Sputnik Moment: The Call for a National Broadband Policy

The Soviet Union's successful launch of the Sputnik 1 satellite in 1957 served as a rude awakening for the United States. That single act catapulted the two nations into a space race, and the US came to realize that it was no longer the putative technology leader. Fifty years later, America finds itself in a similar situation—increasingly outpaced by other developed nations in terms of broadband deployment, penetration, availability and affordability. With broadband vital to so many aspects of our daily lives, can the US afford to fall behind? Has America reached yet another Sputnik moment?