Tech Czar Suggests Mobile Apps Could Bring Money For Broadband

The recently appointed U.S. technology czar said on Thursday that new mobile phone applications could spur private investment in high-speed Internet connections that Washington would play a leadership role in, Reuters reported.

Aneesh Chopra, the U.S. government’s chief technology officer, said growing mobile Internet access, underscored by the popularity of Apple Inc’s iPhone, provides more incentives for broadband infrastructure spending.

He stated during a consumer electronics show in New York: "If you were to ask investors how satisfied were you with your data wireless network investments pre-iPhone, my gut instinct tells me, they were not delivering the revenues that one would’ve expected to justify the investments they were making."

The iPhone is used more for Internet applications, including e-mail and messaging, than for making calls, Chopra noted.

He said if there are applications that will drive demand, the market will respond with a business case to invest.

The Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said that compared with industrialized nations such as Japan, France and Sweden, broadband speeds in the U.S. are among the slowest, while prices are among the steepest.

But faster Internet speeds create business opportunities and the government aims to create incentives for such investment, he added.

Chopra, who was previously the secretary of technology for Virginia, said the U.S. could lead with public policy in this area the way that the consumer has led in the device world.

Support for Internet technology spending is included in the Obama Administration’s nearly $800 billion stimulus package, signed earlier this year.

A new strategy by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission plans to bring high-speed Internet to nearly half of the U.S. population in low-income and rural areas that doesn’t have access to it.

Julius Genachowski, a former executive at IAC/Interactive and technology investor, will soon be confirmed as the new FCC chairman.