FCC pushes mobile broadband, says 4G is key

During The Wall Street Journal's D8 tech conference, FCC Chair Juluis Genachowski said that Americans pay too much for broadband service that is slower than what exists in other advanced nations.

June 3, 2010

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According to reporting in InformationWeek, Federal Communications Commission chairman Julius Genachowski said that changing the United States' status as a broadband laggard among industrialized nations will depend on widespread deployment of 4G wireless networks as quickly as possible.

During an on-stage interview at this week's The Wall Street Journal's D8 tech conference, Genachowski acknowledged that Americans pay too much for broadband service -- service that is slower than what exists in other advanced nations.

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A recent survey of 40 industrialized nations ranked the U.S. at the bottom in terms of the speed in which it is moving to improve the situation, said the report.

"Unleashing mobile is one of the most important if not the most important thing we can do," said Genachowski.

During the D8 interview, Genachowski called for changing the Universal Serve Fund, which spends $8 billion a year to provide telephone service throughout the nation. The FCC created the fund in 1997 to meet requirements of the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

Genachowski said the fund should be used to support broadband communications not telephone service. "It's crazy not to do it," he said.

SOURCE: InformationWeek