It's Time for a National Broadband Strategy

The hottest debate in high tech these days is whether America is on-track or behind in broadband deployment and adoption, and what can be done to widen its reach and beneficiaries.  The next President - whether Barak Obama or John McCain - has an extraordinary opportunity to ensure that all Americans have affordable access to broadband and the skills and knowledge to benefit from it.  (Larry and I talk about this more in a BusinessWeek.com op-ed today).  The best place to start is with the development of a National Broadband Strategy, a coherent roadmap of policies and goals that complement and accelerate the efforts in the marketplace to achieve universal adoption of affordable high speed Internet.

Today the Internet Innovation Alliance is calling for creation of this kind of a strategy.  We welcome feedback and hope thousands will rally to the cause and sign the Petition posted on our home page.  Take a look if you have a minute.  This is neither Democratic nor Republican, big business or individual citizens, liberal nor conservative... all Americans can benefit from growth in broadband availability and adoption, and this starts with a smart strategy.