Wave: Broadband is an economic development tool, and you talked about painting a more prosperous picture of the country because of this greater capability. Do you see that regulators and others miss that added benefit when they’re looking at
broadband regulation with a very narrow focus—as a communication regulation but not necessarily as an economic enhancement?
Mr. Kneuer: One of the things that we are very conscious of here in the Department of Commerce is our role in promoting broadband and IP technologies at large. This is not our looking after this industry for this industry’s sake. It is our considering policies in this segment of the economy because of the leverage
that this segment of the economy provides across the entire economy.
Our economy is more competitive in a global marketplace, and our employees are more productive in the global marketplace largely because of the success of the U.S. economy in leveraging these sorts of technologies across the economy. Regulators need to understand that.
It’s also important for the social services that can be delivered and that can be leveraged through these technologies. For example, at the pediatric telemedicine program at Children’s Hospital (Washington, DC), they have a doctor who can perform remote infant electrocardiograms across a really basic broadband connection. And with that connection he’s able to provide world-class infant pediatric medicine to children who are hundreds of miles away. And if he wasn’t able to send his medical knowledge and his treatment across that distance, the alternative is to send a helicopter and bring that child to Washington.
So it is not just the personal human benefit that comes from that, but there’s enormous benefit in reduction of health care costs by using these technologies to perform important tasks. So it has benefits that get leveraged all across our economy, our governments, and our society. The consumer surplus that comes out of these technologies really can’t be overstated.
Wave: The extension of that into rural America and the way that wireless technology specifically can reach out using those kinds of applications for its telemedicine or tele-education, etc., is that part of your thought process? To steal a thought from Thomas Friedman, is wireless one of the world’s great flatteners?
Mr. Kneuer: Absolutely. I think the value of wireless technologies everywhere, and particularly in high cost areas, is that it provides a more economic solution than laying cables everywhere. That’s not to say that there isn’t a place for multiple technologies, but we should certainly be looking at every available technology
to serve every community. And to the extent that wireless services provide a more
economic solution to reach high cost or hard to serve areas, it’s a great benefit to us to have and provide access to those technologies. We should certainly not have any policies in place that create a disincentive for us to take advantage
of all of these technologies.
