Reed Hundt, the former Chairman of the FCC, gave the opening talk at Supernova. I missed taking notes on a bunch of it, largely because he buried his provacative and very exciting thesis statement (roughly put: "The money we're spending on Digital TV should be used to run fibre to every curb) about halfway through his speech. Luckily, others took notes:
He says that we have a policy that charges a surtax on TV's in order to pay for something no one wants: tuners capable of receiving digital over-the-air broadcasts. It'll raise $40B, or about what it'd cost to provide broadband fiber to every household.
Other countries will provide broadband nationally. This will in fact be the smallest of the steps they take. We don't want to fall behind.
Wouldn't it be nice, he asks, to throw money at problems that can be solved, e.g., $50B to research cars that won't contribute to global warming, $50B to end cancer, etc.
Adina Levin Anonymous Wiki contributor:
There are loosers when competition is encouraged. 1996 act resulted in a 10:1 market cap for ILECs:IXCs. But the consumer benefited the most.
Universal service Broadband policy as demand stimulus.
* 100% penetration
* $20 per month per sub until cap ex is paid for
* cost is only 3-4% of current ITC, $50bCreative destruction should not aim to replace voice and cable networks. Have an overbuild with public money while permitting others to have a future.
