After speaking about broadband stimulus at an RCR Wireless event last week, I was approached by an engineer that was a volunteer application reviewer for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (“NTIA”). He said that he had review a number of fixed wireless applications and scored them very highly, and was later shocked to find out that NTIA staff had rejected his findings in favor of granting middle mile proposals. The engineer felt betrayed. Read the rest of this entry »
Posts Tagged ‘ Investment ’
An Analysis of the FCC’s Proposed Net Neutrality Rules: The Three Little “I” Words of Internet Neutrality – Innovation, Investment, and Infrastructure
“I’m Luke Skywalker, I’m here to rescue you.” Luke Skywalker, Star Wars (1977).
What’s the difference between innovation and investment? I find myself pondering this question frequently these days. Over the past ten years or so, the FCC focused on encouraging “investment” in “infrastructure” based on the previously fashionable view that the United States needed to build more broadband infrastructure. Lately, however, the FCC seems more concerned about “innovation” than the other two little “i” words, investment and infrastructure. So the FCC has decided to rescue “innovation” through prescriptive net neutrality rules.
But, what is “innovation” (and is it really in trouble)? The dictionary included with OS X says innovation is “a new method, idea, product, etc.” In other words, an “innovation” is anything that is “new.” For the pro-net neutrality folks, however, innovation isn’t defined nearly so broadly. No, for the pro-net neutrality folks, innovation means new Internet applications. In their way of thinking, the billions of dollars of investment being made to develop and deploy new OFDM-based (WiMAX and LTE) wireless broadband infrastructure is not innovative. Let me show you what I mean.
TAGS:
FCC Infrastructure Innovation Internet Applications Investment Net Neutrality NPRM