Behind in Broadband

Another BusinessWeek article -- this on the state of broadband deployment in the US (and similarly in Canada). In South Korea and Japan, broadband users can enjoy up to 100-megabit-per-second -- speeds that have spawn a myriad of new technologies and product/service offerings. This has put these countries ahead of North America in the new economy -- in everything from new entertainment offerings, to the leveraging of high speed, ubiquitous computer connectivity for business. Why is North America behind? The telcos and cable giants have used their monopolies to stifle competition and growth for their short term gain -- and in the process, they're hurting their long term growth and that of the economy. Check out the statistics from Point-Topic [PDF]. While the US continues to lead the world in broadband deployment, with Canada coming in at 6th place, it lags behind in growth. China has seen explosive growth in broadband deployment in the last year -- and it certainly won't take long for them pass North America. For Canadian statistics, checkout the latest from StatsCan [PDF].

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