This morning, while on my way to meet a potential customer, I was listening to the latest NPR Technology Podcast where the main topic of discussion was the potential impact of broadband on economic growth. The argument presented was that there is a correlation between urban growth and availability of broadband, and that switching to broadband promotes secondary growth, by virtue of having a fast connection, a family will buy faster computers and printers, webcams, digital cameras and eventually this will fuel a wider economic recovery through expanded consumer spending.
The Stimulus package include about $6 Billion to be spent in broadband technology and infrastructure, so obviously there is growing interest on how to capitalize on the expansion of broadband services, today only widely available by DSL or Cable TV. We can compare our limited efforts with South Korea, where the KCC , Korean Communications Commission, the equivalent of our FCC, is planning to provide 1 GB broadband connections from the broadband providers, this is 200 times the speed of the average US DSL connection, at an estimated cost of $24 Billion, by 2012. The KCC estimates that this will generate 120,000 new jobs, mainly in industries that had emerged in Korea as a direct result of the advance infrastructure, like MMO and online gaming. It is easy to imagine the impact of wide broadband, and the potential it has to bring back to the US those call centers which were relocated to Manila and Malaysia. New jobs could be offered to unemployed or retired Americans who are at home using fast connections with VoIP and fast data transfers. Think of the possibilities in remote education, collaboration software, new media and other innovative fields.
Money well spent? You bet.
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