Broadband Connections in Europe Growing, U.S. Still Dwelling on Policy Issues
While the number of broadband Internet connections in the EU is increasing, the U.S. is still pondering over how to get broadband to rural areas. At the same time, the high speed Internet gap between the rich and the poor is widening, according to a UN official.
In the U.S., the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) began to lay the groundwork for a bigger federal role in the broadband business, outlining the hurdles the U.S. needs to overcome to improve the availability of broadband Internet access.
The Commission said the government should address several issues, including the high cost of laying new broadband lines in rural areas, a lack of airwaves for wireless Internet access and ill-informed consumers.
“This focus on broadband is a reflection of a recognition that the U.S. is lagging behind,” FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said Wednesday at the agency’s monthly meeting.
The FCC is drafting a National Broadband Plan, which will lay out ways the government can improve broadband service in the U.S. Although the plan is due to come out in February, it already met opposition from the telecoms and cable industry, fearing they might need to overhaul their business strategies and a negative impact on their profitability.
In Europe, the take up of broadband Internet continues to grow, with more than 11 million new fixed connections in a year – over 10 per cent.
According to a report published by the European Commission, 24 per cent of the EU population had a broadband access line subscription in July 2009, up from more than 21 per cent a year earlier. Broadband is also getting faster: 80 per cent of broadband lines have download speeds of 2Mbps or more (5 per cent up from last year).
The report also indicates that mobile broadband is gaining momentum in Europe, with a 54 per cent increase since January 2009 and now at a penetration rate of 4.2 per 100 citizens.
While global broadband figures are encouraging and the “digital divide” between rich and poor countries may be shrinking overall, the gap between the developed and developing worlds in the availability of broadband is widening, said a top United Nations official at the World Electronic Media Forum in Mexico City: “Australia, for example, a country with 21 million people has more broadband subscribers than the whole of Africa – a continent with nearly 900 million inhabitants”.
Source: Wall Street Journal, EC, UN
