In a campaign speech in New Mexico that was otherwise mainly focused on home ownership trends, President George Bush issued a call for affordable high-speed internet access to be available for all Americans by 2007:
“This country needs a national goal for broadband technology, for the spread of broadband technology. We ought to have a universal, affordable access for broadband technology by the year 2007, and then we ought to make sure as soon as possible thereafter, consumers have got plenty of choices when it comes to purchasing the broadband carrier. See, the more choices there are, the more the price will go down. And the more the price goes down, the more users there will be. And the more users there will be, the more likely it is America will stay on the competitive edge of world trade.”
Regarding the possibility of taxing Internet access, Bush also commented “Let me say one thing about broadband — we don’t need to tax access to broadband. The Congress must not tax access to broadband technology if we want to spread it around.”
Some industry reaction
Michael K. Powell, Chairman of the FCC, said “The president has set out a bold vision for broadband investment and deployment over the next four years. I look forward to working with my commission colleagues, Congress and the administration to deliver on this vision for the American people. Universal and affordable access to broadband is vital to the health and future growth of our economy.”
John Chambers, Cisco Systems’ CEO, commented: “I applaud President Bush for his vision of universal, high-speed broadband access in the United States. The Administration understands that broadband is a key driver of productivity and a vital component of economic growth. http://www.whitehouse.gov/
