US Ranks 15th in Terms of Broadband Access

This year US has been ranked 15th when compared to other countries in terms of broadband access, speed and price. This may come as surprising to many who think of the US as a world leader in technology. However, over the past seven years the US has fallen in this ranking every single year. The ranking is part of a report released by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation exploring broadband leadership throughout the world.

So why is the US, a country so rich in resources falling behind when compared to other nations in broadband quality and accessibility? It seems that the country is divided between two differing points of view on how to handle the issue. On one side there exists a large number of so-called "market fundamentalists" who believe the broadband market in the US should be left alone, with little or no role to be played by the government. The other side is composed of those who believe the large corporations that own the broadband companies are fostering this problem and an increase in the government's role (such as more and stricter regulations and even government ownership) is necessary to ensure growth and competition in this sector of the economy.

Source: "Explaining International Broadband Leadership". ITIF, May 2008.