Zero out of 23 Issue Categories
Each year since I began this blog, I have counted the number of times “telecom” or “broadband” is used in the President’s State of the Union address. This morning I decided to look up Mitt Romney’s views regarding broadband and telecommunications. I was disappointed to discover he does not address the topic on his official website. Out of 23 listed issues facing America, telecom and broadband are not listed. That follows the same pattern or level of priority established by the Obama administration. It is important to know what Mitt Romney’s policies would be if he were making appointments to the FCC and giving them direction. Under Julius Genachowski, the FCC has addressed net neutrality, InterCarrier Compensation, National Broadband policies and much more. Some of the decisions have been good, others bad but all were needed. The FCC languished for too many years without making decisions and the industry and country suffered.
We could make some general assumptions regarding telecom policy under a Romney administration by reviewing past Republican principles and positions but that would result in a guestimate. I would prefer that Romney make a clear statement about his proposed policy regarding an industry that provides millions of jobs, the entire country the ability to communicate and be entertained through cable and wireless technologies, businesses the ability to compete on a global stage and support towards the defense of this country.
Telecom, broadband, wireless and the Internet deserve to be more than an afterthought. The only comments I found from Mitt Romney regarding broadband were made during the primaries and referred to Star Trek and the Jetsons. We require a telecom policy that is grounded in facts not fiction. Perhaps, during the campaign one or both candidates will discuss their telecom policy, but I wouldn’t bet on it.
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