IP Democracy: Top Telecom Ambassador: No Broadband Lag in U.S.

(Washington, DC) The State Department's top official in charge of International Communications and Information Policy, Ambassador David Gross, said yesterday that despite poor rankings in OECD broadband usage data, the U.S. is still ahead of the curve in high-speed Internet infrastructure. Speaking at the Internet Video Policy Symposium, Ambassador Gross said that the Internet and broadband services are strong in the U.S. even if, according to some measures, other nations have faster offerings and higher take-rates.

"The simple answer is that we're not behind [other nations]. We're still ahead," he said. But it's wrong to view broadband service availability and penetration as a contest among nations.

"There is a sense that broadband is a race...that there is a winner and loser," Gross said. "That is not the case."

The U.S. government would like to see all nations come up to speed on broadband service. "We'd like to see everyone, globally, have access to broadband."

He also said it's a mistake to judge other nations' efforts to censor the Internet by U.S. standards. "I'm as strong a First Amendment proponent as there is," Gross said. "But we don't want every country in the world to be just like us.

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on March 20, 2008 10:52 AM to IP Democracy