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News Clips
Wireline
March 4, 2008
The U.S. broadband problem is adoption, not deployment of facilities, said U.S. Internet Industry Association
President David McClure Tuesday as his group issued a report on rural broadband. The study mainly used secondary
data, such as listings from state development bodies and telecom groups. Deployment is moving at a "pretty
remarkable pace" considering the nation's size and geography, McClure said. Broadband has seen faster deployment
than any major technology in "human history," he said. But there has always been "significant lag" between
deployment and adoption, McClure said. Educational programs promoting broadband adoption could "give us as
much or better return on investment" than those on deployment, he said. "Regulation of the Internet of almost any
kind isn't going to stimulate adoption," he said. Regulation won't address issues slowing adoption including income,
education, and "the viability of the Internet in the lives of individual consumers," he said. Penetration is the
"real conundrum," agreed David Freet, USIIA board member and Pennsylvania Telephone Association president.
Pennsylvania's greatest broadband challenge has been explaining why consumers should buy it, he said. -- AB
Congress Daily
March 4, 2008
Technology. Nearly all Americans have access to at least one form of broadband Internet connection, although that does not mean everyone takes advantage of that access, said David McClure, president and CEO of the U.S. Internet Industry Association. There are "substantial differences between the rates of rural deployment of broadband and the adoption rates," he said. McClure said he believes programs that promote the use of broadband will be more successful in increasing the number of customers than forcing companies to expand its availability. He said the issue is most appropriately addressed at the state and local levels, calling a "one-size-fits-all solution" unnecessary. McClure cited programs such as Seniors Connect in Indiana, which has encouraged the elderly to familiarize themselves with the Internet. But McClure also said that although broadband accessibility has been increased rapidly within the last two years, there remains "a lot of investment to make in the infrastructure."
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