Telcos Defend Broadband Speeds, Reach

The public policy bigwigs from major broadband providers including Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and Comcast gathered in a posh meeting room at the Venetian Hotel here in Las Vegas to ponder the question "How much bandwidth is enough?" Outside the room, this year's CES show is buzzing with devices that are connected, so a panel on broadband availability and speeds seemed especially relevant.

The big broadband providers have been a bit on the defensive since a November Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report put the U.S. 15th among developed countries in broadband availability. As such, every person on the panel today did what he could to discount the OECD report.

"The idea that the U.S. has lost its leadership position in global broadband is greatly exaggerated," said Bruce Mahlman of the Internet Innovation Alliance. "Finland is not about to eat our lunch economically."

True, Finland has better broadband than the U.S., but

some bigger and more competitive countries also out rank us in broadband: Mahlman's statement was barely out of his mouth when a voice from the audience yelled out "What about France? What about Germany and the UK?"

Jim Ciccione, AT&T head lobbyist (and former George H.W. Bush chief of staff), said with the Internet growing so fast, companies like his can't possibly keep up with demand for broadband.

Ciccione says AT&T poured $18 billion into souping up its network over the past year or so, but complains that the regulatory environment in the U.S. is making it hard to increase broadband speed and availability, and still make a profit. Meanwhile, the AT&T broadband available on my street maxes out at less than 1.5 Mbps. (In Japan, you can buy a 100 Mbps connection for about 10 bucks a month.)

One of the panelists was Verizon VP of Public Policy Tom Tauke (shown below).

Tauke, I was told, wanted a word with me about an article I'd written a few weeks back in which I said Verizon and AT&T were among the most "anti-tech" organizations in the country.

By this I meant that the big U.S. telephone companies' failure to offer faster broadband is hindering the emergence of a whole new wave of innovative, connected devices, and applications--things like telemedicine apps, advanced teleconferencing and 3D interactive TV.

In a more immediate way, I wrote, our broadband providers are failing to keep us apace with EU and Asian nations, which could have real economic consequences. A Broadband Gap!

Needless to say, Tauke and the other Verizon people I talked to here weren't thrilled about being called anti-tech. After the session, Tauke took issue with the OECD data I cited, saying that U.S. broadband growth can't be measured the same way it is in other smaller, more densely populated countries like Korea and Japan. Also, Tauke points out, the OECD study didn't count Americans whose broadband connections are wireless, or through their work connection. Tauke said during his panel remarks here that U.S. providers have made "fantastic" progress in providing more and better broadband.

Tauke, however, didn't discount the OECD report altogether. "I'm not saying there aren't issues; there are some very serious issues, and we are continuing to expand our [broadband] coverage." In truth, of the big broadband providers in the U.S., Verizon has probably been the most aggressive at pushing up speeds?the company's FiOS service has reached download speeds of 50 Mbps in some parts of New York, and 20 Mbps in various other markets in the East. That sure beats the maximum speed of 1.5 Mbps I can buy in my neighborhood from AT&T.

I only wish Verizon and AT&T (along with the cable companies) were competing in the same markets for broadband customers. Then we might reach that 100 Mbps threshold in a matter of years, not decades.

For more coverage of this giant technology show, go to PCW's CES Info Center.

Comments

100Mbps is still slow

Anything that is still in the planning stages should be pegged at 1Gbps or better. Japan just announced 10Gbps by 2010 as an objective. Some people in this country still think California's 1Gbps by 2010 or Bust Broadband Initiative is too radical.

Wake up people, the future is Gigabit. (Near Future). I cannot believe how many supposed "experts" cannot fathom that.

Putting DSL on Copper is like putting a Vinyl Top on a stagecoach in the era of the Space Shuttle and telling you "it's real fast now".

There are intelligent business campuses running at 40Gbps today. That's what you need to be globally competitive.

This is starting to get like Columbus telling the Academy of Science that the earth is round. So much for experts. I have been writing about this for years.

CARLINI

January 08, 2008

12:28 PM PT

Post a comment Post a comment

0 / 1000 max characters