FCC Chairman: Broadband supports the troops, creates jobs

While visiting CentComm in the Middle East, FCC Chairman Julian Genachowski was told, "nothing is improving the morale of our troops as much as broadband access to its benefits."

During remarks at Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, Arkansas, Genachowski used the anecdote to describe all the ways that servicemen and women are benefitting from broadband.

As in the civilian world, the military is using broadband to improve access to and the quality of education and healthcare. Because of electronic medical records, soldiers no longer have to carry around hard copies of their medical information. Similarly, service members are able to finish their college degrees from an "extraordinary" distance-learning center at the Air Force base in Qatar.

Perhaps most importantly, high-speed connectivity allows members of the armed forces to keep in touch with their families back home - in real time - with web and video chat.

The FCC is currently working on a National Broadband Plan, due in February. Genachowski believes a comprehensive broadband plan, if properly implemented, will do wonders for both short-term and long-term economic growth.

"Our Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector represents about one-sixth of the U.S. economy, and an even greater percentage of GDP growth," the FCC Chairman said. "According to a world-wide study, a 10 percent increase in broadband penetration corresponds to a 1.2-1.5 point increase in GDP."

For Arkansas, that would mean "$2.6 billion to the state economy" and "8,200 new jobs."

Genachowski worked at the FCC during the Clinton Administration, and described his tour of the library as "a blast from the past." Particularly meaningful, he said, was a plaque that read, "In 1994, only 3 percent of U.S. schools were connected to the Internet. In 2000, over 90 percent of U.S. public schools were online."

"Connecting our kids to the Internet at breakneck speed did not happen by accident," said Genachowski, "and it speaks to the moment we find ourselves in today."

“Connecting the Nation: A National Broadband Plan” (FCC)

National Broadband Plan (FCC)