Hawaii planning for statewide broadband by 2012

The Hawaii Broadband Task Force is proposing the creation of a Hawaii Communications Commission that would serve both as a regulatory agency and as an advocate for consumers and industry development.

The commission would be tasked with "providing access to broadband statewide by 2012 at speeds and prices comparable to the average available in the top three performing countries in the world, as well as making broadband affordable to low-income and other disadvantaged groups," according to a Honolulu Star Bulletin article.

According to Speed Matters 2008 Report on Internet Speeds in All 50 States, Hawaii is ranked 42nd, with an average download speed of 1.675 megabits per second. The top three performing countries in the world have Internet connection speeds between 37 and 13 times faster than Hawaii's.

The Hawaii Broadband Task Force was created in late 2007 to study the broad impact that improved broadband access would have on the state of the Hawaii economy, health care, education and emergency services.  The taskforce believes that having capacity similar to Japan or Korea (the top two countries based on OECD rankings) would attract industry to Hawaii.

State leaders propose broadband commission (Honolulu Star Bulletin)

2008 Report on Internet Speeds in All 50 States (Speed Matters)

Hawaii says "Aloha" to high speed task force