Bringing High-Speed Internet to All

[Commentary] Susan Crawford’s Dec. 4 Sunday Review essay, “The New Digital Divide,” contributes to the perception that America’s broadband marketplace is second tier. That is simply not so. About 95 percent of the United States population has access to broadband, with the vast majority having multiple competitors to choose from. The 2011 World Economic Forum global survey ranks the United States first in Internet competition. Through 2010 the number of American subscribers to fiber-based services was more than double that of Europe. Broadband prices per megabyte have decreased 89 percent — to about 5 cents per megabyte — in the past three years, while at the same time broadband speeds have increased more than 20-fold. The United States also leads the world in wireless broadband, with Americans accounting for 21 percent of all 3G subscribers. In this highly competitive, innovative market, prices for such services are declining. America has a very good broadband story; someone just has to be willing to tell it.

[Seidenberg is the Chairman of Verizon]