The fastest way to speedy networks: ignore Uncle Sam

[Commentary] Local leaders are starting to crack the code for how to drive broadband network upgrades in their communities. They are learning to build agreements with private enterprise that work for both the private and public interests.

These efforts lower deployment and operating costs as well as risk, while at the same time creating numerous public benefits including attractive service levels and reasonable consumer pricing. These agreements, in effect, are new versions of the social contracts that enabled phone companies and cable companies to build out their networks in the last century. While the network upgrade may seem to be only about speed, in actuality it will also drive other public improvements as well. Federal policymakers certainly understand the importance of faster networks, but as a recent workshop at the Federal Communications Commission demonstrated: The federal government’s actions, other than a one-time Recovery Act investment, have been neutral, at best, and probably negative. There are positive steps that can, and should, be taken.

[Blair Levin is the Executive Director of the University Community Next Generation Innovation Project, or Gig.U; he led the development of the National Broadband Plan in 2010 for the Federal Communications Commission. Ellen Satterwhite is Program Director at Gig. U]