The Financial Cost of Net Neutrality

Very good report by NYLS. Thanks for pointing it out. I think the discussion on net neutrality has to have policy (and hence philosophical) dimensions too. Broadband access and Internet, in general, are increasingly getting tied to the economy, standard of living, socio-cultural changes and even education of the next generation citizens. Hence it cannot be left for the free-market dynamics to decide on what should happen to that infrastructure that supports all these essential drivers.

I heard a interesting NPR (National Public Radio) report yesterday on my drive back from work, on broadband penetration in the US. It is not new that the US is far behind the other industrialized countries in broadband penetration or average available bandwidth speed itself. However, it was interesting to hear that we are now behind a number of developing countries too, including Estonia. If one looks at what additional catalysts some of these countries had, other than normal market dynamics, what stands out is the involvement of the govenment and policy makers in making the building of such infrastructure a national priority.

Martin, you may want to add Government as a fourth stakeholder in your previous blog on "Google Tax". :-)