Springtime for Broadband?

[Commentary] It's true America has been through an uncertain patch in its 15-year broadband rollout. Cable operators invested in higher-speed services, but the phone companies have been reluctant to spend on DSL or fiber upgrade, despite the big profits on offer. The great recession didn't help, and two other factors also compute. Fixed broadband providers tell themselves wireless isn't a competitor—too slow, too costly. But wireless providers have invested big money to deploy high-speed mobile networks, and fixed and mobile are inevitably beginning to compete. A second factor is uncertainty over the future of TV, which paid for so much of America's broadband rollout to date. The showstopper in a word: Netflix. Still, in typical fashion, cries of "broadband stagnation" are bubbling into public awareness just as these worries are becoming obsolete.