The Jeff Pulver Blog: Improving America's Tomorrow by Appreciating Yesterday's Government Releases

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July 27, 2006

Improving America's Tomorrow by Appreciating Yesterday's Government Releases

Yesterday was a most auspicious day, presaging what could be in store for America's future and suggesting mechanisms to improve that future.

First, the Federal Reserve released a report indicating the economy is beginning to slow. The President indicates that putting money back into people's pockets is the best vehicle for spurring continued economic growth. So what can this community do to put money back in consumer's pockets?

Well, coincidentally, the FCC issued two important reports yesterday that speak to the future of digital communications in America and a powerful way to sustain our economic prosperity. First, in its annual competition report the FCC reports that there are still 175 million phone lines that have not yet been switched to VoIP. These Americans obviously haven't been to a VON show or read my blog to learn VoIP's vast benefits. Switching from a $50 a month POTS line to a $25 a month VoIP service could put an extra $300 bucks a year into people's pocket books while also delivering a suite of amazing new features and functions not possible with their old phone service. If all 175 million switched, it would pump $52 billion a year into the economy - a bigger boost in personal spending that the President's much touted tax cuts.

So how do we achieve it? Well for starters, it takes achieving the President's ambitious goal of universal broadband by the end of the year. So the second FCC report released yesterday is its broadband access report. This report found that while we are making progress important progress, only 50 million Americans have broadband.

So how do we do both - jumpstart consumer savings and boost broadband take up? The answer of course it to create the right incentives for the swift rollout of the technology that bridges yesterday's legacy PSTN network with tomorrow's broadband network. The key enabling technology that connects the PSTN to broadband is VoIP. Studies like those by Yankee research and Parks and Associates show that VoIP plays a critical role in driving broadband demand and boosting broadband take up. As the President says, if you want something to grow, don't tax it. That's why I still don't get the FCC's $2 a month fee increase on broadband users (set to begin to take effect on Tuesday.) Instead, the President would be wise to extend the deregulatory approach his administration has applied to broadband, and extend it to broadband drivers like VoIP. Without taking deregulatory steps to promote broadband services like voice and video over broadband, this President can not achieve his universal broadband campaign promise by the end of the year. We will be left to toil in 16th place in global broadband penetration. I know America can do better. Our economy, our ompetitiveness, and our economic well being depend on it.

Tags: VON, VoIP, FCC, Jeff Pulver

(c) 2006 Jeff Pulver. All Rights Reserved.
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