I have a new column up over at Singer's Song today entitled "Becoming Unwired" on the roadblocks to high speed wireless internet. Check it out, if your interested. In related news, Drew Clark of National Journal's Technology Daily reports that America is falling rapidly in access to broadband internet.

The United States has dropped even further in the international high-speed Internet race.

Statistics released this month by the International Telecommunication Union show that U.S. global broadband penetration dropped last year from 13th place to 16th. The ITU figures show the United States at 11.4 broadband subscribers per 100 inhabitants as of Dec. 31, 2004. That percentage of broadband is less than half of what South Korea boasts; the latter country is the global leader with 24.9 broadband subscribers per 100 inhabitants.

Behind South Korea, filling out the top five nations are Hong Kong at 20.9 broadband subscribers per 100 inhabitants; the Netherlands, with 19.4 per 100; Denmark, 19.3; and Canada, 17.6. Canada dropped two slots -- from third place in 2003 to fifth place in 2004. South Korea and Hong Kong ranked first and second, respectively, in both 2002 and 2003.

[...]

In 2001, the United States ranked fourth among OECD member nations. In 2003, it ranked 10th. The group has not finalized its December 2004 ranking – but, in June 2004, the United States ranked 11th. "When we finalize [statistics] to the end of 2004, it should be about 12th or 13th," said OECD telecom unit head Dimitri Ypsilanti. Hong Kong, Taiwan, Israel and Singapore are not OECD nations -- so a 16th place ranking in the ITU survey would translate into a 12th place ranking in the OECD list.

This is an unacceptable development in this country, and Congress must do something about it. American students have already fallen behind their competitors around the world in the applied sciences, much to the detriment of our nation's economy. What happens if they also fall behind in technological development?

The stakes are too high for the Republicans to allow telecommunications reform turn into another porkbarrel frenzy. Perhaps they can for once take the high road and simply pass a piece of good legislation that fixes the problems without giving away the bank to their big corporate donors. Most likely this will not occur, of course, and America will slip further and further behind the rest of the world in high speed internet access.