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December 15, 2006
Giancarlo in San Francisco Chronicle
WASHINGTON, DC - Wanted to bring your attention to op-ed in yesterday's San Francisco Chronicle by Cisco's Charlie Giancarlo. Entitled, "THE INTERNET ACCELERATES WHILE U.S. TRAILS BEHIND", Giancarlo says that now is the time for a national broadband plan in the United States. He leads saying, "The second wave of the Internet Revolution is upon us, but is America ready? Based on the current growth and availability of household bandwidth speeds and quality, the answer is clearly no."
He continues, "The United States has been a technology leader for the past decade, but recent statistics show that the country is in danger of losing its premier position...The United States now ranks 12th in the world in the total percentage of citizens that subscribe to broadband access, lagging behind such countries as Iceland, Korea, Sweden, Belgium and Canada. The trend line is even worse. The United States ranks 17th for the growth of these high-speed connections, outpaced by nearly all of our economic peers."
He offers a few prescriptions on things that he thinks would "help immediately; 1) The government hurts innovation when yesterday's rules are used for today's technology, including Internet phone service; 2) With regular phone service penetration nearly universal, develop federal policies to make broadband as accessible as telephones; 3) Press firmly ahead with the 2009 digital television transition, while continuing to clear a path for the coming explosion in wireless broadband services and technologies."
Full commentary can be read here.
Giancarlo is Cisco Senior Vice President and President of Linksys and a member of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's Broadband Task Force. His bio here.
Posted by John Earnhardt on December 15, 2006 07:17 AM
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