The US, where the Internet was invented, now falls behind Japan, Korea and Canada in deploying high-speed Internet access in homes and businesses. But advocates for quicker transfer of e-mail, Web site content and music files, take note: Peter Pitsch is on the case.
Pitsch is a self-described staunch free-market Republican who once served as chief of staff for the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.
Today, he is the top lobbyist for the Intel Corp and a coalition of the technology companies in their efforts to press the government for a national policy as crucial to general economic growth -- one that would accelerate the spread of broadband, or high-speed Internet access.
Of course, the technology industry has a particular interest in this issue.
It sees much of its future growth connected to the deployment of high-speed access, and the entertainment, music and software that will be able to reach consumers on upgraded networks.
The topic of a national broadband policy will be central to discussions held at the annual conference and trade show of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association in Chicago, which ends June 11, with participants including executives like Bill Gates of Microsoft, Richard Parsons of AOL Time Warner and Mel Karmazin of Viacom.
The industry coalition had a recent success in persuading the FCC to modify its rules so that telecommunications companies will not be forced to lease their high-speed access lines to competitors. But it continues to face a difficult battle to get Congress to grant tax credits to companies building next-generation Internet access networks.
For telecommunications companies, making the investment in broadband access is not without risk. The costs for building high-speed networks are enormous, whether through wires on the ground or through wireless networks.
Moreover, the companies must market the concept to consumers who are already paying monthly fees for home telephone, cell phone and cable television service and may not want to pay yet more for high-speed access. To mitigate the risk, the industry has turned to the government for help, and Pitsch has led the charge.
"He is the godfather of telecom policy among technology companies in Washington," said Bruce Mehlman, the assistant secretary for technology policy in the Commerce Department, and a former lobbyist for Cisco Systems Inc.
People who know Pitsch say he is point man in the lobbying push because of his Washington background, personality and energy. But his ability to lead can also be credited to Intel's neutral role in this competitive field.
Whereas cable, telephone and wireless companies are competing against one another to deploy high-speed access, Intel has no stake in which particular technologies will thrive. Thus it appears to have more credibility with federal regulators.
But that does not mean broadband growth is less important to Intel's future. For Intel, more high-speed access means more consumer demand for fast computers and that means greater demand for the microprocessors that Intel makes.
"One of the fundamental drivers for faster and faster microprocessors will be high-quality, affordable broadband," Pitsch said during a recent interview at Intel's headquarters in Santa Clara.
The bottom line, he said, is that Intel believes high-speed Internet users will make up its future customer base. "The effect on us is indirect. But its huge," he said of broadband deployment.
Today, about one-third of American households with Internet access have high-speed service -- an increase of 50 percent over a year ago, according to a report issued last month by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, a nonprofit research group.
But the report also found that the rate of adoption of broadband was unlikely to remain as high as it has been because many people are content with the slower telephone dial-up connections to the Internet.
Whether the current rate of adoption is fast enough depends on whom you ask.
The FCC, which is charged by Congress with reporting periodically on the status of technology adoption, concluded in its most recent report, last February, that high-speed Internet adoption was on pace.
"Over all, we find that advanced telecommunications is being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely manner," the report said, adding that subscriber levels had increased "significantly."
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