Kerry Says High Speed Internet Access Vital for American Competitiveness

American businesses need access to faster, cheaper high speed internet if they are going to compete globally, said Senator John Kerry today, and the federal government should make it possible. Kerry, Chairman of the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, is lobbying for a federal commitment to make high speed internet access more widely available for Americans. The senator called for the Bush administration to make universal broadband access possible by encouraging competition among providers and changing regulations.

"The Bush Administration has once again failed to live up to its promises," said Kerry. "Three years after talking about the need for universal high speed Internet access, the majority of Americans still have either no Internet access at all or are stuck with dial-up. To compete and win in the new global economy, we need a national broadband strategy that encourages competition and expands access. Previous generations put a toaster in every home and a car in every driveway as signs of economic progress-it's time we do the same with high speed Internet access."

According to the latest data available, from 2004, America currently ranks 15th in the world in terms of high speed internet access. This contradicts reports from the FCC that broadband deployment is being made on a reasonable basis for all Americans. Other Commissioners further outlined the need for better access and better information..

Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein testified, "We must work to promote meaningful competition as it is the most effective driver of innovation, as well as lower prices. Only rational competition policies can ensure that the U.S. broadband market does not devolve into a stagnant duopoly, which is a serious concern given that cable and DSL providers now control approximately 96 percent of the residential broadband market."

"The FCC's current efforts at data gathering are woefully out-of-date and out-of-whack," Commissioner Michael Copps added. "The Commission is still calling 200 kilobits per second 'broadband' and assuming that if one person in a ZIP code has broadband access, everyone else does as well. This is 2007, not 1997. We need a more credible definition of speed and more granular measures of deployment, as well as to start gathering data on price and the experience of other nations."

The act that would accomplish many of their goals is S.234, the Wireless Innovation Act of 2007 (WINN Act), authored by John Kerry. The legislation would aid the development of wireless broadband internet access by making available certain parts of the broadcast spectrum currently going unused. Additionally, the Community Broadband Act, S. 1853, will provide for cities acting to provide broadband access competitively to their citizens. Another option would be to use the spectrum currently used for television broadcast signals, which is powerful enough to send signals through trees and buildings. Television signals will go digital in 2009, at which time use of the spectrum will be auctioned off.

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U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship, Faster Internet Access Key to American Competitiveness, says Kerry, PR Newswire