Is the U.S. approach to broadband correct?

The United States is falling behind in broadband. Through most of the 1990s, the United States led the world in high-speed connectivity. Today, however, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) says that the United States, despite having the most broadband connections, has fallen to No. 16 in the world in broadband technology and continues to fall. Many argue that this situation has harmed the U.S. technology edge, and makes the U.S. lag behind not only South Korea and Japan, but also Slovenia.

By 2006, according to telecommunication companies’ documents, 86 million customers in the United States should have received 45 Mbps service. South Korea and Japan do even better: They routinely offer 100 Mbps connections in both directions, uploading and downloading, for around $40 per month. In the United States, the best connections top out at 1/3 this speed and cost 400 percent more. Very few places have access to the new fiber-optic services being offered. The United States once led the world in Web technology. What happened?

-read more in Bruce Kushnick’s analysis