Will Obama's FCC Push For Internet Access For All?

Broadband, high-speed Internet access, is likely to be a top priority for the Federal Communications Commission as Barack Obama becomes President. For years, FCC critics have been demanding a national broadband strategy -- an official policy on universal Internet access or, at the very least, government incentives to encourage more competition among Internet service providers. On Capitol Hill on Tuesday, a coalition of organizations unveiled recommendations for a comprehensive national broadband strategy. Ben Scott, the policy director for Free Press, says Americans are currently paying more for less. Because of that, the U.S. has fallen out of the top 10 countries in the world when it comes to the percentage of households using broadband, Scott says. Just over half of American homes have it, which puts the U.S. behind Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, Sweden, Korea, Finland, Luxembourg, Canada, the United Kingdom, Belgium, France and Germany. "If you look overseas," Scott says, "most of the world's leading nations have half a dozen or more different companies offering a similar broadband product. They're competing on price. They're competing on speed. They're competing on the attractiveness of the services they offer on top of their broadband package." Moreover, about 10 percent of Americans still have no access to broadband at all. Many of those people live in rural areas. Scott says, "We need to have a similar 21st century highway bill where we invest in our broadband infrastructure." But he also notes such a plan would require unprecedented leadership from the White House, Congress and, most of all, the FCC — because it's likely to face vigorous opposition from cable and telecom companies.