Stuart Corner
Friday, 16 January 2009 11:33
Opinion and Analysis
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President elect Barak Obama has produced a draft of a $US825-billion economic stimulus bill that is said to list $US6 billion for expanding broadband "so businesses in rural and other underserved areas can link up to the global economy." It suggests that: "For every dollar invested in broadband the economy sees a ten-fold return on that investment."
US news site, Telephony Online quotes UBS analysts suggesting that: "President-Elect Barack Obama is likely to direct up to $40 billion in grants and loans toward improving broadband availability and speeds as part of broader economic stimulus efforts."
They expect Obama's economic stimulus plan to include two main provisions for broadband: $US5 billion to $US10 billion in grants to expand broadband to unserved areas (at a minimum speed of 768kbps) and $US30 billion in interest-free loans for boosting broadband speeds – to 50Mbps downstream and 2Mbps upstream for wireline networks and 10Mbps downstream, 2Mbps upstream for wireless networks.
These reports suggest that the current financial crisis might just have provided the stimulus some believe was needed to create a national focus on broadband in the US
In late October on the eve of Barak Obama's historic victory of the US presidential race and with the global financial crisis yet to reach it full magnitude, research firm Strategy Analytics issued a report bemoaning the inadequacy of US broadband services and calling for a 'sputnik moment' to drive network rollout, uptake and broadband applications.
Ben Piper, director of the Strategy Analytics Multiplay Market Dynamics service explained: "The Soviet Union's successful launch of the Sputnik 1 satellite in 1957 was a wake up call for America. What ensued was a national rallying cry, unprecedented public funding and the creation of NASA...We see the US facing another 'Sputnik moment' today - this time in broadband."
According to Strategy Analytics, the US has not come close to meeting the goal - enunciated by president George Bush in 2004 - of "universal and affordable access by 2007" In fact, it said, "in the so-called 'metrics that matter' including penetration, availability, speed and affordability, the US has been overtaken by other developed nations."
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