The Sad State of U.S. Broadband

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"Critical Role"

Regulators also hope that recent auctions of new wireless spectrum licenses will introduce new broadband competition over the airwaves. The problem with that argument, as consumer groups see it, is that broadband titans AT&T and Verizon were the auction's biggest winners (BusinessWeek.com, 4/21/08). "We fully expect that AT&T and Verizon will push things complementary to their existing services like mobile TV," says Turner. "We think there was a big opportunity missed."

Even if new rivals do emerge from the recent auction or another one being mulled to sell unused "white space" airwaves between TV channels (BusinessWeek.com, 3/24/08), wireless Internet access tends to be slower than a wired connection, says Turner. "It will make a difference," says Turner. "But, in the end, wireless spectrum just can't compete on a speed basis with fiber optics and hard-wired lines."

The U.S. has good reason to figure out some way to gain on the other OECD countries. A broadband connection is increasingly necessary to take advantage of the Web's interactive and rich media features, and is instrumental for e-commerce. "Broadband not only plays a critical role in the workings of the economy, it connects consumers, businesses, governments, and facilitates interaction," wrote OECD report authors Taylor Reynolds and Sacha Wunsch-Vincent. "Governments need to actively look for ways to encourage investment."

Check out the BusinessWeek.com slide show to see which countries claimed the top 15 spots in the OECD's ranking.

Holahan is a writer for BusinessWeek.com in New York.