Another national broadband champion emerges

The list of well-intentioned groups pushing for for national broadband policy and universal broadband availability in the U.S. just keeps growing. The latest entrant is the Internet Innovation Alliance, led by former Clinton administration telecom policy advisor Larry Irving and former Bush (G.W.) administration technology advisor Bruce Mehlman. they have started enlisting "Broadband Ambassadors," people who, as executives and leading lights in sectors such as technology, service providers, content and finance, have a stake in the success of broadband. 

They say that is what has been missing from other broadband advancement groups--a combination of public and private leaders, many of them profit-motivated, who can effectively do something about this issue. The IIA's emergence comes not long after another group of politically-influential folks created Internet For Everyone. Will the growing number of groups and perspectives help national broadband policy succeed, or will all the voices complicate matters? Maybe the IIA, the IFE, the people behind Connected Nation and anyone else thinking about organizing their thoughts around universal broadband should get together on the same team.

For more:
- read this story at Telephony
- see this viewpoint by Irving and Mehlman at BusinessWeek

Related articles:
Internet For Everyone showed up last month. Internet For Everyone report
Broadband policy was on the mind of Reed Hundt earlier this year. Broadband policy report