Rim Semiconductor Company (fka RSMI)

[iOwnSomeNVEI]

U.S. losing to Korea... in broadband?!

Korea 1, U.S. 0. And it's not a soccer score. It's your now and future. It's a large part of why the U.S. economy is stagnant: Lack of vision in government and technology companies. Get over the NASDAQ plunge and focus on today's world: information ubiquity.

Ironic that a country that is home to Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Steve Jobs, Andy Grove, Bob Metcalfe, Vint Cerf, and dozens of technology leaders (and us!) is behind little old Korea when it comes to the future of consumer media and tech.

How so?

Broadband. Highspeed data connections. It's not about technology, it's about what and how people will live and already do in broadband areas, mostly in Asia.

Information is the global currency, not euros or dollars or yen. The center of information flow is Korea.

And Korea is ahead by years in broadband per capita. Already more than Some 60% of Koreans have broadband. It's so common that people watch TV on a PC as often as a TV set.

Education is driven by broadband in Korea as the government put capital behind highspeed years ago.

Online video gaming is a national pastime for youth.

Yes, geographical obstacles (like sheer size) make the U.S. broadband deployment more difficult. But the world's number one economy needs to keep its leadership in adoption of technology or risk becoming a net exporter of innovation and then laggard as Asia and Europe surpass it in the info age.

California (home to Silicon Valley and Hollywood) is the 4th-largest economy in the world. Tech drives it. But, it lags Korea also.

In the U.S. getting something as simple as DSL installed can take years as the glacial phone giants milk every last ounce of Bell's 100-year old wiring. And not even 60% of Americans have plain vanilla dial up.

It's pathetic in our opinion that these quasi-monopolies such as SBC and Verizon and AT&T take so long and delay the economic benefit of broadband.

Meanwhile, in Korea, more famous for Samsung until now, young and old enjoy one of the world's best economies, owed partly to broadband's ability to deliver education, information, entertainment and the subsequent revenues associated with each.

If you want jobs, growth and recovery in the U.S. then broadband must become a priority for the U.S. and its states. It isn't a magic cure all for the economy but the future is alive and well ... in Korea.

Today it may not be that apparent but to the few who have been to Korea and Tokyo. But in a few short years the digital divide will be clear as Asia and Europe leave the U.S. behind in use of broadband and all the benefits of new ways of information consumption.


http://www.siliconinvestor.com/insight/editorial.gsp?id=71304