• WSJ.com, Wednesday, April 12, 2006 10:30 AM

Despite rapid broadband growth, the U.S. continues to lag behind Europe and Asia in adopting broadband connections, according to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The most recent figures from December 2005 put the U.S. 12th among industrialized nations, with just 16.8 broadband subscribers per 100 inhabitants. Iceland is the category's new leader, overtaking the top spot from tech-happy South Korea. In fact, Northern Europe filled seven of the top ten results. OECD collects its information from the countries' governments as well as public financial reports from telecommunications companies. Above and beyond the fact that we never like not being first, the Wall Street Journal says high speed connections mean more to a nation's economy than faster downloads and better quality streaming video: "the quality of communication networks is a major determinant of productivity growth, allowing products and services to be made more efficiently and opening up new markets." To that end, the quality of Internet products coming out in the U.S. is quite high--the world's biggest and most successful Internet firms are U.S.-based--but the divide between the tech haves and have-nots is greater than in other countries, and getting bigger. In December '01, the U.S . placed fourth on the same list. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has argued this is due to the low population density of the U.S., although Northern European countries, which also have long distances for cables to travel, don't seem to have a problem connecting its citizens. In many countries placing high on the list, the government has played a very active role in spurring broadband use and in some cases building the infrastructure itself. Our government, obviously, lets the market take care of itself, which only seems to widen the divide between tech haves and have-nots.

Read the whole story at WSJ.com »