Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Reed Hunt On Point With Kerry- Hunt Has The Ball On The New Commish

From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 22 Apr 2004 10:56:44 -0400

Reed Hunt On Point With Kerry- Hunt Has The Ball On The New Commish.
Kerry's broadband policy plans emerging
By John Borland
CNET News.com
April 21, 2004, 4:35 PM PT
URL: http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-5197218.html

High-speed Internet issues are not likely to top Iraq headlines as
presidential debate
fodder, but the outline of the major candidates' broadband electoral
planks are coming
into view.

Democratic candidate John Kerry has yet to release his plan for
high-speed Internet policy, although
he is widely expected to do so in an upcoming speech. But in an
interview with CNET News.com on
Wednesday, Reed Hundt, a Kerry advisor and former Federal Communications
Commission
chairman, provided an outline of issues that he said would likely form
parts of a Democratic plan for
broadband.

Like President Bush, Kerry is seeking to expand access to broadband
Internet services as widely as
possible, but appears likely to propose tapping public funds to help
reach that goal, Hundt said.

"Both candidates say they would like to see universal broadband," he
said. "But with respect to the
incumbent, he's got to run on the record. The United States has fallen
behind Japan, Korea and other
countries."

Broadband access is just one technology issue that is slowly rising to
the surface of the year's political
campaign. Outsourcing, an economic issue that has hit technology workers
particularly hard in recent
months, has also taken a key role. The candidates are also eagerly
wooing Silicon Valley companies
and executives for campaign funds.

Both parties have identified broadband Net access as a source of
improving productivity and have
pointed to expanding high-speed network availability as a way to help
boost the country's economic
growth. Bush has already stated his administration's goal to reach
universal access to broadband by
2007, without providing additional details.

"We ought to have universal, affordable access to broadband technology
by the year 2007," Bush
said in a speech late last month. "And then, we ought to make sure that
as soon as possible thereafter,
consumers have plenty of choices."

Part of the Democratic plan would likely include defining broadband as a
"universal service," Hundt
said. Universal service is a government program that helps funnel funds
to subsidize service in
low-income and expensive rural areas. Adding high-speed Net access to
that category would be an
aggressive--and potentially expensive--way of expanding broadband
investment.

Secondly, the government should "find the necessary public money" to
help lower the cost of
broadband services in rural and other underserved areas, Hundt said.
Today, DSL (digital subscriber
line) and cable broadband connections are often unavailable in outlying
areas, with telephone and
cable operators reluctant to make large investments in areas serving few
customers. Satellite service,
which is more widely available, typically costs twice as much, or more,
than most basic broadband
packages.

The price for end users in those areas could be lowered in several ways,
potentially including a tax
credit for consumers, Hundt said.

A Democrat policy would also focus on freeing new sections of the
wireless spectrum that could be
used for affordable broadband services, the former FCC chairman said.

Those proposals, even in outline, provide a more activist vision than
Bush's administration has
pursued. A Republican venture capitalist in Silicon Valley who serves as
co-chair of the White
House's Presidential Council of Advisors on Science and Technology,
Floyd Kvamme said that
government involvement in the area was risky, however.

"The manner in which broadband will be delivered is an open competitive
field today," Kvamme said.
He cited the growing rivalries between telephone, cable, wireless,
powerline and satellite companies.
"I'm going to depend on competition between these various things as
opposed to public funding and
tax credits."

Kvamme said he could not speak for the White House in response to
specific Democratic proposals.

The details of both candidates' plans are being eagerly awaited by a
technology industry hoping for
economic resurgence. However, few believe broadband or other high-tech
issues ultimately will be
dominant electoral forces in a year where headlines are dominated by war
news and broader
economic debates.

"Technology policy delivers about zero votes," said Rick White, the
former Washington state
congressman who now serves as the chief executive officer for TechNet, a
bipartisan technology
industry trade group. "People vote on other issues."

Reuters contributed to this report.

http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-5197218.html?tag=sas.email
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