The Tech Boom

By Brad

Via Zack Colman of The Hill, Ben Bernanke is bullish on the tech sector:

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke touted innovation and information technology as drivers of economic change in a Saturday commencement speech at Bard College in Massachusetts.

“Humanity’s capacity to innovate and the incentives to innovate are greater today than at any other time in history,” he said.

Bernanke also touted advancements in biotech, health care, and clean energy as helping keep the tech boom from becoming a bubble.

FCC Commissioner Pai on the Need to Move to All-IP

By Brad

In a must-read opinion piece for the National Journal, FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai makes the case that America should be making a big push to transition to all IP-based networks:

America is in the midst of a technological revolution, what some call the IP Transition (“IP” stands for the Internet Protocol, which is the technical foundation for all these changes). IP-based networks are different from the copper-based networks of yesteryear in a fundamental way: They were not designed for voice service alone. Instead, IP-based technologies break down every kind of communication (voice, video, e-mail and more) into digital bits and transport those bits more efficiently and cheaply than ever before.

Despite these vast changes in the communications marketplace, the Federal Communications Commission hasn’t caught up. We still view the world as if consumers were at Ma Bell’s mercy, relying on copper lines to get basic voice service. As a result, we have a lot of obsolete rules on our books. (Just two months ago, the FCC finally repealed a rule first adopted by its Telegraph Division during the Great Depression!) These old rules aren’t just harmlessly yellowing with age. They are affirmatively discouraging companies from investing in next-generation networks.

You really should read the whole thing at the National Journal.

The Streaming Game

By Brad

Speaking of streaming video, Brad Stone at Bloomberg has the scoop on another big tech player making a big play to get in on the action:

Amazon is making e-readers and tablets and will likely soon introduce a smartphone. As it works to build all types of connected devices, that leaves a natural next step: a television set-top box. The e-commerce giant is planning to introduce a device this fall dedicated to streaming video over the Internet and into its customers’ living rooms, according to three people familiar with the project who aren’t authorized to discuss it.

Amazon’s entry will be just another example of how streaming is the future of TV. All the more reason for more investment in the infrastructure to handle the coming flood of data.

Telecom Undergirds the Entire Economy

By Brad

Our Co-Chairman Jamal Simmons recently talked with Marc Strassman of Etopia News about our look at the evolution of March Madness online, the IP transition, the need for spectrum dedicated to wireless, and more. Here’s the final clip.

The full interview is available at Etopia News.

Spurring Investment in Faster Broadband

By Brad

Earlier this week, Robert E. Litan penned an editorial for Bloomberg in advance of his new report (co-authored by Afzal Bari) titled “Faster Broadband: Policies and options for spurring expanded access to the next generation of Internet speeds.” Both in his opinion piece and study, Litan argues that when comes to achieve faster broadband, the FCC should be focusing more on spurring competition than on regulations. From the Bloomberg piece:

We are encouraged that the FCC seems intent on proceeding with its spectrum auctions in 2014 (though we wish this had happened earlier), but are less optimistic that the commission will reverse its policies of the past four years that are inconsistent with the deregulatory agenda that would really unleash competition in the broadband market and accelerate the race for faster broadband speeds.

In Litan and Bari’s study, they dig a lot deeper — specifically when it comes to steps the FCC can take:

One policy that would surely help is speeding up the auctions of wireless spectrum. Other deregulatory measures, aimed primarily at reducing the costs and increasing incentives for wireline broadband providers to build fast broadband networks, also are available:

• Removing legacy regulations on telecom carriers designed for outdated copper networks that discourage investments in modern broadband networks.

• Allowing broadband providers to charge for premium delivery services (just as on-line retailers do for more rapid shipping, and airlines and railroads do for first-class seating).

• Adopting the current case-by-case approach to resolving complaints of discrimination against vertically integrated cable video providers for resolving similar disputes in the broadband arena.

• Eliminating duplicative merger authority by making the FCC an advisor on telecom mergers, with ultimate authority resting with the Justice Department, where it belongs.

• Eliminating the FCC’s ability to condition spectrum purchases on the identity, business plans or spectrum holdings of the bidder, practices which inhibit wireless competition to wireline broadband providers.

You can download of a PDF of Litan and Bari’s study here.

WIPP on Spectrum

By Brad

Over at the Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP) blog, Barbara Kasoff highlights a recent speech from FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel on spectrum policy:

[Rosenworcel] touted the upcoming incentive auctions as critical for putting more licensed spectrum to work for consumers and urged the FCC and Congress to speed their efforts. She also gave a shout out to the unlicensed spectrum for Wi-Fi and to secondary market transaction that move spectrum directly and quickly from a company that isn’t using it aggressively to another that is eager to put it to work. Secondary market transactions are the essence of pro-consumer policy because they make it possible for consumers to enjoy the services they want most.

Kasoff goes on write that WIPP (which is one of our members) strongly agrees with spectrum policies that “involve competition, flexible use of licenses and presumption of renewal when something facilitates investments in networks, as well as secondary markets.” We also agree.

Tech & Texas

By Bruce Mehlman

The city of Austin is some 1,500 miles away from Washington, D.C., but during my time at the South by Southwest tech conference over the weekend, I couldn’t help but see a strong connection between what was happening at the conference and what is currently being debated inside the Beltway.

SXSW is all about startups, gadgets, and apps, and this year’s conference was especially heavy on the hardware. From wearable computers and smart thermostats, to new game consoles and miniscule cameras, cool devices were everywhere. Exploring the conference, you can’t help but think over and over again that we live in truly amazing times. But as a tech policy wonk, I was constantly reminded there are crucial issues on the table in Washington that could have a dramatic effect on the gadgets of tomorrow.

One is the critical need for more spectrum for mobile broadband providers, a problem the FCC’s upcoming incentive auctions could go a long way toward solving — as long as they are open to all bidders.

The other is the coming transition to all-IP networks, and the regulatory hurdles that could slow the process down. Last week, FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai said he strongly supported pilot programs to explore sun-setting legacy copper network in favor of IP. Hopefully, his fellow Commissioners agree.

If SXSW attendees this past weekend thought about the networks that power all the cool devices on display, they were probably focused on signal strength or how fast a tweet made it off their smartphone. Mobile broadband has come so far so fast that it’s already close to an afterthought. But without ongoing investment and smart policies, all the innovation on display in Austin could be hampered by congested networks and red tape applied 1,500 miles away. SXSW is an event where cool ideas take off. Washington is a place where regulatory hurdles can easily ground ideas before they have a chance to leave the runway.

CTIA’s Quick Facts About Wireless

By Brad

The folks at CTIA have put together a handy list of 50 wireless facts. Among them:

The wireless industry directly/indirectly employs more than 3.8 million Americans, which accounts for 2.6% of all U.S. employment. In addition, wireless employees are paid 65% higher than the national average for other workers.

Total private sector jobs fell by 5.3 million between April 2007 and June 2011, but the U.S. wireless industry added almost 1.6 million new jobs in the same time period.

As of December 2011, 34 percent of American households were wireless-only.

Despite having less than 5 percent of the world’s population and less than 6 percent of the world’s total wireless subscribers, the U.S. has more than half of global LTE subscribers.

There’s lots more where those came from. Head on over to CTIA and dig in.

National Grange on How Best to Expand Broadband Access

By Brad

In response to a hearing held last week by the House subcommittee on communications and technology on broadband stimulus programs, our friends (and members) the National Grange argue that the private sector is being more effective than thee government when it comes to broadband deployment:

While this government program hasn’t been a runaway success for the more than 50 million rural residents in America by any measure, private sector investment has played (and should continue to play) a key role in achieving widespread broadband access. Lawmakers acknowledged this reality in Wednesday’s hearing.  In fact, according to the U.S. Telecom Association, broadband providers have invested more than $1.2 trillion in their networks since 1996.  CTIA—the Wireless Association—reports that wireless carriers have made $348 billion in network capital investments, including 4G LTE build-out. As a result, increasing numbers of Americans have access to high-speed broadband and are subscribing at home.

It is clear that the private sector is better at delivering options, choices, and services to more consumers while also minimizing costs and expanding broadband infrastructure.

The solution, according to the National Grange, is partnership:

Our policymakers promote policies that facilitate continued private sector investment in the next-generation of high-speed broadband networks. Government must work with the private sector to achieve rapid deployment of 21st century communications networks and to bring access to this vital resource to all Americans. Public-private collaboration will help quickly deploy modernized, enhanced broadband networks in a cost-effective manner.

Everything Connected

By Bruce Mehlman

Reporting from the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the AP’s Peter Svensson looks at the coming machine-to-machine revolution:

Companies are promising that machine-to-machine, or M2M, technology will deliver all manner of services, from the prosaic to the world-changing. At U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm Inc.‘s booth here at the show, there’s a coffeepot that can be ordered to start brewing from a tablet computer, or an Internet-connected alarm clock. A former president of Costa Rica is also at the show, talking about how M2M can save massive amounts of greenhouse gases by making energy use more efficient — enough to bring mankind halfway to the goal of halting global warming.

The M2M phenomenon is part of the larger drive to create an “Internet of Things” — a global network that not only links computers, tablets and phones but that connects everything from bikes to washing machines to thermostats. Machina Research, a British firm, believes there will be 12.5 billion “smart” connected devices, excluding phones, PCs and tablets, in the world in 2020, up from 1.3 billion today.

Driving the M2M movement will be advanced networks — both wired and wireless — able to power the constant flow of data. To get there will take investment. As my fellow Chair Jamal Simmons recently wrote in Fierce Telecom:

[F]or consumers, businesses and our nation as a whole to benefit from the opportunities enabled by a high-speed, all IP-based broadband network, the entire ecosystem must invest.

Simmons in Fierce Telecom

By Brad

In an op-ed for Fierce Telecom, our Co-Chair Jamal Simmons encourages heavy investment in the transition to all-IP networks. Here’s a taste:

Many observers view this move to the future with enthusiasm. While technological advancements have granted the nation with significant benefits, many people still approach change with caution. Others will advocate for the status quo in order to retain their business models built on old technologies and favorable regulations. For example, many CLECs provide service dependent on regulated access to old Bell networks at subsidized rates. Once upon a time, regulated access may have made sense to provide a competitive alternative to the existing Bell telephone monopoly. In today’s marketplace, however, many providers compete to offer communications services. CLECs in general have failed to use their subsidized access to fund widespread investment and deployment of IP-based services, and instead have banked on the fact that they would have this favorable access in perpetuity. But for consumers, businesses and our nation as a whole to benefit from the opportunities enabled by a high-speed, all IP-based broadband network, the entire ecosystem must invest.

You can read Simmons’ full op-ed over at Fierce Telecom.

Our Connected Lives

By Bruce Mehlman

Connected devices.

Read through the deluge of CES coverage this week, and those two words keep appearing. From silverware that paces how you eat, to an iPad friendly potty trainer for tech-centric (and no doubt frustrated) parents, it’s not just computers and smartphones that rely on a connection to the Internet.

Even car makers are increasingly getting in on the act by reaching out to app developers, as Ryan Nakashima of the AP points out:

At the International CES show, General Motors and Ford launched programs that will open their designs to developers, inviting them to create software applications for future car models. It’s a relatively new strategy for car makers, but one that many gadget manufacturers employ, including Apple, which did it for the original iPhone in 2007.

The programs free the automakers from having to keep pace with new technologies by tying the functionality of their cars’ internal systems to advances in smartphones.

While connected devices certainly aren’t new, the emphasis on mobility is a fairly recent development. Increasingly robust wireless networks — from 3G to 4G and now LTE — are driving unprecedented innovation in the mobile space, which makes the other buzzwords from this year’s CES, IP-based networks, all the more important. The U.S. already has more connected devices than people, and as innovation continues to flourish, we’re going to need networks that can keep up with the ever-present flood of data.

Getting to those networks will take investment. The transition from the networks of old to the next generation and beyond is not going to be cheap, and in order for network providers to make the transition as quickly as consumers will demand, the government will need to work with the industry — not just to keep regulatory roadblocks at a minimum, but to ensure everyone is able to participate in our always-connected future.

The days when nearly everything around us is online are coming. Now is the time to get ready.

Keeping Up With Connected Devices

By Brad

This week, the tech industry, tech reporters, and tech enthusiasts have descended on Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show. Over at Forbes, Eric Savitz has penned a preview highlighting four trends for this year’s show. Chief among them is what Savitz calls the “post-smartphone era,” which he describes as:

[E]arly commercials for the first iPhone show that it really was originally designed primarily as a mobile telephone. Now 65% of mobile phone use time is in non-communications activities. The eco-system is becoming less beholden to the phone. There are unintended consequences of phones and tablets becoming hub devices: TV remotes, power notebook computers, measure blood pressure, weigh babies, etc.

With the gadgets we carry with us doing so much more than transmitting our voices, transforming the backbones that keep our gadgets connected — a transition to all IP-based networks — will be increasingly important.  As Savitz also notes in his piece, 350 million IP devices are expected to ship this year, which means keeping up with demand will require more and more investment.

We’ll have more highlights from CES throughout the week.

Two Investments in One

By Jamal Simmons

Yesterday at the Huffington Post, John M. Burns wrote about a new report on education from the NAACP. 

Both Burns’ post and the NAACP’s report are must-reads for anyone concerned about how America can fix its failing education system, but I want to highlight one part of Burns’ piece that dovetails with one of IIA’s main missions as an organization. Burns writes:

Clearly, success in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) disciplines not only requires the preparedness, education and skills necessary to navigate these waters but it is essential that the technological landscape provide the medium for growth and innovation. At a time when we as a nation have collectively conceded that we are lagging behind the world in these key disciplines, we cannot afford to be confronted with undue government and regulatory restrictions on the digital world. These types of restriction will do nothing but hinder our own sustainability and competitiveness in the global world. It is critical that U.S. policymakers show that it is our nation’s unequivocal policy to avoid undue regulation of the Internet at all levels of government. And that means the Federal Communications Commission and other regulatory bodies must invest in the technological infrastructure to ensure that the regulatory environment meets the needs of our new technological reality while simultaneously removing old restrictions that suppress technological expansion and innovation.

Burns is exactly right. There’s no question America’s position in the global economy will depend on a healthy workforce fluent in the STEM disciplines. But just as important is the underlying infrastructure that workforce will rely on in order to keep America competitive. And key to upgrading our nation’s communications backbone will be billions in investment from the private sector — investment outdated and unnecessary regulations can easily stifle.

Well over a century ago, the government and the private sector made a commitment to connect everyone with a telephone.  Now we need to make another commitment to meet our new technological reality.

Investing in our IP future will be more than an investment in our communication infrastructure. It will be an investment in education. And as Burns and the NAACP both rightly point out, that’s an investment we should all be able to agree on.

Swanson in Forbes

By Brad

Analyst (and friend of IIA) Bret Swanson is having a busy week.

In an op-ed for Forbes, he examines the effect 20th century phone regulations are having on 21st century networks. After citing Google’s abandonment of offering phone service via its new fiber network in Kansas City due to a number of regulatory hoops, Swanson warns that requiring network providers to continue investing in old technology is slowing innovation — and the economy — down:

Both native apps and Web apps will be powered by increasingly sophisticated and pervasive cloud resources: storage, computation, collaboration, transactions, location services, content distribution, and remote 3D video rendering. This dependence on the cloud, moreover, will require ever increasing network coverage and speed. This means more cell towers, more small cells, more Wi-Fi, more advanced technology like LTE and MIMO, more spectrum, and more Ethernet optical fiber links connecting all these wireless and data center nodes. All of which requires more investment.

But old style phone regulations often require network operators to maintain and expand obsolete copper wires and TDM (time division multiplexing) switching technologies. This necessarily diverts capital from crucial investments in modern optical fiber and 4G wireless.

For more from Swanson on apps, regulation, and the economy, see his report “Soft Power: Zero to 60 Billion in Four Years,” along with his recent guest post for us “Keeping the App Economy Booming.”

IIA Applauds Effort to Make Spectrum Screen Better

By IIA

IIA Applauds Effort to Make Spectrum Screen Better, More Predictable & Transparent, But Notes More Spectrum Is the Key Issue for 2013

Weighs in on ways to spur investment and growth in mobile with comments for FCC’s Mobile Spectrum Holdings NPRM

WASHINGTON, D.C. – November 23, 2012 – Responding to the opportunity to offer comments on the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) focusing on FCC policies regarding mobile spectrum holdings, the Internet Innovation Alliance (IIA), a broad-based coalition supporting broadband access and adoption for all Americans, today released the following summary and statement from its comments filed with the FCC:

1. Uncertainty Is Undermining Economic Growth & Job Creation.
2. Mobile Broadband Offers Extraordinary Potential to Drive Sustained Economic Recovery and Innovation.
3. Government Policy in 2013 Should Focus on Making More Spectrum Available for Private Use and Providing Greater Certainty for Investors.

“IIA believes the existing unpredictable, non-public process for changing spectrum screens undermines economic growth by failing to provide investors with the transparency, predictability and flexibility needed to properly consider wireless broadband investments. While freeing more spectrum for mobile broadband use remains the most important new policy priority, creating an open and predictable process for evaluating the amount of spectrum carriers will be allowed to possess is essential to promoting investment and growth in commercial mobile services.

“Today’s wireless marketplace is highly competitive, with nine out of ten consumers having a choice of five or more service providers in local markets across the nation.  Future spectrum screen analyses should acknowledge such competitiveness, in addition to recognizing differential values of spectrum with varying propagation characteristics.  Criterion should not disqualify or impair any carriers from participating in the upcoming Incentive Auctions or future auction of new spectrum. Clarity – both in the screen and knowledge that it will not unexpectedly change in mid-stream – should be sought to encourage more robust secondary markets.

“Spectrum screen decisions by the FCC should be made through the regular rulemaking process including the provision of notice, the issuance of proposed rules, an opportunity for interested parties to comment and judicial appeal from the final promulgated rule. Such a process assures that the rules will not be changed after carriers have made substantial investments in reliance on current screens. That certainty, which the present spectrum screen change process lacks, will stimulate investment and promote planned and orderly growth to the market for mobile services.”

Read our full comments on the FCC’s website.

there's more...

The Economic Boost of Internet Everywhere

By Joe Fuhr

America’s communications industry is evolving.

It is an evolution that goes by many names. Smart networks. Internet Protocol Networks. All-IP.

At its core, is a dramatic shift for America’s communications infrastructure. A major leap forward from the copper networks of the past to the digital communication of today and tomorrow.

This transition from copper to IP has been happening for a while, led by a society that is increasingly “cutting the cord” — dropping traditional landlines in favor of wireless, be it phone service or broadband.

Now things are speeding up. Recently, AT&T announced it will be investing more than $60 billion over three years to accelerate its transition to all-IP networks. This substantial investment is not without its hurdles. While more and more Americans are abandoning a reliance on the copper network, there are still millions of people — many of them in rural areas — who still depend on it for their communication needs.

It is important that the industry work hand-in-hand with the government to ensure no one is left behind as the transition happens. This is a message regulators need to listen to — not only because they share in the responsibility to keep Americans connected, but because of what the shift to all-IP will mean for the economy.

According to broadband association US Telecom, America’s telecommunications companies have invested close to $1.2 trillion since 1996. As recent announcements show, the transition to all-IP promises to unleash even more investment from the highly competitive telecommunications industry — investment that will translate into a substantial increase in jobs and overall economic growth.

Obviously, the government should continue to encourage this high level of investment from private industry. One way they can do so is through modernizing regulations.

As copper networks are increasingly losing relevance, so are the rules governing their operations. Today, companies must continue to invest heavily in their legacy networks even as customers are embracing newer technologies. Not only is this increasingly a waste of investment dollars, it also maintains an uneven playing field, one where certain companies are forced to divert investment dollars necessary to keep them competitive. It is not just the industry that is being held back. The same outdated regulations are also slowing the government’s own goal of connecting everyone in America to high-speed Internet.

The way we communicate changes quickly. Just five years ago, there was no iPhone. Mobile broadband was in its infancy. Tablet computing was almost non-existent. In order to keep up with innovation, the transition to all-IP networks needs to happen now. There is a path to make this transition go as smoothly as possible, one that ensures everyone remains both connected and able to participate in the digital revolution. However, it will take substantial cooperation from private industry and the government to make it happen.

The age of the Internet everywhere is at hand. We just need to ensure regulations from 1930s do not hold it back.

Joe Fuhr is a Professor of Economics at Widener University, a Senior Fellow at the American Consumer Institute, and one of our Broadband Ambassadors.

A Matter of Spectrum in Austria

By Brad

Michael Shields of Reuters reports on a debate over spectrum, only this time it’s not here in America:

T-Mobile Austria could slash investment or even withdraw from the country if it is not allowed to compete with rivals that get frequencies needed for fourth-generation LTE mobile products, CEO Andreas Bierwirth told a newspaper.

The Deutsche Telekom unit is Austria’s second-biggest mobile provider after Telekom Austria. Two smaller rivals - France Telecom SA’s Orange and Hutchison’s H3G - are trying to merge in a deal that is under regulatory review.

When asked if T-Mobile would bail on Austria altogether, Bierwirth went on to say “I wouldn’t want to rule out any options for this case.”

Tags: mobile broadband, spectrum, investment, t-mobile, lte

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Keeping Connected During a Crisis

By Brad

With Hurricane Sandy bearing down on the east coast, safety is on everyone’s mind. And a key to safety during times of crisis is communication.

Back in June, Gregg Riddle, President of the Daytona Beach-based Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials International, penned a helpful op-ed for the Daytona Beach News-Journal with tips on how you — with the help of your smartphone — can play a role in helping protect yourself and your family during natural disasters:

• Keep your phone fully charged, and keep it dry by placing it in a sealable plastic bag if you will be in an area where you may be exposed to water.

• Forward your home number to your wireless phone, so you are able to receive all calls regardless of your location.

• Learn community hurricane-evacuation routes and how to find shelter on higher ground. Location-based mapping on your smartphone can help with this.

• Make a family communications plan. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, you should identify a contact out-of-state who can take calls from household members. It may be easier to make a long-distance phone call than to call across town, so an out-of-town contact may be in a better position to communicate among separated family members. Also, be sure every member of your family knows the phone number and has a cellphone, coins or a prepaid phone card to call the emergency contact. If you have a cellphone, program that contact person as “ICE” (In Case of Emergency) in your phone. If you are in an accident, emergency personnel will often check your ICE listings in order to contact someone you know. Make sure to tell your family and friends that you’ve listed them as emergency contacts.

Riddle also highlighted the role app developers now play by creating useful storm-tracking tools, and how wireless providers — via investment and innovation — work overtime to help affected areas stay connected:

As part of a commitment to emergency preparedness, wireless carriers are also taking numerous steps to be ready for emergencies, such as adding capacity to their wireless networks to support increased call volume, including emergency 9-1-1 calls and setting up portable generators. After a storm, carrier-driven response efforts include deploying mobile cell sites and command centers, emergency-communications vehicles, and even a self-sufficient “base camp” for communications-recovery workers.

Riddle’s full op-ed is definitely worth checking out. Stay safe everyone!

Embracing Technology in Education

By Brad

In an op-ed for Sunday’s Washington Post, Kwame Simmons — Principal of Kramer Middle School in Washington, D.C. and recent participant in our education-focused webinar — wrote about how his school has embraced technology in an effort to better educate kids:

At the end of the 2011-2012 academic year, Kramer logged barely double-digit scores on the D.C. Comprehensive Assessment System (CAS): 17 percent proficient in reading and 26 percent proficient in math. The school had a much-warranted bull’s-eye on its back. But after a year of planning and a three-year School Improvement Grant and two-year Race to the Top grant from the U.S. Education Department, we have high hopes for change. Our secret weapon and education equalizer? Broadband.

Kramer is the first school in the district to implement a new program that is predicted to elevate student engagement and drastically improve test scores. The grant funding has increased the number of laptops available for use in our classrooms, so that we now have a one-to-one student-to-laptop scenario at Kramer, a rare gift in the field of education.

That one-to-one student-to-laptop scenario Simmons mentions is impressive — and important. With school districts increasingly facing cutbacks and growing class sizes, technology like laptops and tablets — and the next-generation networks that power them — can unlock opportunities once out of reach and help students succeed. That’s something we should all be behind, but as Simmons goes on to note, the country still has a ways to go:

Unfortunately, this isn’t the norm in our country. According to the Federal Communications Commission’s National Broadband Plan, only 37 percent of all teachers reported having electronic access to achievement data for students in their classrooms. Building out reliable broadband access must remain a national priority.

Simmons then touched on something we here at IIA have long focused on. Namely, the need for more investment in broadband:

I’m highly committed to proving him wrong and hitting our goal of boosting test scores by 40 percentage points in five years. As we closely monitor the progress at Kramer, let’s encourage the public and private sectors to invest in the networks that make online learning possible. Broadband is the bridge that will connect D.C. Public Schools’ goals to reality.

Check out Simmons’ full op-ed at the Washington Post. You can also listen to an archive of our education webinar featuring Simmons here.