Hawaii Broadband Task Force > Informational Links

ITIF Report on Why the US Lags Internationally
Key findings that government and industry must recognize if we are to find the right course for the United States, and key policy recommendations tol drive greater broadband performance.

How Other Countries Do Broadband Better

OECD: Japan, Korea lead in fiber-optic broadband

Growth in Fiber-to-the-Home Outpacing Cable Modems
Fiber also up to 15 times cheaper than DSL and 7 times cheaper than cable...

Australia Opens Bids for Broadband Network to Improve Competitiveness

Australia Shows How Real Broadband Policy Works

Singapore Investing in Open Fiber to Every Home by 2015

Plans for Open Fiber to the Home for all of New Zealand

France's Competitive Fiber-to-the-Home Offerings and Prices (!!!)
30Euros ($44)/month for 100Mbps Internet, unlimited calling, 100 TV channels w/HDT, DVR & VoD, Wifi!

Hong Kong Abandons Mere 10Mbps Connection Service
"Hong Kong Broadband Network (HKBN) ... is charging consumers USD48.50 per month for a 100Mbps fibre connection... HKBN is ceasing to accept new applications for its entry-level bb10 service, which provides symmetrical speeds of up to 10Mbps"

Conference Highlights Models for Fiber-to-the-Premises
Highlights include Marvin Sirbu's excellent presentation on the impacts of topology choices on competition, Grant Forsyth's insightful analysis of the potential of the transnational business market and how regulation should be less consumer focused, and Shigeo Okamoto's glimpse into the US fiber future (hopefully) which is, of course, Japan's present...

European Commission Develops New Broaband Performance Index

NTT DoCoMo to Offer Super3G in 2009?
Could deliver download speeds of up to 250Mbps and uploads of 50Mbps

State Task Forces and Initiatives

National Conference of State Legislatures Broadband Policy Page
National Governors Association Report on States' Broadband Strategies

Alliance for Public Technologies/CWA Summary of State Broadband Initiatives

California
Illinois
Kentucky
Massachusetts
Minnesota
Missouri
New York
North Carolina
Ohio
Pennsylvania
Tennessee
Vermont

Related Organizations, Web Sites and News

Benton Foundation
Internet Innovation Alliance
Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
Internet Society's "Worth a Read" Selections
Speed Matters Library

Archived Items

Hawaii Residents Spend Lots of Time Online
An Advertiser article defines Hawaii usage patterns and the need for speed.

Bandwidth is Hawaii's Crucial Need
Op-Ed Piece from Cliff Miyake, Time Warner Telecom

Is U.S. stuck in Internet's Slow Lane?
"The United States is starting to look like a slowpoke on the Internet. Examples abound of countries that have faster and cheaper broadband connections, and more of their population connected to them."

U.S. Drops Further in Broadband Rankings
"New broadband data released today by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) shows that the United States now ranks 15th out of the 30 member nations in per capita broadband use — down from 12th place just six months ago and dropping from fourth place in 2001."

FCC to Revise U.S. Broadband Data Collection

In an effort to increase the data that the Federal Communications Commission has available as it designs broadband policies, on Thursday the FCC ordered broadband providers to provide the agency with more detailed information.

U.S. in the broadband slow lane: GAP WITH OTHER COUNTRIES IS WIDENING
Excerpt: "The United States invented the Internet. But it's falling behind in the global broadband race. In 2001, it was fourth in the number of broadband subscribers per capita. Now it's 15th. What's more, high-speed Internet service in countries like Japan, France and South Korea is many times faster than in the United States and noticeably cheaper." This article also includes a fantastic graphic comparing broadband services in different countries.

"In many ways, the U.S. is a Third World country when it comes to high-speed Internet connectivity..."
Tim Bajarin's column in PC Magazine

CineGrid Streams 4K (4 times HDTV) Cinema over Internet
One application of very high bandwidth links could be distribution of entertainment to theatres, replacing the arduous, inflexible, expensive, risky and low-quality-over-time shipping and playback of film reels.

Minnesota Worries About Becoming a Broadband Backwater
This op-ed piece notes that the industry was already provided ~$70B in resources to upgrade to fiber optic networks.

Mid-Atlantic Broadband Co-Op Builds Fiber Network to Advance Economy in Virginia

French Connections - U.S. Policy Accounts for Broadband Lag
"As recently as 2001, the percentage of the population with high-
speed access in Japan and Germany was only half that in the United
States. In France it was less than a quarter. By the end of 2006,
however, all three countries had more broadband subscribers per 100
people than we did..."

FCC mulling free high-speed Internet network plan

Proposal that airwaves auctioned off by the government would provide free wireless high-speed across a large swath of the country.

The proposed network must reach 50 percent of the population four years after the winner gets a license and then 95 percent after 10 years.

FCC Data on Broadband in U.S.
Link to latest FCC data on broadband deployment.

Swisscom Upgrades Cellular Services to Multimegabit
"Swisscom has announced that from mid-November its 3.5G wireless customers will be able to take advantage of much higher speeds - up to 7.2Mbps for download and 1.4Mbps uplink"

Japan Launches Extra-High-Speed Broadband Satellite

Unlike U.S., Japanese Push Fiber Over Profit
"Japan is a broadband paradise with the fastest and cheapest Internet connections in the world... Nearly eight million Japanese have a fiber optic line at home that is as much as 30 times speedier than a typical DSL line."