Ambitious N.Y. Broadband Plan Unveiled by Spitzer
Communities across the Empire State should look to Philadelphia’s model of offering municipal broadband access to citizens, N.Y. Attorney Gen. Eliot Spitzer (D) told the Personal Democracy Forum conference in N.Y.C. Mon. The gubernatorial candidate said the problem “isn’t a lack of resources, it’s a lack of imagination and a lack of leadership.”
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Philadelphia’s city council last week finalized a deal to blanket that city’s 135 square miles with high-speed access. The system could be in place by late 2007. To move his state in that direction, Spitzer said, he would have N.Y.’s Public Service Commission reform state rules that impede broadband expansion. And the federal govt. should “wake up” and expand Universal Service Fund (USF) coverage to include Internet service, Spitzer said.
It’s disappointing to see a widening digital divide in N.Y. and across the U.S., compared with other nations’ higher rates of broadband penetration, Spitzer said, attacking “3rd world service at first-world prices.” In the U.S., broadband service costs twice what it does in China and 30 times what it costs in Japan, he said. No wonder the U.S. has plummeted from 4th to 16th in high-speed saturation, Spitzer said.
N.Y. lawmakers assume upstate rural areas’ lack of resources and infrastructure means broadband can’t be a reality, Spitzer said. “But that hasn’t stopped Canada,” he said, citing ambitious Canadian high-speed deployment programs that have boosted penetration past 50%. Downstate N.Y. fares little better, Spitzer said, with countless city-dwellers lacking fast, affordable Web access. Many in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park and Red Hook areas have only dialup access, and there’s no comprehensive plan to address this disparity, he said.
N.Y. may be able to move citizens and goods but can’t move information and ideas, Spitzer said. S. Korean kids have far faster Web access than those in the 5 boroughs, he said, putting residents at a disadvantage. “We must make New York State the most connected, most technologically advanced place to do business in the world,” he said. Universal broadband access is no longer a luxury, it’s a necessity, Spitzer added.
Better broadband penetration could aid first responders’ emergency communications, while improving govt. efficiency and transparency, he said. Some areas are exploring options, Spitzer said. Suffolk County is looking at creating a Wi-Fi network covering its 900 sq. miles. The effort, pushed by County Executive Steve Levy, has a 15-member panel at work on a business plan and timeline. Spitzer slammed efforts in some states by telcos and cable companies to thwart municipal broadband. About a dozen states have “actually passed laws and regulations that limit instead of expand broadband access,” he said.
Most of Spitzer’s ideas wouldn’t cost more but would leverage existing economic development dollars, he said. “I'm not proposing that government get into the business of wiring the Empire State. I'm not proposing that all New Yorkers get broadband for free,” he said: “I'm talking about making it affordable to access high-speed, high-capacity broadband throughout the state.” “History is littered with naysayers,” Spitzer said, but to those who argue that ubiquitous broadband can’t be achieved for the state, “I say why not?”