Edward Lazarus Compares Electricity Expansion to Broadband

Edward Lazarus, Chief of Staff for the Federal Communications Commission, delivered a keynote at the Pike and Fischer Broadband Policy Summit.

Using electricity as an analogous system to broadband, he spoke about the need for government action to expand adoption and availability. Lazarus invoked the creation of the Rural Electrification Agency as a possible model for the expansion of broadband. Broadband like electricity requires large amounts of investment and large scale adoption prior to becoming a useful service. Lazarus compared the initial hesitancy of the farmers to use electricity to today's hesitancy to accept rural broadband. Farmers who initially had electricity, did not use it to its full potential, and thus because they saw the cost of it without realizing the benefits, they were unwilling to support it. The successful fusion of the private sector and government is what caused the spread of electricity. Many applications for electricity invented by the private sector not only made life easier for farmers, but also fostered the invention of new technology like the assembly line.