On Monday, the FCC held a hearing on “Broadband and the Digital Future” at Carnegie Mellon University.  Perhaps a more appropriate title for the FCC’s next hearing would be “Broadband is the Future.”

During these times of economic uncertainty, all American families are struggling to fill the gas tank, make the tuition payment and afford health care. 

There is hope.  This year alone, nearly 1,400 American broadband providers will invest an estimated $60 billion to expand the capacity and reach of the nation’s communications infrastructure.  This investment far outweighs what the U.S. government spent to put Neil Armstrong on the moon.  Even when combining what we spent to build out the interstate highway system, you still don’t achieve the level of investment we’re seeing in broadband networks today.

We’re just beginning to understand the “Broadband Economy” of the future.  But here’s what we do know. 

• Broadband-based remote monitoring for all chronically ill patients could reduce U.S. health care expenses by 25%—a $350 billion annual savings.
• Telecommuting takes cars off the road and could deliver $3.9 billion in time and fuel cost savings annually.
• Using electronics to telecommute saves the equivalent of 9 to 14 billion kilowatt hours of electricity per year, the same amount of energy used by roughly 1 million U.S. households every year.
• Over 70% of low-income individuals reported an improvement in schoolwork when given access to broadband.
• Just a 7% increase in broadband adoption could create 2.4 million U.S. jobs.

America can and is doing more to make this future a reality.  Here’s hoping our nation’s future broadband policies encourage this progress—and the substantive, diverse private investment that is making it possible. 

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