Networked Nation -- Release and Reaction

NETWORKED NATION -- RELEASE AND REACTION
[SOURCE: National Telecommunications and Information Administration]
Following up on Wednesday's Associated Press story, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration on Thursday released Networked Nation: Broadband in America, 2007, a report that highlights the growth of broadband in the United States. The report examines the comprehensive package of technology, regulatory, and fiscal polices implemented by the Administration to lower barriers to investment and create an environment in which broadband innovation and competition can flourish.
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/press/2008/NetworkedNation_013108.html

* Networked Nation: Broadband in America
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/reports/2008/NetworkedNationBroadbandinAmerica20...

* FCC Commissioner Michael Copps: "Networked Nation? If the United States were a networked nation consumers would be paying half as much for broadband connections 20 times as fast. That's what many consumers around the globe get. Instead, NTIA slices and dices bad data (full disclosure: much of it from the FCC) in ever more outlandish ways to reach the conclusion that all is well - don't worry, be happy. If we spent more time developing strategies for truly ubiquitous and affordable broadband rather than watching our international competitors lap us at every turn, we actually might have something to crow about."
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-279906A1.doc

* FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein: "Far from declaring victory, we need a national strategy for delivering affordable, truly-high speed Internet connections to all Americans, no matter where they live. Each day we fail to take realistic account of our successes and failures and rise to the broadband challenge means lost opportunities for our communities and our country's productivity, health, public safety, environment, and economic future."
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-279916A1.doc

* Free Press: Ignoring Reality, Bush Declares Broadband Mission Accomplished
"Declaring mission accomplished won't reverse America’s rapid disappearance from the ranks of world broadband leaders. Just ask the tens of millions of Americans still stranded on the wrong side of the digital divide. Americans pay far more for much slower Internet connections — when they can get service at all — than the rest of the world. Too many people still live in areas that cable and telecom companies refuse to serve, and many more can only purchase slow and expensive connections that can't in all seriousness be called broadband. Yet while the Bush Administration stands by and cheers over Internet connections barely faster than dial-up, countries like England and South Korea are bringing affordable and fast broadband to their citizens. Americans will be left on the sidelines as these countries reap the huge economic and social benefits of innovative technologies. What do these countries have that we don't? A national broadband policy that goes beyond empty platitudes."
http://www.freepress.net/press/release.php?id=331

* Public Knowledge: Bush Administration Broadband Report Distorts Reality
"Almost 97 percent of U.S. consumers have a choice only between their cable company and their telephone company. The Administration wiped out the policies that once upon a time allowed competition to flourish here and which now sustain the competition in other countries that consumers enjoy. The short-sighted policies cited by the NTIA have put our economic future at risk. The rosy picture the NTIA portrayed should have recognized that reality."
http://feeds.publicknowledge.org/~r/publicknowledge-main/~3/226806762/13...

* More than Rhetoric Needed to Close Broadband Gap
Benton Foundation, Center for Creative Voices in the Media, and Florida PIRG:
"There is clear consensus that our nation’s ability to compete in the high speed broadband world is essential to our economic future. Unfortunately, the Administration and the Federal Communications Commission continue to rely upon inadequate, highly-flawed data to assess the marketplace for high-speed Internet access. The Administration's "mission Accomplished" rhetoric does not match reality."
http://www.benton.org/node/8947