European Union wants high speed Internet for all

The European Union Commission recently outlined its strategy to boost investment in fiber optic networks across Europe and bring high speed Internet access to those who have so far been left behind.

Though the Commission is still working out some of the specifics, EU Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding indicated she'd support a "risk premium around 15%," which would reward companies that invest in high speed Internet infrastructure by allowing them to charge extra fees to competitors who want to use their advanced networks.

While the exact figure of 15% might change, this is still an important development because it provides companies that invest in high speed infrastructure with the opportunity to get a better return on their investments. In many areas both in Europe and the U.S., the lack of profit potential is a major hindrance to the construction of more advanced networks.

The U.S should learn from this kind of progress being made overseas, and fortunately the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) recently identified the lessons we can learn from other nations in a report called Explaining International Broadband Leadership. ITIF analyzed the causes for our slip in international high speed Internet rankings and investigated what we can do to reverse the trend.

A major conclusion is the need for both government and the private sector to work together with the main goal of building up the infrastructure that will support the necessary growth of high speed Internet access.

Among ITIF's findings:

Leadership matters. Nations with robust national broadband strategies fare better than those without. For example, leadership from the very top of the Japanese government and corporate world, including Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and Sony Chairman Nobuyuki Idei, helped craft and implement a strategy to make Japan the "world's leading IT nation" by 2005.

Incentives matter. Because it is expensive for operators to deploy broadband networks, many countries have provided financial incentives. For example, the Swedish government allocated more than $800 million to spur broadband deployment, particularly in rural areas of the country. For the U.S. to match this investment as a share of GDP, it would need to invest more than $30 billion, a far cry from the minimal public investments made to date.

The EU Commission is working to create a plan that recognizes that private companies and the free market alone cannot achieve universal access -- the government has to work with private sector to reach that goal.
 
Now all that's left is for the U.S. to follow suit with a similar commitment to a comprehensive national high speed Internet policy.

EU pushes for high-speed internet for all (Euractiv)

International Broadband Leadership (Information Technology and Innovation Fund)

New report: U.S. has a lot to learn about high speed Internet (Speed Matters)