WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. government wants to set minimum home Internet speeds to make the United States the world’s largest market of high-speed Internet users, the Federal Communications Commission’s chairman said on Tuesday.
The FCC’s “100 Squared Initiative” would bring Internet data transmission speeds of 100 megabits per second to 100 million homes by 2020, a significantly higher speed than what many homes get now.
The FCC plans to deliver the proposal to Congress next month in a report.
The national broadband plan would set “ambitious but achievable goals,” FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski told an audience at the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners conference.
“Despite significant private investment and some strong strides over the last decade, America’s broadband ecosystem is not nearly as robust as it needs to be,” he said. “Broadband creates jobs and economic growth on the networks, in companies that start or expand on the Internet.”
Genachowski offered few details on the plan and how the FCC would get providers to reach the minimum speeds.
One, Qwest Communications International Inc, said the goal was unrealistic.
“A 100 meg is just a dream,” Qwest Chief Executive Edward Mueller told Reuters. “First, we don’t think the customer wants that. Secondly, if (Google has) invented some technology, we’d love to partner with them.”
The United States ranked 19th in broadband speed, lagging being Japan, Korea and France, according to a 2008 study by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Data shows that about 64 percent of U.S. households used a high-speed Internet service in 2009, the Commerce Department said on Tuesday. That is a 25 percent increase from 51 percent two years earlier.
Research in Motion Ltd, which makes the BlackBerry mobile device, said on Tuesday that smartphone manufacturers must start developing less bandwidth-guzzling products or risk choking already congested airwaves. [nN15188493]
The FCC’s plan comes a week after Google Inc said it would build a super-fast Internet network for up to half a million people, a project that could introduce fresh competition with dominant telecoms companies such as AT&T Inc and Verizon.
Google wants to demonstrate that a carrier could easily manage complex applications that use a lot of bandwidth without sacrificing performance.
Genachowski lauded Google, the world’s top Internet search company, and called on other companies to step up their broadband plans.
“We should stretch beyond 100 megabits,” Genachowski said. “The U.S. should lead the world in ultra high-speed testbeds as fast or faster than anywhere in the world.”
The FCC also wants to use the universal service fund, a U.S. subsidy program for low-income families to gain access to phone service, to get more people high-speed Internet access.
(Additional reporting by Sinead Carew in New York, editing by Dave Zimmerman and Robert MacMillan)
Source: www.reuters.com
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
Tags: BlackBerry mobile device, high-speed internet, Regulatory Utility Commissioners, significant private investment