Broadband Census Bill Moves in House

BROADBAND CENSUS BILL MOVES IN HOUSE
[SOURCE: Rep Ed Markey (D-MA)]
On Tuesday, the House Commerce Committee approved legislation authored by Rep Ed Markey (D-MA), that aims to provide more and better data about the nature and extent of broadband deployment and consumer adoption in the country. The bill, H.R. 3919, would also create a national, searchable broadband availability map that will allow consumers to find which service providers are available in their areas and authorizes funds for grants to local planning entities to increase broadband deployment and usage on the local level. Rep. Markey, Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, said, “This legislation reflects the growing consensus ­ if not unanimity ­ around the fact that current data collection methods used by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) are inadequate and highly flawed. We must have more reliable information about broadband deployment and consumer adoption as a first step in developing any comprehensive blueprint for America's broadband future. If America hopes to catch up with the rest of the broadband world, we can't have policymakers flying blind with respect to where service is and isn't deployed, the speeds of such services, and consumer adoption rates. A national, searchable map will assist local communities to assess their own broadband inventory. Moreover, local planning grants will permit such communities to effectively organize to spur deployment and usage of broadband services in local areas.”

* Broadband Census Bill Approved by House Commerce Committee
http://markey.house.gov/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=3170&Itemid=125

* House Committee Approves ‘Broadband Census of America Act’ (Free Press)
"The Broadband Census of America Act promises to provide us with the ground-level information we need to bring affordable, high-speed broadband to all Americans... This bill represents a giant leap forward in our knowledge and will help spotlight the market failures that threaten to stunt innovation and endanger our global competitiveness. We cannot evaluate problems that we don't measure or study -- much less can we solve them. So it is with great relief that the House has advanced the Broadband Census of America Act. We don't have any time to lose."
http://www.freepress.net/press/release.php?id=294

* House, Senate Committees Pass Broadband Bills
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6495815.html?rssid=193

* U.S. lags in broadband service spread, speed
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Peter Svensson]
The United States is starting to look like a slowpoke on the Internet. Examples abound of countries that have faster and cheaper broadband connections, and more of their population connected to them. What's less clear is how badly the country that gave birth to the Internet is doing, and whether the government needs to step in and do something about it. The Bush administration has tried to foster broadband adoption with a hands-off approach. If that's seen as a failure by the next administration, the policy may change. In 2004, President Bush called for nationwide broadband access by 2007, to be nurtured by an absence of taxation and little regulation. The U.S. is very close to Bush's goal, thanks to the availability of satellite broadband across the lower 48 states.
http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/business/story/234806.html