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| Approximately 0% Additional Homes Will Get Broadband |
| Written by Dave Burstein |
| Sunday, 31 July 2011 13:00 |
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Already planned LTE only No matter how cynical I am, I wouldn't have guessed that the Bells want $2.2B in direct subsidy and $2B-10B more in increased prices in the name of broadband, but do not propose offering any additional service. They define broadband as 4 down, 768K up and make a point of including wireless. LTE easily reaches those speeds, and Verizon and AT&T have promised to deploy to 97-99% of the country. That will include most and possibly all the 2M homes they say their plan will reach.
Repeat, this plan has no provision to extend broadband to anyone who wasn't already going to get it. It's just counting already planned LTE builds. LTE Advanced may well be the right technology for these homes. If so, we don't need any subsidies. That's why the plan proposes to lock in subsidies based on the 2011 map of what's served. Otherwise, there would be nearly no subsidy needed. $10B, the proposed subsidy, is not far different from the total cost of the national LTE build, including the first 95%.
How stupid or gutless do they think Genachowski actually is.
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