Cisco CEO Calls for U.S. National Broadband Policy

Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers moments ago called on political leaders to develop a national broadband policy, which would help the United States close the digital divide and compete more effectively on a global scale. He also called on the United States to change its definition of broadband to 100Mbps connections.

Chambers made the statement during a question-and-answer session attended by me at the Cisco Networkers Live event held this week in Anaheim, California.

I had the opportunity to ask Chambers directly about the state of U.S. broadband. He had some immediate thoughts.

“We’re beginning to get closer [on getting broadband right],” Chambers said. “But to really get there you need a national policy that both [political] parties support.”

Broadband and broadband policy, Chambers noted, rank among the top 3 issues in Australia’s election. Without directly stating it, Chambers appeared to be suggesting that broadband policy should be a central focus of the next U.S. election.

Chambers said he has seen broadband progress on several fronts, first from cable companies and now from the “AT&T’s and the Verizon’s moving dramatically and more aggressively.”

Chambers also called on the U.S. government to change its definition of broadband. The FCC defines broadband as a connection speed of 200Kbps. “Japan would say our definition of broadband is a dial-up connection rather than a broadband connection,” said Chambers.

So what is broadband? “I believe we have to change the definition to 100 megabits per second,” he noted. And over the next five years or so, Chambers would want to push broadband definitions to climb closer to 1 gigabit-per-second. “You need true broadband build-out to all American homes,” added Chambers.

The Q&A is continuing now; more thoughts from Chambers later tonight.