Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) believes that if the U.S. and other countries want broadband rollouts to flourish, their respective governments will have to adopt a regulatory regime that encourages growth.
Speaking at this week's Broadband World Forum, Kevin Lo, the general manager overseeing Google's Fiber projects, said that "Regulation can get in the way of innovation," and that "when they are tied to physical infrastructure sometimes defer the investment altogether."
In order to overcome these obstacles, Lo thinks regulators should overhaul three fundamental elements that he says can be roadblocks for service providers trying to build out new broadband networks: ease access to public rights-of-way where fiber-optic cables can be laid; ease access to utility poles; and enable special service districts to free sections of municipalities from zoning restrictions.
One of the other obvious aspects he touted during his speech was that application developers, consumers, and businesses want a broadband network that provides plenty of speed.
While cable operators and telcos have made progress in upping their speeds, Google believes no one is moving fast enough.
"We have product managers who are very frustrated," he said. "They have apps that don't work because they don't have the speeds."
For its part, Google's Fiber Project will provide 1 Gbps speeds beginning in Kansas City, Mo. and Kansas City, Kan. in addition to a pilot Fiber to the Home network run by Sonic.net on the Stanford University campus in California.
For more:
- CNET has this article
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