Consumer Groups Call for Affordable Access to the Internet

Consumer groups today released a new report
on Internet access and pricing in the U.S. The groups called on
President-elect Obama and Congress to return to sound Internet policies
to help provide open and affordable access to the Internet for
communities across the U.S. These policies would help prevent
overcharging, blocking, and discrimination against consumers and small
businesses on the Internet. In communities where competition among
Internet providers has not or will not emerge, the groups said the
federal government should stop price gouging and promote low-cost
broadband Internet access.

For the nation to dig out of the current economic mess, the consumer
groups said the government needs to jump-start Internet commerce by
providing an open, nondiscriminatory platform. The groups noted that
the U.S. would need to push Internet prices down 25 percent and raise
typical Internet speeds dramatically to catch up to countries such as
France and Japan.

The Bush administration's telecommunications policy has failed to
achieve affordable access to a ubiquitous, advanced network, a report
released today by the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) and
Consumers Union (CU) concluded. Broadband in America: A Policy of
Neglect is Not Benign finds that the digital divide has not been closed
and that the U.S. has fallen behind at least a dozen other advanced
industrial nations in the deployment and adoption of broadband
communications.

"The Bush Administration recognized the importance of having a world
class broadband network to "stay on the competitive edge of world
trade" and "the cutting edge of technological change," Dr. Mark Cooper,
CFA's Director of Research said in remarks at a telecommunications and
Media Forum convened in Washington, D.C. by the International Institute
of Communications, "but it just could not break out of its ideological
commitment to a laissez faire approach. As evidence mounted that the
policy was not working, the administration declared "mission
accomplished," rather than admit we were falling behind and make a
mid-course correction."

"Inadequate competition makes it essential to reinstate policies
that can squeeze prices down 25 percent and drive economic growth
through a more open Internet," Gene Kimmelman, CU's Vice President for
Federal and International Affairs said. "Advanced industrial nations in
Europe and Asia recognized the need for aggressive policies to promote
deployment of broadband and keep prices down and they shot ahead of the
U.S. in the past decade."

The report examines data on Internet adoption and broadband
deployment in 2001 and 2007/2008 to measure both the extent of the
digital divide with the U.S. and the status of broadband networks in a
number of nations.

• Key finding on the digital divide include the following:
• In 2001, 54 percent of households did not have the Internet. In late 2007, 49 percent of households did not have broadband.
• About 25 percent of households with incomes below $25,000 per year
  had broadband in 2007; whereas over 80 percent of households with
  incomes above $75,000 did.
• Rural areas lag behind urban areas in broadband adoption by 10% to 20%.

Key findings on the international comparisons on broadband include the following:

• In the U.S. consumers pay substantially higher prices for slower service than in a dozen developed nations.
• In 2001 the OECD rankings on Internet penetration put the U.S. in third place; by 2007 it had fallen to 15th on broadband.
• Half a dozen studies that try to "excuse" the lag in U.S. performance
  by introducing explanatory variables, like income, education,
  population density, urbanism, inequality, etc. only reaffirm the
  finding that the U.S. is underperforming.

"The Bush administration allowed a cozy duopoly of telephone and
cable companies to gain a stranglehold on the advanced
telecommunications network," Cooper noted. "It allowed the cable and
telephone companies to consolidate control over wires and wireless
networks through mergers, foreclose competition from new entrants by
denying access to monopoly network elements, and undermine competition
from Internet service providers by eliminating the obligation to
operate the telecommunications networks in a nondiscriminatory manner.
At the same time, it did nothing to expand the universal service fund
to cover access to advanced telecommunications services."

"Policymakers must promote more affordable, higher-speed Internet
services open to all consumers and small businesses to help jump-start
economic recovery and compete globally," Kimmelman concluded.

Click here for the study (PDF format).