Transcript Broadband Policy & Deployment Roy Lathrop NARUC Summer Meeting 2007 NCTA New York, New York.

Broadband
Policy & Deployment
Roy Lathrop
NARUC Summer Meeting 2007
NCTA
New York, New York
Cable Broadband
• Largest US provider: $110b investment in
past 10 yrs; ~30m household sub
• Available: 94% of US households
• 45% household penetration 3/07
– but 26% hh w/o computer, 21% dial-up
alternative access: hotspots, work, college
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Available,
Not interested
Hotspots, corporate and government users
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Broadband Deployment
• Ubiquitous Deployment
– Nonpartisan issue: economic growth,
health & education, news & entertainment
• Is the US “falling behind?”
– Internat’l rankings understate progress
– Total subs, growth, competition; density differences, etc.
– factors beyond policy control: age, income, household size
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State Broadband Initiatives
(courtesy NCSL)
Category
Assessment
States
CA, KY, MI, OH, OR, VA, WY
Demand Aggregation/ AZ, MA, MI, MN, NH, PA, VA
Stimulation
Pub-Pvt Partnership
MN, RI, VT, WY
Rural Access
AK, AZ, GA, KY, NC, OH, VA
Govt Ownership
CT, MO, NJ, PA, NC, SC, VT
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Gov’t BB Initiatives
• Federal
– Connected Nation Act
– Broadband Data Improvement
– RUS grant program
• State / Muni – define extent of muni service
– State bills ’07: CT, MO, NJ, NC, PA, SC, VT
– “barrier to entry” or fiscal responsibility?
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Gov’t BB Initiatives
Target unserved areas
– tax credits and incentives for build out
– any USF money for broadband
– public-private partnerships
– retain moratorium on internet access taxes
– reform RUS loan program
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Cable Broadband Speed
• 1996
• 2007
1 – 1.5 Mbps
5 - 6 Mbps standard
15 - 30 Mbps tiers from many
100+ Mbps with “wideband”
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Broadband Speed:
is there ever enough?
• YouTube
– consumes more bandwidth than all of 2000
• Speed increasing, migrating downstream
– the death of dial-up?
– mobility
• What’s the next YouTube?
– Multitasking HDTV + HD videophone + gaming
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BB Initiatives:
Ongoing Challenges
Eyesores or
salvation?
free vs. $10–20 / mo
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Summary
• Broadband initiatives
–Target unserved areas
–Rely on market forces
• Broadband availability
–Rankings understate progress
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