are ready, wiling, and able to pursue transformative action in spurring the deployment and use of broadband. Blair set out his hopes for how these dollars will be spent, simply stating that he'd like to see the money spent quickly, tracked accurately (which is no small feat for government or for a program of this size), and that we learn something from this process that we can apply to future decisions.