GROUP CALLS FOR UNIVERSAL BROADBAND ACCESS, CITES HURDLES IN WAY
Alliance for Public Technology (APT) cited 3 major policy hurdles that it believed were hindering universal deployment of broadband, in report Fri. APT, which said it represented rural and remote, physically challenged and other underserved communities, said regulatory disparity, lack of investment incentives and govt.-constructed barriers were slowing pace. APT leaders acknowledged their constituencies were likely to be last to get broadband and perhaps never would see deployment of cable or other technologies because of high cost to serve often-sparse populations. Nevertheless, report, Advanced Services, Enhanced Lives, said govt. could do more to encourage private industry to reach everyone with broadband technologies.
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Group criticized Bush Administration for “zeroing out” funding for 2 programs in its proposed budget funding: Community Technology Centers (CTC), which provide technical training in low-income areas to at-risk youths and others, and Technology Opportunities Program (TOP), Clinton Administration initiative designed to fund creation of so- called on-ramps to information superhighway. Several speakers at half-day APT conference said restoring funding to those programs would go long way in demonstrating President Bush’s commitment to widespread broadband deployment. APT also called on Administration to set goals and timelines for deployment.
Report said regulatory disparities that treated like services in different ways were one of major hurdles to building out. “Now, with the convergence of technology, independent industries compete with each other for the same ground. But they are competing under different regulatory structures,” report said, alluding to conflict between cable and ILECS, which complain that they must open their facilities to competitors, unlike cable. Report also called for financial incentives to build broadband in rural and remote areas because companies otherwise would have little to gain from deploying expensive resources with so few customers to serve. Among other barriers cited were what it termed “artificial” LATA boundaries, unbundling requirements and below-cost pricing.
Report included several case studies highlighting potential of broadband. Among those was one involving Telemedicine Center at Medical College of Ga., which has started fledgling home health care program designed to assist elderly patients who don’t want to move to assisted living facility and other patients who require regular monitoring. Another highlighted Sign Language Assoc. (SLA), company in Silver Spring, Md., that supplies sign language interpreters to govt. agencies and businesses in Greater Washington area. Company believes that it can save clients, as well as itself, time and money by deploying interpreters to various locations through videoconferencing.
Public safety also was highlighted by study. It cited program of fire department of Winston-Salem that equipped its fire trucks with fully wired laptops that could display maps, building layouts, hydrant locations and status of other emergency vehicles through direct link with E911 Computer- Aided Dispatch (CAD) system. Project, called INFO, is connected through citywide ISDN network.
NTIA Dir. Nancy Victory, keynote speaker, cited FCC study showing 9.6 million Americans had broadband and concluding that it was being deployed in “a reasonable and timely” manner (CD Feb 8 p1). Govt. should remove any barriers to deployment and step aside to let private industry actually roll it out, Victory said. She, like FCC Chmn. Powell, in past has emphasized facilities-based competition, saying that terrorist attacks Sept. 11 showed need for redundant infrastructure.