Monday, October 30, 2006

Broadband in California

San Jose Mercury News:
Saying California lags other states in government policies that promote high-speed Internet access, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Friday signed an executive order to set up a task force to streamline permitting and speed up the construction of broadband networks.

"We have to make sure government is not an obstacle," Schwarzenegger said during a San Francisco medical symposium exploring how to use high-speed Internet connections to diagnose patients in distant locations.

During a press conference, surrounded by executives from Microsoft, Cisco and Juniper Networks, among others, Schwarzenegger cited a three-year-old TechNet study that found that California ranked 14th among 50 states in government policies that encourage broadband. About half of the state's population has access to broadband, mirroring national figures.