Know your rights

Maybe it's the recent political conventions or maybe it's the lasting effect of our jaunt into acceptable jingoism via the Olympics, but a lot has been written and discussed over the last few months about the “right” of every American to have broadband service.

Some of the handwringing is predictable with the release of the annual Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ranking of broadband penetration rates. The U.S. continues to slip in the standings, and it provides easy fodder for a know-nothing senator or representative to blather into a live microphone. More often than not, there's a useless reference to the fact that “we invented the Internet” so “we” somehow have the right to be No. 1 in all aspects related to it — though maybe not spam declaring that you are in line to receive millions if you help the widow of a foreign dignitary move some money. We'll leave that to Nigeria.

The most recent iteration, though, of this “right to broadband” was raised by FCC Commissioner Michael Copps. During an FCC field forum in Pittsburgh in July, Copps elevated having broadband to a civil right by noting that in order to prosper in the future, citizens will be required to have access to broadband. What makes it all the more interesting is the renewed interest in municipal networks as a means to fill in the gaps where broadband is unavailable or neglected.

The second part of Copps' statement is undeniable. As we have moved out of the narrowband world, the link between increased macroeconomic measures and broadband is clearly there. Map out the top countries in gross domestic product per capita against broadband penetration and it's easy to see that more access to broadband means more productivity for citizens.

But the question of whether everyone has the right to broadband takes the discussion to a whole new level. It's at this point that the sunny image of productive citizens tapping away at keyboards in sparkling clean offices gets sucker-punched by reality. Reality says that broadband is only available in areas where consumers are likely to buy such services. Reality says that most service providers are in business to make a profit and not invest for the betterment of society.

However, the two concepts of elevating broadband to a right and service provider reality are not mutually exclusive. Networks built through some form of public participation have proved effective in bringing broadband to those left unserved through traditional means. My colleague Benoît Felten has done some excellent work in this area, showing that without some form of government participation, fiber to the premises in Europe would still be in its infancy.

Likewise, for all the hits they've taken in this country, municipal networks are capable of filling in the gaps where service providers refuse to tread. So go ahead and make broadband a right. Just don't forget that providing that right is likely to require more than just proclamations from the FCC.

Vince Vittore is program manager of Yankee Group's enabling technologies service provider group with an expertise in broadband solutions.