The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) officially approved the very-high-bit-rate digital subscriber line 2 (VDSL2) standard. The new VDSL2 Recommendation (ITU-T G.993.2) delivers up to 100 Mbps both up and downstream, a ten-fold increase over "plain vanilla" ADSL. Yoichi Maeda, chairman of the ITU Telecommunications Standardization Sector (ITU-T) Study Group responsible for the work, said: "We have leveraged the strengths of ADSL, ADSL2+, and VDSL to achieve the very high performance levels you will see with VDSL2. This new standard is set to become an extremely important feature of the telecommunications landscape, and is a landmark achievement for our members, many of whom are relying on this Recommendation to take their businesses to the next level."
Try to imagine this scenario, that General Motors and Ford were given exclusive franchises to build America's interstate highway system, and also all the highways that connect local communities. Now imagine that, based upon a financial crisis, these troubled companies decided to convert all "their" local arteries into toll-roads -- they then use incremental toll fees to severely limit all travel to and from small businesses. Why? This handicapping process reduced the need to invest in building better new roads, or repairing the dilapidated ones. But, wouldn't that short-sighted decision have a detrimental impact on the overall national economy? It's a moot point -- pure fantasy -- you say. The U.S. political leadership would never knowingly risk the nation's social and economic future on the financial viability of a restrictive duopoly. Or, would they? The 21st century Global Networked Economy travels across essential broadband infrastructure. The forced intro...