Americans Doubt Government Role in Broadband

At the Federal Communications Commission, officials like to talk about broadband as the great infrastructure challenge of our time. To some, that means that the government needs to implement something like an industrial policy to promote deployment and adoption, reminiscent of past efforts like rural electrification.

It would appear that a majority of Americans do not share that belief, according to a new survey by the Pew Internet Project. The Pew researchers found that not only do a majority of Americans not think that broadband is a high priority for the government, but the rate of adoption of high-speed service has ground to a halt. Enterprise Networking Planet takes a look.

The urgency of promoting universal broadband access and adoption has become something of an article of faith in many Washington policy circles, but the latest research from the Pew Internet Project suggests that a narrow majority of Americans aren’t convinced that the government should involve itself with pushing broadband expansion.

Fifty-three percent of respondents said that driving affordable broadband access was either “not too important” a priority, or that the government should stay out of it altogether.

Read the full story at Enterprise Networking Planet:


Americans Cool on Government’s Broadband Agenda: Study