CWA: Broadband Mapping Bill is Important Step in Campaign to Bring High Speed Internet to All

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/10-10-2007/0004679790&EDATE=

WASHINGTON, Oct. 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Communications Workers of America applauded today's action on the Broadband Census of America Act of 2007 by the House Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee as another important step in bringing high speed Internet access to every American.

"In order for our country to move forward to ensure that a 21st century Internet is available for all, we need key information and better data to help us get there. This measure will greatly improve the quality of that information and we commend Representative Edward J. Markey, who chairs the subcommittee, for his efforts to move this forward," said CWA President Larry Cohen.

Today's action, combined with the unanimous vote on similar legislation by the Senate Commerce Committee, raises the hope of quick action to enable us to move toward a national policy that will bring the promise of high speed Internet access to all, Cohen said.

The House bill incorporates key provisions supported by CWA as part of the union's "Speed Matters" campaign, which calls on Congress to establish a national Internet policy to improve the quality, availability and affordability of high speed broadband service to every community.

It is similar to the Broadband Data Improvement Act, S. 1492, introduced in May by Senator Daniel Inouye, chairman of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.

Earlier this year, Cohen testified before the House Subcommittee, stressing that the United States "desperately needs a national Internet policy to reverse the fact that our nation, the country that invented the Internet, has fallen to 16th in the world in high-speed Internet penetration."

"Unfortunately, we don't know the full extent of our problem because our data is so poor. We don't know where high-speed networks are deployed, how many households and small businesses connect to the Internet, at what speed, and how much they pay. Without this information, we can't craft good policy solutions. So we continue to fall farther behind," he told the subcommittee.