December 2010

Google and other providers of Web content aren't contributing enough to the costs of telecommunications networks and may be forced to pay, the French minister responsible for the Internet said.

The French government plans to convene a working group including Internet companies with “the objective that services that occupy the largest part of our networks contribute to the deployment and maintenance of those networks,” Industry Minister Eric Besson. The minister’s comments back up complaints from some of Europe’s largest telecom operators, who are investing in networks to cope with the growth of services like Google’s YouTube. France Telecom Chief Executive Officer Stephane Richard, Telefonica SA CEO Cesar Alierta and Telecom Italia SpA CEO Franco Bernabe have said that Internet companies are getting an unfair deal from their networks.

[Commentary] The fourth and final column in a debate about the role of competition, broadband speeds and the goals of the National Broadband Plan between Blair Levin, the plan’s author and Craig Settles, a broadband consultant.

The National Broadband Plan team was trying to solve many problems (as directed by Congress) but the first problem, as explicitly stated by Congress, was ensuring “that all people of the United States have access to broadband capability.” To do that, one has to define what level of broadband capability government should be willing to subsidize, how much it will cost and how the government will pay for it. So it’s difficult for me to take seriously any criticism of the plan that doesn't provide concrete answers to those questions. Settles doesn't provide those answers, though in his latest discourse, he appears to be more willing to accept the 4 Mbps speed target for the subsidy for residential, as long as the plan allows for that goal to be reconsidered, which it does. If I'm reading Settles right, then perhaps on that issue, we don't disagree, though if so, it undercuts his earlier attacks on the plan. If I'm reading him wrong, then once he answers those three questions we can have a far more productive dialogue.

Labels are important in policy debates. It may be time for yet another label to enter the lists: “the looming cable monopoly.” It is gaining strength, and it is not terribly interested in the future of the Internet. This is the central crisis of our communications era.

State legislators can take the four following revenue-neutral and widely supported steps to lead in broadband policy.

1. Create a Broadband Task Force: As each state has its own needs - a unique geography, a unique demography, and a unique economy - its policy makers must assess on their own how to best invest in broadband to achieve full access. To accomplish this, more than 22 states have established broadband councils or task forces, and out of these, 19 were created by the state legislative branch. For instance, Oregon established the Oregon Broadband Advisory Council and the Oregon Broadband Advisory Council Fund to encourage and support the deployment of broadband telecommunications services and reduce barriers to broadband adoption, especially within un-served and under-served populations.
2. Map High-Speed Internet Infrastructure: Mapping high-speed Internet availability and adoption, and making that information accessible to the public, is an important tool for legislators and local planning groups who seek to evaluate the current status of their states’ high- speed Internet infrastructure and utilization. In Washington state, progressive legislators enacted a bill to collect and map data on broadband access and adoption. The bill directs the state’s Department of Information Services to develop a map that demonstrates where broadband services are and are not currently available, and to work with other agencies to identify the communities most in need of new or additional broadband services.
3. Create and expand programs to bridge the digital divide: The federal government and states already have programs that subsidize telephone services for low-income and rural residents. With the success of this program, called the Universal Service Fund, we can direct a portion of those existing monies to high-speed Internet. In its 2010 Telecommunications Plan, the Vermont Department of Public Service recommends the inclusion of broadband in the state’s Universal Service Fund so that it can become affordable to low-income and rural households.
4. Launch Digital Literacy Programs: Beyond investing in broadband infrastructure and finding ways to make broadband services more affordable, state legislators should promote investments in education and community media programs to overcome the digital divide. Washington state legislators recently established a program to provide resources to community technology centers that provide hands-on technology access and training to residents. And New Mexico enacted a bill allowing media literacy courses in secondary public schools - incorporating media literacy as a more central part of a school curriculum to give New Mexico children better economic opportunities in a global market.

If enacted, policies like these will encourage true access to, as well as adoption and utilization of broadband - sparking job growth and securing infrastructure needed to grow the American economy. Legislative oversight over broadband does not undermine competition, it encourages it by creating mechanisms that assess the need for broadband access and takes the steps to stimulate broadband adoption by making it affordable and usable. Modernizing communications policy does not mean deregulating it, but ensuring that no one is left in the digital dark. In short, state government must propel action that will result in more investment and broadband for all.