On Tuesday, December 2nd, a National Broadband Strategy Call to Action was submitted by an unlikely coalition of
“prominent communications providers, high technology companies, manufacturers, consumers, labor unions, public interest groups, educators, state and local governments, utilities, content creators, foundations, and other stakeholders in America’s broadband future” (quoted from the New America site)
to President-elect Barack Obama and the 111th Congress.
The call to action implores the President-elect and Congress to make the development of a National Broadband Strategy a top priority for the country in 2009. It describes ‘advanced communications capabilities’ as ‘essential for the 21st century’ and credits the broadband-enabled Internet with enhancing everything from
“innovation, economic growth, job creation, educational opportunity and global competitiveness”
to
“public safety, homeland security, health care, energy efficiency, environmental sustainability and the worldwide distribution of millions of products, processes and services”.
The call to action also references the web’s role in increasing civic engagement and economic revitalization in urban, rural, and other under-served areas.
Finally, the proposal cites a broadband strategy as a national infrastructure project akin to the construction of roads and canals in the 19th century and highways, electricity and phone services, and space travel in the 20th.
The National Broadband Stratgey call to action has all the makings of an economic stimulus package that would create jobs, increase opportunities, and improve the standard of living of citizens now and for decades to come.
I wonder how it will be considered alongside out-going FCC Chairman Kevin Martin’s plan to deliver ‘free, pornography-free wireless Internet service to all Americans’ and the American Library Association’s appeal for a $100 million library stimulus package.
