Bush is bully on broadband

President Bush is taking the lead to guarantee that America keeps its edge in the information economy. On Friday, he launched initiatives to make cheap, high-speed Internet access available to all Americans by 2007. Yesterday, the president took his plan one step further by proposing a permanent ban on taxing Internet access. “If you want broadband access throughout the society, Congress must ban taxes on access,” he said. We agree. The Bush administration’s move to cut regulation and eliminate taxation of broadband technology is the surest way to promote innovation, which will boost the economy in the future.

Other than the tax ban, the White House program seeks to prevent regulations from older industries from being applied to new broadband advances. The president also issued a memorandum ordering agency heads to get the government out of the way of investment. For example, if a company needs to run cable or fiber through federal land, the process should be streamlined so that the future isn’t strangled by red tape.

Yesterday’s announcement is the latest step in the Bush administration’s visionary broadband policy. Last February, Chairman Michael Powell led the Federal Communications Commission to adopt a hands-off approach for advanced new fiber optic networks. If a company builds new networks, they won’t be regulated. In addition, Mr. Powell has freed up the airwaves for wireless broadband uses such as WiFi and upcoming technologies like WiMax. WiMax is a wireless broadband that can travel long distances, thus making wires unnecessary.

Democrats in the Senate, including presidential candidate John Kerry, have attacked the new Bush initiatives for not being enough. They argue that almost $2 billion authorized by Congress to fund rural broadband development have not been dispersed. This is beside the point because cutting-edge technologies pushed by the White House undermine any possible justification for huge federal subsidies micromanaged by bureaucrats. There simply is no need to wire everything when wireless technologies will get high-speed access to rural areas faster and cheaper. The Democrats do not offer any concrete alternatives to bring access on line any sooner other than more funds, which are easy for opposition candidates to propose since there is no worry about having to deliver a program until after an election.

In the information age, a vibrant economy depends on the easiest possible access to information. Broadband increasingly will deliver that information in the days to come. Mr. Bush’s policies are making sure the country is ready for the future.