U.S. Broadband Efforts Not So Broad

Tweet

In fact, we're looking pretty lame for a so-called super power, folks. The internationally renowned organization "The Information Technology & Information Foundation" has put out it's annual broadband rankings report (by country). It's based on a composite score from three criteria; speed, household penetration and pricing.

In 2001, we ranked number four. Here it is 2008 and we sit at #15.

The good news; we beat the pants off the Slovak Republic and Mexico. The bad news; Iceland and Luxembourg beat the pants off us.

What's the matter with us? Check out the detailed analysis from ITIF from it's research. It makes for interesting reading.

In the meantime, why should we care?

- Companies are increasingly relying on richer online media to successfully connect with their online customer base. With that in mind, wouldn't it be nice if more people were able to access all that richer media and at fast enough speeds to enjoy it?
- To quote the song; it's a small world after all. Want to be a part of that big fat global market? At what speed?
- Pride! C'mon, we're home to Silicon Valley, Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft, etc. Al Gore didn't invent the Internet, but we did. The Internet was begat by Arpanet, originally developed by the U.S. Department of Defense way back when during the Cold War.

Renee Oricchio

Renee Oricchio is a technology writer and former supervising news producer for CNN Financial News. She has been covering the computer industry since 1987. @oricchio