Why modest broadband development steps mark a significant leap ahead

[Commentary] In recent years, much of our domestic attention on broadband development has focused on residential service, with the National Broadband Plan goal of having 100 million Americans with 100 megabits per second (Mbps) network capability by the year 2020. This aspiration is supported by our nation’s status as one of five countries that I have termed top-tier Net Vitality global leaders (along with France, Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom). Their prominence in broadband network metrics, along with achievements in other critical aspects of the broadband ecosystem -applications/content and devices – make them examples worth emulating.

But it’s important to highlight the smaller steps of lesser-developed countries since they are more likely to be perceived as role models by other countries in the same category. Net Vitality can and should be a scalable concept. Some countries, including the United States, may be able to take giant strides over an extended period of time. Others, like Kenya, may take smaller, more rapid steps toward broadband ecosystem development. In a localized context, this may represent nothing short of a significant leap ahead.

[Brotman is a nonresident senior fellow in the Center for Technology Innovation within Governance Studies at Brookings]