2008 Policy Forum
Framing Broadband Policy for the Next Administration
FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, former Ft. Wayne Mayor Graham Richard and a roundtable of APT board members representing a broad range of public interest groups, reached consensus on the need for a comprehensive national broadband policy at APT's annual policy forum on February 15th.
Centered on the theme, "Framing Broadband Policy for the Next Administration," APT President, Kenneth Peres, Ph.D., opened the forum by noting that our nation stands on the cusp of a new wave of innovation that is delivering significant, life-enhancing advances from e-health care to e-education to the utilization of broadband to better our environment, as well as creating jobs and economic growth.
"Broadband has become a transformative infrastructure. Yet, we lack a national policy to stimulate broadband investment and demand. This contradicts our historical experience in which government took an active role with the private sector to stimulate investment and demand. For example, in the 18th century it was canals. In the 19th century, it was railroads. In the 20th century it was electricity, highways and telephone," said Peres.
FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein underscored the theme of the day by stressing the importance of leadership at the national level for a broadband deployment strategy. "We need to have an affordable system of high-bandwidth broadband that connects the country. Nothing has contributed more to productivity gains than broadband...it is one of a parcel of solutions to education, healthcare and economic issues," said Commissioner Adelstein.
A successful model at the local level was described by former Ft. Wayne, Indiana mayor Graham Richard. In describing the extraordinary initiative that he led to foster broadband access and demand, Richard discussed the lessons learned from his city's success. He stressed the importance of public-private partnerships and reported that broadband is now reaching over 128 thousand homes and businesses in Ft. Wayne. It has also created over 900 jobs in the area. You can read more about this model in APT's recently released report, Broadband Initiatives: Enhancing Lives & Transforming Communities.
A roundtable discussion followed, during which the focus turned to policy recommendations that the new Administration could employ to increase broadband access. Panelists described how states are moving ahead with their own policies and called for the federal government to do the same.
The session was moderated by the director of APT's Broadband Changed My Life!TM campaign, Joy Howell. Roundtable panelists included Robert Atkinson, Ph.D., President of the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation; Karen Buller, President of the National Indian Telecommunications Institute; Kenneth R. Peres, Ph.D., Research Economist at Communications Workers of America; Karen Peltz Strauss, Co-Chair of the Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology; and Wendy Lazarus, Co-President of The Children's Partnership and member of the California Broadband Task Force.
There was general agreement that data is needed on access and speed. Among other recommendations emerging from the panel discussion were: assessment through mapping; public-private partnerships; tax policies that encourage deployment; low interest loans; aggregation of demand; expansion of 255-type accessibility protections to Internet-enabled communications services; and independent Universal Service study areas for tribal lands.
Speaker Presentations
Press Coverage
