No Country for Slow Broadband

By Richard Bennett – Over the last three years America’s broadband systems have doubled in speed, while Europe’s have remained stagnant.

The major causes for low subscribership, as extensive survey research shows, are low interest in the Internet and minimal digital literacy. And too many American households lack the money or interest to buy a computer. As a result, more Americans subscribe to cable TV and cellphones than to Internet service. Our broadband subscription rate is 70 percent, but could easily surpass 90 percent if computer ownership and digital literacy were widespread. more> http://tinyurl.com/l8ve3vk

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Industry redesign necessary for the growth of Broadband networks

By George Mattathil – There are two fundamental network technologies:

• Circuit switching
• Packet switching

Each has its own unique advantages and limitations. Neither of them can replace the other without performance and/or service impairments.

Better (in terms of performance and cost) systems can be developed by using either or both, depending on requirements — rather than preselecting packet technology.

Packet-centric approach creates inertia with premature obsolescence of circuit infrastructure and products.

Transfer Network^tm is redesign of the access network — taking into account functionality, performance, cost, compatibility with existing infrastructure, minimizing interoperability and upgrade problems. more> StrategyGroup.net/redesign/

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Is Broadband Internet Access a Public Utility?

BOOK REVIEW

In Captive Audience: The Telecom Industry and Monopoly in the New Guilded Age, Author: Susan Crawford.

By Sam Gustin – Should broadband Internet service be treated as a basic utility in the United States, like electricity, water, and traditional telephone service? That’s the question at the heart of an important and provocative new book by Susan Crawford, a tech policy expert and professor at Cardozo Law School. In Captive Audience: The Telecom Industry and Monopoly in the New Guilded Age, released Tuesday by Yale University Press, Crawford argues that the Internet has replaced traditional phone service as the most essential communications utility in the country, and is now as important as electricity was 100 years ago. more> http://tinyurl.com/axrj95d

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Using Joe And Jane’s Money, The OECD Exploits Joe And Jane

By Mario H. Lopez – The OECD’s deceptive analysis naturally leads to spurious conclusions for aggressive regulation targeting telecommunication providers, but which in the end would hurt consumers more.

Increasing broadband adoption is not only a question of providing access, but making it reliable and cost effective. This is particularly important in rural and developing areas, where mobile broadband has the most potential to benefit communities economically and socially. Capping pricing structures, hindering profit and business expansion will limit the capacity for operators to expand coverage and improve services, making broadband access cost-prohibitive for millions of people. more> http://tinyurl.com/b4jtlho

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High Speed Broadband Doesn’t Matter A Darn

By Tim Worstall – As should be obvious, it’s not the speed of the internet that produces the economic growth. It’s the people using the internet that does. And if only 6.6% of the traffic is using the speeds we already have then there really isn’t much of a case for throwing billions at making it all faster. So that, presumably, only 6.6% of the traffic will use that higher speed.

The real reason the high speed broadband really doesn’t matter a darn is that very few people indeed are using anything like the current capability. So why increase the speeds above what people are already not using? more> http://tinyurl.com/a5dmpdl

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