The Wiring of Rural America

THE WIRING OF RURAL AMERICA
[SOURCE: Center for American progress 6/27, AUTHOR: Mark Lloyd]
No one will argue with the notion that Americans living in rural areas need to be fully connected to what we used to call the Information Superhighway. There is no controversy about the goal. But as the ancient proverb teaches us: The devil is in the details. In order then to insure that the United States can actually achieve the goal of connecting all Americans to advanced telecommunications services, we must focus on those details. We must be clear about why all Americans should be connected, what it means to be connected to advanced telecommunications services, and who is responsible for making sure we are all connected. Despite the distortions of FCC Chairman Kevin Martin and NTIA Director John Kneuer about broadband penetration in the United States, great strides have not been made in Mississippi and Utah and Oklahoma and Kansas. Why has this Republican administration and the Republican Party which dominates those states and has dominated Congress since 2000 allowed this promise to fade in rural America? Why is President Bush’s promise of broadband to all by 2007 so empty? This is a nonpartisan issue, a nonpartisan goal, but we should not shrink from holding our elected and well-paid representatives responsible. And if Democrats are ever in a position to move real legislation and get it signed, we should not shrink from holding them responsible for the sorry state of advanced telecommunications services in the United States. We should be clear that this is not a technological problem, nor is this really a market problem about encouraging competition. This is a political problem.
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2007/06/lloyd_testimony.html