I continue to see pieces that suggest that the U. S. is way behind when it comes to broadband technology.  Most of the commenters focus on uptake (i.e., how many consumers actually use broadband) but many also suggest that the U. S. is also behind in terms of competition.  This piece from Arstechnica is typical.   Citing the snapshot statistics found in a variety of reports, most of these commentaries focus only on current technology and are not looking to the future. They do not assess success on a key metric which I think is really important – are we getting the next generation networks in this country and is competition helping to drive that process?  After all, a policy that encourages competition among networks - among companies building their own facilities – is a broadband policy, especially if it is helping build the future technologies of very high capacity 4G wireless and local fiber networks.

Well, look at some of the facts about fiber networks and their deployment here and around the world.  Here is what Dave Burstein of DSL Prime, not always a booster of telco or cable broadband providers, said recently about Verizon’s announcement regarding its fiber to the home deployment in New York City:

They have now agreed to offer FIOS to all 3.1M New York families by 2014. There is absolutely no subsidy involved, and Verizon will pay the standard 5% fee for access to the streets, etc.

This is historic. Korea Telecom has promised 100 megs to "villages as small as 20 homes" but I know of no other large city in the West committed universal service at high speeds. In many areas, not even slow broadband is available to far too many. For example, Verizon's last figure left  10% of New York City without DSL.

Will BT do London similarly? Right now, they are refusing while negotiating for government money. Madrid? Chicago, Houston, Toronto, Las Vegas? Let's hope this becomes a precedent.

And what do the critics make of this comment from IDATE, a European analyst firm recently said about fiber to the home deployments in the U. S. compared to other countries:

FTTH is still concentrated in only a few countries as Europe remains far behind leaders such as Japan and the US.

Even the Europeans are beginning to worry that their markets and policies may not be producing the investment in next generation networks they need.   See this comment recently from Vivian Reding:

But the transition to fast all-fibre networks is already happening elsewhere in the world. . . It is the wave of the future and an area in which Europe cannot

afford to lag behind.

This comment clearly suggests the Europeans are worried that while they have made substantial progress in increasing broadband connectivity, the investment in and deployment of next generation (i.e., fiber and 4G mobile networks) is lagging in Europe.   The Commissioner goes on to say this about 4G mobile networks:

However, growth has been faster in the US, particularly in mobile services. This growth, it appears from the EITO results, is driven by mobile data services, growing more than three times faster in the USA than in Europe. Despite our widely applauded leadership in rolling out the 2nd Generation services we seem to be lagging behind on moving to the mobile web.

While Commissioner Reding does not say it, the IDATE report clearly suggests the U. S. is one of the leading countries in the transition to next generation networks, not only mobile but landline as well.

While it is true that Verizon’s fiber deployment is a key reason for the leadership of the U. S. in this key metric, the competitiveness of our broadband markets is clearly driving other broadband providers to respond or at least announce plans to build faster networks.  While some of the deployment is about providing more space for HD programming, clearly high Internet connections are part of the equation too.

Some have been wringing their hands about the need for a “third broadband pipe” to stimulate competition.  But the way I calculate it, T-Mobile is rolling out 3G, making it the fourth broadband wireless platform and Clearwire is rolling out Wi-Max in a new consortium with some heavy duty backers, making it the fifth.  So, in general, we have:

1.  Cable

2.  DSL

3.  Verizon EVDO (mobile)

4.  AT&T HSDPA (mobile)

5.  Sprint HSDPA EVDO (mobile)

6.  T-Mobile HSDPA (mobile)

7.  Clearwire Wi-Max

8.  FiOS/U-Verse.

So, is the U. S. really doing so poorly when compared to other countries in the broadband space?   When it comes to the networks of the future, I don’t think so.