Mehlman Sees US on Right Path to Broadband Growth

Bush Administration Department of Commerce official Bruce Mehlman, now co-chairman of the Internet Innovation Alliance, says the federal government and broadband grant seekers should be careful as they seek policy to ensure it doesn't hinder the spreading of high-speed communications system across the nation. He said that although many parties with an interest in the debate are displeased with the National Telecommunication and Information Administration's broadband initiative, the state of the nation's broadband is not dire. "Speeds have gone up, prices have gone down, percentages of populations served have expanded," he said. But he noted that "the tenor of many of the comments [to the broadband plan] is that the sky is falling and America is the broadband Banana Republic."