The Big Government advocates who try to paint the U.S. as falling behind in broadband so they can justify an activist National Broadband Policy -- have a huge and embarassing hole in their argument -- the U.S. lead in wireless/mobile broadband, including U.S. leadership in transitioning prime analog TV spectrum to mainstream digital broadband use.
- The World Radio Conference of the UN, which is wrapping up this week in Berlin, indirectly showcases this U.S. lead in mobile broadband.
- Per the International Herald Tribune, the U.S. is way ahead of the rest of the world in transitioning analog broadcasters to digital and reallocating this best-available spectrum for mobile-broadband use --
- IHT: "The world is in varying stages in going digital, with U.S. broadcasters switching by 2009, Asian broadcasters by 2015, and most European countries somewhere in between."
- So how does being 2-6 years ahead of our international competitors in bringing the best available spectrum for mobile broadband to consumers -- constitute "falling behind" or "a failure of no national broadband policy?"
This U.S. world leadership in transitioning prime spectrum to optimal consumer use is powerful evidence of the superiority of our broadband policy approach, which embraces market forces more than just about any other major country in the world.
- Why this is so important is that U.S. policy relies on market forces, which puts consumers in charge of demand, in stark contrast to the Big Government, command and control approach where some bureaucrat guesses what consumers will want or need years in advance.
- (This is the pathetic approach that let cell phone technology, which was invented in 1960, languish on bureaucrats desks until the 1980's before it was approved for commercialization.)
When critics belittle the speeds of wireless broadband as not as fast as wire line broadband, they are totally missing the point of consumer demand!
- Consumers around the world are telling us they want to be mobile.
- There are twice as many phones in world use as computers with wire line Internet access -- 2 billion plus to one billion people.
- This is because people are mobile and want to communicate where they are -- not just where the wire line broadband connection may be.
- People also use phones/handsets because they are dramatically cheaper than PCs.
The OECD, whose self-serving statistics define broadband almost exclusively as wire line and not wireless, chauvinistically discriminate in favor of Government regulated wireline infrastructure over more competitive wireless services.
Not only is the U.S. leading the world in getting prime analog TV spectrum into consumer mobile broadband use, the US also leads the world in the lowest wireless prices in the world (save for Hong Kong) and by far the most usage of wireless minutes in the world, about four times more than Europe -- per the American Consumer Institute study.
The "America-is-a-broadband-failure" crowd have the tough task of telling consumers they don't want mobile broadband -- good luck.
- These Big Government advocates are on the wrong side of the facts and the wrong side of what consumers want...
- It certainly isn't the first time this "gang that couldn't shoot straight" mangled their facts and ill-served consumers.
