The initial stab by the U.S. government to promote high-speed Internet access has something to disappoint nearly everyone.
Most communications companies and consumer advocacy groups say the $6 billion in broadband stimulus measures contained in the House Democrats’ $825 billion economic recovery package are a good first step. But they warn that the money won’t be nearly sufficient to meet incoming President Barack Obama’s objective of providing affordable high-speed Internet access to all U.S. households.
“I was incredibly impressed how quickly the House moved,” says Shirley Bloomfield, senior vice-president for federal relations at Qwest Communications, a Denver-based communications provider that serves 14 Western states. “They’ve got some good concepts. But $6 billion is not going to get you to ubiquitous broadband.”
Job-Creation Effectiveness Questioned
Communications providers and various advocacy groups have pegged the cost of creating universal broadband in the tens of billions of dollars. A December 2008 report by the Free Press, an organization devoted to reforming the media, estimated that a broadband infrastructure development program would cost $44 billion over three years. Similarly, the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation [ITIF], a Washington [D.C.] think tank, projected that providing Internet service to much of the unserved territories in the U.S. would cost about $12 billion. “It’s definitely not enough money,” says Robert Atkinson, founder of the ITIF.
Moreover, some communications providers warn that the package as designed in the House bill may get bogged down by too much government bureaucracy, and fail to create jobs quickly — a key objective of the federal stimulus. Under the House Democrats’ plan, approximately $3 billion in broadband stimulus would be administered by the Rural Utilities Service of the Agriculture Dept., while another $3 billion in grants would be awarded by the National Telecommunications & Information Administration, a small bureau of the Commerce Dept.
One big issue is that…