Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Internet for Everyone: The Technology That Can Make It Happen

You may have heard of a recently launched and rapidly growing advocacy group called Internet for Everyone. The premise of the group is easily surmised: they are creating awareness of the lack of broadband access for rural and under-developed areas of the U.S. And, while much of the sentiment on their website may remind you of a social movement, their interests appear to be very much business-focused, realizing that where businesses can get online, there the economic growth will bring the rest of the community along.

One of the hottest topics for Internet for Everyone today is the recently approved stimulus package which includes billions for internet infrastructure. Telecom companies around the nation will be awarded huge projects for building the infrastructure that will bring broadband connectivity to rural areas.

But is this effort too narrowly focused? When I visited Indonesia last year, I was surprised to learn that the entire nation had totally skipped the wired telephone age. By the time they were ready to build their nation's telecom infrastructure, it no longer made sense to go wired. Today, they are a nation of wireless users. The same phenomenon has happened all across developing countries. So why not the developing regions of this great country?

In fact, fixed wireless broadband is already delivering connectivity to places where wired connection is impractical or impossible. Take a look at our coverage map and you'll see that Accel provides 2.5-3g speed to over 80% of the U.S. without a single copper line laid. If you're still in an area without coverage, broadband access may be closer than you realize. Let's talk.

Labels: Broadband, Coverage, Rural Broadband Access