Re: <nettime> Re: Only 5% of laid fibre is lit in USA

["geert lovink" <geert@xs4all.nl>]

Dear Nettimers,

It could be useful for the debate over broadband, to read the Wall Street
Journal article Michael Gurstein referred to. It's quite a remarkable turn.
Dotcom turns New Deal. The media/IT industry is begging the Federal
government to build a broadband network for everyone. The article only talks
about tax cuts, not about ownership and control over pipes. That would
remain firmly in corporate hand, I suppose. This would be a good opportunity
to express the demand for a public digital domain.

BTW: Broadband layout is not only stagnating in the USA. The same counts for
diverse countries such as Germany, Japan and Australia. DSL is not in the
interest of telecoms which have to invest a lot and get back little,
compared to what they can charge (corporate) customers at the moment.

The message below comes from Declan's Politech list.

Ciao, Geert

http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB993418457489449631.htm

  Tech Industry Seeks Its Salvation June 25, 2001
  In High-Speed Internet Connections

  By SCOTT THURM and GLENN R. SIMPSON
  Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

  High-tech executives think they've found a cure for the industry's
  deepest slump in a decade: High-speed Internet access for
  everyone.

  For years, telephone and cable-TV companies have been promising
  to build high-speed "broadband" networks, which let consumers
  and small businesses tap the Internet 20 or 30 times faster than
  conventional phone lines, yet the rollout has been slow. There's
  little agreement, even within the tech world, on the ground rules
  for building such networks, which would cost tens of billions
  of dollars. But suddenly the topic has rocketed to the top of
  the technology industry's agenda in Washington, where
  traditionally distant tech executives are asking for help.

  The chairmen of International Business Machines Corp., Intel
  Corp., Motorola Inc. and others last week met with key lawmakers
  and National Economic Council officials to support bills that
  would provide tax credits for building high-speed networks in
  rural areas and economically depressed inner cities. Other
  executives propose broader tax breaks, comparing broadband
  Internet links with the government-financed interstate highway
  or rural electric systems.

  Likening the task to the 1960s effort to put a man on the moon,
  John Chambers, chief executive of Cisco Systems Inc., is asking
  that the federal government commit to making broadband connections
  available to every home by 2010. A Cisco lobbyist calls the effort
  "our No. 1 goal" (although a spokesman says Mr. Chambers doesn't
  think the government would be the one to build the network).

  Some tech executives argue that extending broadband networks
  would help revive the national economy, because tech spending
  contributed such a large share of economic growth in recent years.

[...]

**********

From: David Honig <honig@sprynet.com>
Subject: Re: Pleading to Washington for broadband
Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2001 06:46:57 -0700

At 03:00 AM 6/26/01 -0400, George@Orwellian.Org wrote:
>Excerpt:
>
>  Likening the task to the 1960s effort to put a man on the moon,
>  John Chambers, chief executive of Cisco Systems Inc., is asking
>  that the federal government commit to making broadband connections
>  available to every home by 2010.
>

And in related news, Janet Panopticon, CEO of a webcam manufacturer,
suggested that the federal government commit to providing free
internet enabled digital cameras sufficient for each room of
a residence...

**********

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