Editorial #5

Editorial- Published March 20, 2010
Link- http://nytimes.com/2010/03/21/opinion/21sun1.html

A Plan for Broadband

The Federal Communications Commission's strategy to replace telephones with high speed Internet as the nations primary source of communication could not come at a better time. Surprisingly America is behind in building the physical systems in order to support the transformation. Americans have fewer than 27 out of 100 people with broadband service compared to 38 in the Netherlands and 33 in Korea. It would also hard to switch because of the elderly population which have no access to broadband technology. This idea of the FCC supports the competition between service providers and will provide investment in the broadband network. Most of the large TV broadcasters and telecommunication companies are against this transformation. The writer thinks that the reason why Internet services provide such high costs but with low speed is due to the lack of competition. FCC's authority is being reviewed in court and there power is very limited. Congress needs to approve a plan that will give more priority to the Internet.

This plan maybe the step in the right direction. We do seem to be slowing down and need to allow easier access to the Internet. Although i disagree it is the right time. Our government already is struggling to pay off the debt in the recession but adding $8 billion a year may be a little much. We are already trying to decrease our spending in other more important programs. This transformation though doesn't look like it will take place quite yet but hopefully we will find a way to make it happen without increasing the debt.