20
July
2010
|
08:13 AM
America/Los_Angeles
FCC: Telcos Too Slow With Broadband Rollout
The Federal Communications Commission today released a report that criticizes broadband rollout as not being deployed in a reasonable and timely manner.
The report found that less than 2% of US broadband connections are capable of originating a high definition video stream and less than half of all connections are capable of receiving a HD video stream.
Plus there are 14 million Americans without access to any high speed Internet service.
S. Derek Turner, Research Director of Free Press, a lobbying group advocating universal access to communications, said that he is pleased that the FCC "had the courage to do what all previous Commissions could not, and that is to put politics aside and take an objective look at the law and the data."
"The facts present a sobering reality of our broadband problem. We pay far too much for far too little, and the lack of meaningful competition among Internet service providers leads to delayed investment and slow technological progress."Foremski's Take: This is further evidence that the cable and telco companies continue to hold the US back by providing some of the slowest ISP services in the world while charging high prices. The last mile connection into the home has become a "golden mile" for these companies and the lack of real competition has enabled them make fortunes from old technologies.
Please see:
- April 21 testimony of S. Derek Turner regarding The National Broadband Plan: Deploying Quality Broadband Services to the Last Mile: http://www.freepress.net/resource/april-21-2010-testimony-s-derek-turner
