US 19th to 55th in the World in Wired & Wireless Broadband Speed Rankings

[Commentary] According to most sources, America's wireline or wireless broadband speeds are not even in the Top 20 in the world, much less are reasonably priced. From the failed National Broadband Plan to the failure of the state commissions to enforce basic commitments, we believe the future of communications in America is going to get worse, not better, unless we take some immediate actions. Please do not say that we need more government subsidies, or that we need to give the companies more financial incentives, or we should build around the incumbents who didn't deliver.

We have already paid multiple times to upgrade the utility networks through government subsidies and financial incentives, which is a euphemism to raise rates. We have uncovered one of the largest financial accounting scandals in American history, and it is one of the reasons America isn't Number 1 or even Number 10. We will be releasing some reports during the week of Dec 7 from a new series called "Fixing Telecommunications". It is time for a reboot of the regulatory process that allowed this to happen. What are needed are audits, accountability and enforcement, tied to refunds, among other next steps.

[Bruce Kushnick is the executive director of New Networks Institute]