Universal Affordable Broadband for All Americans
How to Modernize Universal Service for the 21st Century and Connect Americans to a New Era of Digital Opportunity
2007, 26 pages. Benton Foundation, 1625 K Street, NW, 11th Floor, Washington, D.C., 20006,
(202) 638-5770, www.benton.org
http://benton.org/sites/benton.org/files/BroadbandForAll.pdf
The Benton Foundation calls for universal broadband service for all citizens and lays out a plan with pragmatic steps for getting there. This report details how the U.S. has fallen to 16th among industrialized nations in broadband deployment, and points to significantly higher consumer costs as part of the problem. The U.S. pays a price in economic competitiveness, and its children will pay, likewise, when they have to compete in the global economy, the report argues, and as the Internet reaches farther into all aspects of our lives, current broadband deployment will serve to exacerbate the persistent digital divide.