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ISPs Urge Against High Stimulus Internet Speed Requirements

Posted on: Friday, 20 March 2009, 07:19 CDT

Internet providers hoping for their piece of the $7.2 billion set aside by President Obama’s new economic stimulus package are urging lawmakers not to raise the bar too high when it comes to how fast Internet speeds must be.

"Speed is a movable target," Reuters quoted Dave Malfara, speaking for Comptel, an industry group that represents smaller rivals to companies such as AT&T Inc.

"One of the fears that we have is that a definition would be too high."

The cost of providing such high speeds could work against the firms’ ability to turn a profit, Malfara argued.

The Wireless Communications Association, which represents wireless broadband firms such as AT&T, voiced the same conclusion as Malfara.

"We need to go out and reach these people who have never been connected to the Internet, because it's all about jobs of the future," said Dick Mirgon, the president-elect of the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials.

"This is just as important as America's highways. This is the next great technology that will allow America to grow economically."

Companies have argued that the government should allow the market to determine the measure of Internet speeds created through the stimulus. But critics from public interest groups say that notion is along the same line of thought that has caused the US to trail behind other developed nations like Japan, France and Korea in terms of Internet availability and speeds.

"The government's role is to set some targets and some policy goals and to push the market," said Mark Lloyd, vice president of strategy for the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights.

"We've relied on market forces for the last 15 years. ... We have a market failure here."

As a part of the $787 billion American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, $4.7 billion will be granted to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration for broadband development in "unserved," "underserved" and low-income communities. An additional $2.5 billion will go to the Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service for rural broadband.

Earlier this month, Ben Scott, of the Free Press, told BBC News that it is crucial that the money be properly spent.

"It all hinges on getting the policy right to make sure the money is spent right,” said Scott. “We're going into an extraordinary period where the government is directly investing in broadband infrastructure.

“This process of handing out $7 billion, although there's a great deal of urgency to get the money out the door, must fundamentally be data driven.”

"We need to make sure the money is spent wisely.”

Also this month, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation released a report called “The Need for Speed: The Importance of Next-Generation Broadband Networks.”

The ITIF said it “argues that supporting the deployment of faster broadband networks will be crucial to enabling next-generation Web-based applications and services that will play important roles in improving quality of life and boosting economic growth.”

The report showed that Americans get an average broadband speed of 5 MBPS. Meanwhile, consumers in Japan get 63 MBPS and those in South Korea receive 49 MBPS.

“While getting broadband service to the Americans who lack it is an important policy target, next-generation broadband will deliver a wave of new benefits to consumers, society, businesses, and the economy,” ITIF added.

"Deploying next generation broadband to 80% of US households that currently lack it can bring the needed economic stimulus by ensuring approximately two million American jobs," said ITIF President Robert Atkinson.

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On the Net:

• Wireless Communications Association International
• FCC
• Information Technology & Innovation Foundation
• Association of Public Safety Communications

Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports

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