The Fiber-to-the-Home Council (www.ftthcouncil.org) yesterday urged Congress to include a broadband provision in its economic stimulus discussions.
The relatively new council, which will hold its third quarterly meeting this month, endorses the Broadband Internet Access Act of 2001, a bipartisan bill that would provide tax credits to companies investing in broadband equipment to serve rural and low-income areas and next-generation broadband equipment for all Americans.
"America is asking for faster broadband connections and the applications, services, and life-style that these advanced connections would enable," said FTTH Council President Doug Wrede. "Unfortunately, our country's broadband communications infrastructure is no longer the world's leader; we have sadly fallen behind."
In fact, he says, 40 percent of Americans today don't have the option of current-generation broadband.
The council maintains that the economic stimulus package, combined with the broadband tax credit, is one of the catalysts America needs to revive broadband.
The Broadband Internet Access Act of 2001 has been submitted to the Senate as Amendment 2727. The amendment's proposed tax incentives would not be limited to the traditional telecommunications or cable operators. Increasingly, utility companies, rural cooperatives, and home developers are building competitive broadband networks.
"History has proven time and time again that prosperity follows every major infrastructure advancement," said Mark McDonald, FTTH Council member and vice president of Marconi's FTTH business unit. "Advanced broadband connections will be the super ramps to the super highway we have all been waiting for."
Established last year, the FTTH Council's charter is to educate, promote, and accelerate the deployment of fiber-to-the-home in North America. The FTTH Council's 65 member companies represent all areas of broadband industries, including telecommunications, computing, networking, system integration, and content-provider companies, as well as traditional telecommunications service providers, utilities, municipalities, and real estate developers.
