Competition Grows the Internet

Can you imagine where the Internet would be today if the task of building, maintaining, and growing it fell exclusively to the government? The same government in charge of keeping the country’s highways, bridges, and other infrastructure in working order? The one that spends $170 billion annually to repair the roads and will soon need to lay out an estimated $1 trillion to upgrade the nation’s water lines but is consistently paralyzed by political squabbling? You might wake up one day to see a message like this across your screens:

Our apologies, but the Internet is closed for repairs. Use alternate routes for all your information until further notice.

We’re all well aware that the Internet has exploded in size and importance over the past few decades in ways few could ever have imagined. Whereas once it was little more than a communication device for the military, today the Internet is completely integrated into the backbone of our economy, accounting for more than 4.7 percent of our gross domestic product as of 2010.

Since the mid 1990s, the
total investment by all ISPs to build and maintain broadband networks across the country is a remarkable $1.2 trillion.

That evolution has been driven by private investment and competition. Back in the dial-up days of the 1980s, ISPs such as AOL and Microsoft gave early users their initial exposure to the Internet. Online forums, chat rooms, and email made their first appearances en masse, and as the ease of use attracted more consumers, the Internet became demystified and more essential to everyday life.

When high-speed broadband Internet service began to replace dial-up in the late 1990s, the cable industry was at the forefront thanks to its decades-long investment in infrastructure. In 1996, the industry spent $5.7 billion on infrastructure. From 1996 to 2013, the total had reached $213.4 billion. Since the mid 1990s, the total investment by all ISPs to build and maintain broadband networks across the country is a remarkable $1.2 trillion.

…ISPs provide 101 percent of advertised speeds.

In June, the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) issued a policy report on the state of U.S. broadband that looked at data on “speed, price, profits, and investment.” It showed that “high investment and continuous innovation” are two contributing factors to a success rate that puts the U.S. atop all other nations in broadband use. The FCC’s Measuring Broadband America report, issued in June, determined that consumers are getting what they pay for. It showed that ISPs provide 101 percent of advertised speeds.

The Internet is not a road or a series of water pipes that we can afford to neglect. It’s a constantly evolving information infrastructure that grows in unimaginable ways. With the Internet’s impact on the country’s GDP expected to exceed 5.4 percent by 2016, it’s essential to allow private investment and innovation continue to carry it into the future.

Do we really want the guys who fix the potholes to handle that?

Read more here: Competition Grows the Internet