FCC Chairman Genachowski, at Gigabit Community Workshop, Makes First Public Comments Since His Stepping Down Announcement

WASHINGTON, March 27, 2013 - “If we build super-fast networks, the innovators will come,” said Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski on Wednesday, in his first public statements since his announcement last Friday that he would leave the agency in a matter of weeks.

While speaking at an FCC workshop on the development of gigabit-speed broadband networks, Genachowski re-iterated the importance of these ultra-high-speed networks, and also reminded the audience of the things that have been accomplished during his tenure as chairman. Genachowski said he believed that we live in “an incredible time in the broadband world and the broadband economy” and that the “workshop is one step to help these efforts that are going on.”

According to Genachowski, broadband development used to be merely a theory, but is now the only clear option for telecommunications. “It is now clear that [broadband] is our main platform for the 21st century,” he said.

One FCC goals is to incent the creation of at least one gigabit-level broadband network in each state. This was the “gigabit challenge” that Genachowski presented to mayors around the country at a conference in January. By doing this, Genachowski believes the United States could gain a global advantage by relying on “super fast, high capacity, ubiquitous broadband.”

Genachowski also noting that there has been more fouth-generation, or 4G, LTE adoption in the United States than in the rest of the world combined. He also reminded the audience that in 2009, networks surpassing 100 Megabits per second (Mbps) passed through only 20 percent of domestic households. By 2013, that number had risen to 80 percent of households. Aggregate broadband speeds have nearly doubled in that same time frame.

As countries such as Japan and Korea surge forward with gigabit market, Genachowski sought that others would embrace the gigabit commitment. Global competitors “are doing everything they can to build to “attract innovators and innovation hubs.”

The U.S. “needs to put our feet down on the gas pedal [because] the rest of the world is competing aggressively.”