It’s still a decade away but that’s the plan anyway, that every citizen in the US will have broadband of 100 megabits per second within the next ten years.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) have recently presented their case to Congress and in a statement released before the presentation they stated:
“Broadband is a foundation for economic growth, job creation, global competitiveness and a better way of life.
“It is changing how we educate children, deliver health care, manage energy, ensure public safety, engage government, and access, organise, and disseminate knowledge”
Around 7 million households in the US currently don’t have internet access according FCC member Robert McDowell. That is a tragedy by anyone’s standards.
We need internet access these days, it is no longer a luxury but a necessity, and if we don’t have it we cannot participate fully in society, to the detriment of society.
“Every American should have a meaningful opportunity to benefit from the broadband communications era” said the FCC.
“Ubiquitous and affordable broadband can unlock vast new opportunities for Americans, in communities large and small, with respect to consumer welfare, civic participation, public safety and homeland security, community development, health care delivery, energy independence and efficiency, education, worker training, private sector investment, entrepreneurial activity, job creation and economic growth, and other national purposes.”
Phew that’s quite a mouthful but it kind of sums it up.
There are two questions that many people will ask though, the first one is whether or not providing broadband to every single citizen is achievable, and secondly, who is going to pay for it?
“Broadband for every American is not too ambitious a plan and it is absolutely necessary” the former chairman of the FCC, Reed Hundt, told BBC News.
“The consequences of not succeeding are heartbreaking. Every nation needs a common medium to gather around and to have the internet as a common medium where a third are left out is unacceptable” said the FCC.
At the moment the cost of implementing the broadband plans are estimated at $350 billion. Some of the cash is supposedly going to come from selling off 500 megahertz of wireless spectrum and some from President Obama’s 2009 stimulus package, part of which is to be put towards broadband initiatives.
It all sounds good but I can’t help but wonder if they will actually be able to do it.
