May

6

Why US Broadband Service Continues to Stagnate -- Some Simple Numbers to Drive the Point Home.

sascha's picture

I've been fascinated by the recent announcement that Australia is spending $31 billion USD to upgrade its broadband. With all the excitement and fuss over the broadband stimulus funding in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, it may seem strange to be claiming that the $7.2 billion is a pitifully small amount -- but let me bring this home for you:

Australia has a population of roughly 22 million people and is spending $31 billion USD. That works out to over $1400 per person.

The U.S. has a population of roughly 306 million people and is spending $7.2 billion USD. That works out to a bit under $25 per person.

To be commiserate commensurate with Australia, the US should be spending over $430 billion on its broadband infrastructure.

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  1. Michael Maranda (not verified) on Wed, 2009-05-06 12:48

    I have a new adage:  Bad Government is a Tax on a People Who are Bad at Math

  2. Marvin Sirbu (not verified) on Fri, 2009-05-08 15:59

    Australia expects that up to 49% of the funding (ownership) may be provided by the private sector, so it is not entirely accurate to attribute all of the $31 billion in spending to the government.  Moreover this sum may be spent over decades before the work is complete

    The 7.2 billion represents only 2 years of funding versus the billions that have already been spent and will be spent in the future by programs such as the RUS

    Nevertheless, if the US were to put up only half of the $1400 per person that Australia expects to spend it would still be an order of magnitude greater than what the US seems likely to spend over the next decade or more.

  3. Brett Glass (not verified) on Fri, 2009-05-08 17:42

    That's "commensurate," not "commiserate." In any event, the US effort will be crippled by the attempt to inject "network neutrality" requirements into the program. These will make many of the networks built with the funds unsustainable, and will cause many if not most savvy ISPs to simply turn down the funding, because it would make them unprofitable.

  4. links of london (not verified) on Sat, 2009-05-23 21:57

    Bad Government is a Tax on a People Who are Bad at Math. I agree with you.

  5. tiffanys (not verified) on Mon, 2009-06-01 00:04

    i agree with Marvin Sirbu, i don't know what's the heil US government think about, it's of much inportance to confirm amount of fund used in this field.

  6. Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 2009-06-20 12:38

    I think that that's due to the fact that in Australia were no major financial and industrial gigants suffered from the crisis and went bankrupt in comparison to US.

  7. medical tourism (not verified) on Sat, 2009-10-10 04:21

    I seem to recall Obama making some campaign promises about upgrading America's broadband infrastructure. Not sure if this has come to bear, but it seems that it would certainly be a worthwhile investment.

  8. acaros (not verified) on Sat, 2009-11-14 12:38


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