By Winter Casey
(Friday, June 15) Experts debating the U.S. high-speed Internet climate and how it compares to penetration rates in other parts of the world offered different views on the current state of affairs during a policy forum.
During the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation event, Rob Atkinson referenced statistics that all point to the United States falling behind in broadband penetration. But Scott Wallsten, a senior fellow and director of communications policy studies at the Progress and Freedom Foundation, focused on perceived inaccuracies in the commonly cited Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development statistics.
Moreover, while Wallsten said there is little evidence of broad market failure in the United States and unprecedented investment in broadband infrastructure, Atkinson countered that heavy investment does not necessarily equal market success.
An OECD report this year listed the United States as 15th worldwide in broadband penetration. While some have called the statistics misleading, others have said they should serve as a wake-up call to the United States.
Wallsten said the OECD data is unreliable and the group's collection of data is inconsistent, no sources are provided for the data, and there is no explanation of the methodology used to determine the rankings. Further, the OECD data ignores colleges and universities or many or most business connections, he said. In the United States, Wallsten would like to see the FCC's practices for collecting broadband data radically overhauled.
But Atkinson, the president of ITIF, said he did not hear anyone complaining about the OECD data before the year 2000 when it portrayed the United States in a good light. There could be some flaws in the data, he acknowledged, but he doesn't think they really have changed over time and the problem is the downward trend for the United States.
Wallsten also said many assumptions are used in broadband discussions, such as that broadband penetration is low and speeds are slow. Some people don't care about having broadband, he said.
On the other hand, Atkinson said the United States is clearly falling behind and needs a national, proactive strategy. The presence of broadband leads to faster economic growth in rural areas, he said, and the country needs policies on both the demand and supply side to increase penetration.
The government also should work to remove barriers such as making the moratorium on taxing Internet access permanent, and it should be more proactive in establishing programs like tax incentives to spur broadband investment.
Atkinson concluded in a paper released at the event that "while it's true that proactive policies and incentives might "distort" the market, it is also true that the innovation and productivity spurred by more and faster broadband is likely to vastly exceed any minor losses from "misallocation" of economic resources."
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