CWA Broadband Policy Called Key Element to Economic Stimulus

Two key telecom industry groups have recommended that CWA's proposal for expanding high-speed broadband coverage to all Americans be a major part of any economic plan being crafted by the incoming Obama administration to stimulate the economy and rebuild the nation's infrastructure.

The groups, the Fiber-to-Home Council and the Telecommunications Industry Association, have urged Congress to make CWA's proposal a "baseline for the economic recovery package." The groups represent the interests of more than two dozen companies and non-profit organizations. President-elect Obama has long endorsed CWA's call to bring high-speed Internet to every American.

A key element of CWA's proposal, the adoption of tax breaks to encourage operators to spur the national deployment of high-speed networks, won prominent coverage this week in a Washington Post article focusing on growing calls by telecoms, industry and public interest groups to build out high-speed networks to underserved rural and urban areas.

CWA has called the build-out of the nation's high-speed networks "the global economic engine for the 21st century." Other components of CWA's proposal would fund national broadband mapping called for in legislation recently enacted, provide grants for investment in high-cost, currently underserved rural areas, and subsidies to provide computers for low-income households and community-based digital literacy programs.

"We need to aim high with this and public policy needs to catch up with the realities of the global economy," CWA President Larry Cohen told the Post. CWA has estimated that every $5 billion invested in broadband development would create 97,500 new jobs and indirectly result in another 2.5 million jobs throughout the economy.

The Post article noted that the United States has fallen to 15th place worldwide in terms of broadband access, a figure cited by CWA in its two groundbreaking, Speed Matters reports on the state of U.S. broadband.

The Fiber-to-the-Home Council, which educates the public on the opportunities and benefits of fiber-to-the-home solutions, represent all areas of broadband industries, including telecommunications, computing, networking, system integration, engineering, and content-provider companies, as well as traditional telecommunications service providers. The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) is the trade organization serving the communications and IT industry.