ITIF Calls on Congress to Focus Telecom Policy on Broadband Innovation

ITIF applauds the US House Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Communications and Technology for taking up this extremely important topic.

Broadband telecommunications will continue to play a central role in the continued development of the digital economy. This makes it essential that we support policies that continue to promote telecom innovation and enhance adoption of broadband technologies.

As ITIF has noted in its report The Whole Picture: Where America's Broadband Networks Really Stand, in contrast to some claims, the United States is in fact among the world leaders in multiple measures of broadband performance and is making significant progress in improving quality and use as a whole.

The US continues to lag in broadband adoption, largely because we lag in digital literacy and computer ownership rates. We also went from seventh to tenth in percentage of connections above 10 Mbps in the latest Akami rankings. These figures highlight the need for increased support for policies to encourage more people to buy computers and become digitally literate, which would make it easier to support increased broadband investment. In addition, government should focus on increasing access to high speed networks, especially in high-cost areas.