Broadband Service Plan Raises Debate

Along with economic recovery and the war in Iraq, the new administration has another issue to tackle: speed. A Jan. 13 article in The Washington Post discussed President-elect Barack Obama's plan to supply the entire country with fast broadband service and create thousands of telecom jobs in the process.

While Obama is "committed to renewing America's leadership in broadband" as Jen Psaki, spokeswoman for the transition team, stated, his plan has raised the issue of exactly how fast broadband service needs to be. Trade groups have begun asking for stimulus aid to build networks in rural areas. The Independent Telephone and Telecommunications Alliance, for example, wants to offer download speeds of 1.5 megabits per second. However, this speed would do little to improve the quality of videos or increase the speed of sending large e-mails.

Although larger networks, including Comcast, already had such improvements in their plans for the year, they are still asking for economic incentives. Various public interest groups have argued against this, saying that networks should not use stimulus aid for already-planned expansion. According to The Washington Post, these groups want a stimulus plan with "clear oversight," helping both smaller trade groups and larger companies to improve broadband service.

Countries such as Japan, South Korea and much of Scandinavia have access to Internet speeds of at least 50 Mbps in most cases. Yet America lags behind, with the FCC defining broadband internet as 768 kilobits per second -- too slow for clear video streaming. Trade groups argue that economic stimulus is necessary to improve broadband service and compete with these "speedier" countries.

Lawmakers are also concerned about providing incentives such as tax breaks, bonds or grants to an industry that still has money available, as opposed to other sectors such as automobile manufacturing and banking.

Amid these debates and concerns, Obama and Biden continue to meet with technology advisers and Congress members in order to determine the most effective economic recovery package for the telecommunications industry.