According to Point Topic, " World broadband lines reached 164m as of 31 March 2005, an increase of 52m lines since March 2004 last year - with 28m lines added in the last 6 months alone. The USA is still the world's largest broadband country with 36.5m lines, and China remains in second place with 28.3m lines. The UK is leading growth in the 'G7 Rankings' achieving a 16.5 percent increase in lines since end-2004, and adding over 1m lines in the process. France was the only other G7 country passing 10 percent growth in the quarter - achieving 13.5 percent growth and adding an equally impressive 913,000 lines in the quarter. 'Top 10' growth is dominated by Eastern Europe and a mixture of Latin American and Asia Pacific countries. Turkey led the rankings overall, achieving 37 percent growth in the quarter, adding 179,000 lines. Poland led the Eastern European countries, achieving 24 percent growth and becoming the first Eastern European country to pass 1m lines. Australia continued to impress, achieving 18 percent growth to reach 1.8m lines in the quarter. In South Korea, the broadband market continues its path to saturation, having achieved only 1.4 percent growth in the quarter. Other countries, especially the established 'early adopters' such Taiwan and even Japan are showing modest growth - less than 5 percent in the quarter."
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...