Behind in Access, Tops in Putting Broadband to Use

By Brad

While it’s true the U.S. ranks well behind countries like South Korea and Japan when it comes to broadband access and speed, as the New York Times “Bits” blog reports, we’re currently #1 when it comes to actually using broadband.

[T]here are many ways to measure the bandwidth wealth of nations. At the Columbia/Georgetown seminar on the broadband stimulus yesterday, I heard Leonard Waverman, the dean of the Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary, describe a measure he developed called the “Connectivity Scorecard.” It’s meant to compare countries on the extent that consumers, businesses and government put communication technology to economically productive use.

Even after deducting the untold unproductive hours spent on Facebook and YouTube, the United States comes out on top in Mr. Waverman’s ranking of 25 developed countries. The biggest reason is that business in the United States has made extensive use of computers and the Internet and it has a technically skilled workforce.

“Korea has great broadband to the house, but businesses in Korea don’t use the best networks and don’t have the skills and computing assets they need to take advantage of them,” Mr. Waverman said.

If America leads the world in smartly using broadband, just imagine what we could accomplish if we ranked #1 in access as well.