Five flawed assumptions of broadband infrastructure policy

[Commentary] Kudos to the House Commerce Committee’s for its recent hearing on Broadband: Deploying America’s 21st Century Infrastructure. The session demonstrated different views on how and to what degree the government should be involved in broadband deployment, but it also exposed policymakers’ assumptions on broadband and showed what information is missing from the discussion:
Flawed Assumption 1: Government subsidies for broadband will create economic growth.
Flawed Assumption 2: Private providers are failing in their investments.
Flawed Assumption 3: Government should adopt a broadband speed target.
False Assumption 4: The quality of mobile coverage is a function of the network.
False Assumption 5: There is no business case for investment.

[Roslyn Layton is on the FCC transition team and is a PhD Fellow at the Center for Communication, Media, and Information Technologies (CMI) at Aalborg University in Copenhagen, Denmark.]