Telephony Online, March 31, 2008
By Carol Wilson

Telecom industry professionals think the current Universal Service Fund should be used to expand rural broadband, according to a recent Tellabs survey, and they believe location and economic status should not determine the extent to which broadband is available. That's just one of many conclusions that show the telecom industry isn't happy with the current state of regulation.

The survey of 451 people who read top telecom publications underscored the industry's belief that lack of broadband access hurts chances for education and productivity, and that trailing many other nations in broadband penetration is a serious economic development issue for the U.S.

None of the results are surprising, said Dan Kelly, executive vice president for global products for Tellabs, but the survey is intended to point out what his company sees as “a disconnect” between the views of the telecom industry and those of the FCC.

“As one example, the FCC used to call broadband anything that was 200 kb/s or faster,” Kelly said. “Now they have come up with new measurements (768 kb/s to 1.5 Mb/s), but I would argue that those are really definitions that are two to three years old. When you look at what is happening in the industry, the world is moving at much higher levels of speeds and feeds. We want measures that are forward-looking, not today or yesterday.”

Tellabs is hoping to use this first study as a baseline, Kelly said, and will repeat the survey and use the results to promote change in Washington.

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