Benchler’s Thoughts on Broadband Stimulus

Yochai Benchler compares the differing approaches towards creating economic opportunity through supporting broadband development in the economic stimulus bills introduced in the House and Senate, Broadband Stimulus: “Weaker or stronger, the fact that both the House and Senate bills clearly tie the funding to core goals intended to enhance distributed innovation and open participation, uncontrolled by the incumbents, and to begin to reintroduce the idea that competition from new entrants is important and requires some version of open access and interconnection regulation is a breath of fresh air.”
The New York Times, But experts warn that the rural broadband effort could just as easily become a $9 billion cyberbridge to nowhere, representing the worst kind of mistakes that lawmakers could make in rushing to approve one of the largest spending bills in history without considering unintended results.”