Net Vitality Policies Should Promote Future Global Broadband Internet Development

[Commentary] The Media Institute recently unveiled an analysis that implements a new approach for assessing a country’s broadband Internet capabilities. My five-year study, “Net Vitality: Identifying the Top-Tier Global Broadband Internet Ecosystem Leaders,“ identifies five countries leading in their deployment and use of the broadband Internet ecosystem. The study is based on 52 indices that assess applications and content, devices, and networks, along with relevant macroeconomic factors. The top-tier country leaders of the Net Vitality Index are the United States, South Korea, Japan, the United Kingdom and France. These global broadband Internet leaders exemplify an ability to set a course that favors competitive time over political time.

This policy preference reflects an understanding that it often takes at least a decade, if not more, for an industry to create competitive advantage. This is because it takes years to upgrade human skills, invest in products and processes, build interdependent clusters (e.g., the broadband Internet ecosystem) and penetrate foreign markets. Innovation and investment promise even greater impact for all users as the speed of Internet time continues apace. They are the most important building blocks for government policymakers to take into account if Net Vitality is to maximize the full potential of the broadband Internet ecosystem in the future.

[Stuart Brotman is a faculty member at Harvard Law School and a Nonresident Senior Fellow at The Brookings Institution's Center for Technology Innovation]