Pressure grows for 100Mbps broadband, at least!

Stuart Corner
Monday, 29 September 2008 12:33

Opinion and Analysis

The Australian Government has no clear plans for broadband beyond the 12Mbps minimum specified in its National Broadband Network RFP but in New Zealand and the US lobby groups are already pushing for at least 100Mbps by 2015.

These developments come in the same week that: the Singapore Government announced the winner of one of two broadband RFPs that, between them are expected to deliver at least 100Mbps to almost the whole of Singapore by 2013; the Finnish Government set a goal of at least 100Mbps for broadband services throughout the country.

In the US there are resolutions before Congress introduced by Democrat senator John D Rockefeller IV (D-WV) and Democrat representative Anna Eshoo calling for the creation of a universal 100Mbps service by 2015 and an interim 10Mbps network capability by 2010, as proposed in the Communications Workers of America (CWA's) "Speed Matters" initiative.

This, the CWA's second annual survey of actual Internet speeds of users throughout the US found that "the United States has not made significant improvements in deploying high-speed broadband networks in the past year. Our nation continues to lag behind other industrial nations and currently is ranked 15th in the percentage of residents who have broadband access."

The US Fiber-to-the-Home Council, CWA and other organisations have now jointly written a letter to the Senate Commerce Committee, the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet calling for early action on this resolution and for the development of a national strategy to achieve these goals through specific legislation and policies to be adopted by the end of 2009.
 
"By establishing these ambitious national goals, Congress can communicate to the nation a robust vision of telecommunications infrastructure which will encourage a vibrant economy and enhance the social welfare of all Americans," the letter says.

Joe Savage, president of the FTTH Council, claimed that meeting these goals would be critical to the nation's global competitiveness. "Next-generation broadband at 100Mbps is already widely available in countries like Japan and Korea, and other industrialised nations are moving forward with policies and national strategies to reach or exceed this goal in the near term," he said.
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