Nortel CEO Bill Owens struck a pessimistic tone on Capitol Hill T...

as a nation. For some reason, our nation doesn’t rally around to do it,” Owens said. While other speakers at the Nortel event, including FCC Comr. Abernathy, highlighted regulatory and technology changes that could bring more broadband to rural areas, Owens questioned if American govt. leaders had the same zeal for broadband that Asian leaders have shown. “We don’t have our mind in this, at the highest levels of government,” Owens said. Owens didn’t specifically cite President Bush or any members of Congress, but he said high-level Chinese officials were taking broadband deployment very seriously. And he predicted that China and other Asian nations would continue to outpace U.S. broadband deployment. “They know what it means for society,” said Owens, referring to the Chinese. “They have a plan, a vision. They know that they're going to win.” Owens said China probably would have 3G technology implemented by next year, in time for the 2008 Summer Olympics. China is “dead serious” about broadband deployment, he said, and he wondered if senior U.S. govt. leaders “woke up thinking about bandwidth like the Chinese do.” Speakers at the event said broadband was important to help rural American communities keep jobs and slow population migration to larger cities. “Rural America is worth saving,” Owens said. Abernathy said regulatory changes could help improve rural broadband deployment, but the best possibilities for rural deployment come from new technologies like wireless broadband and broadband over power line (BPL). Abernathy said BPL could produce “phenomenal” results for rural America. She said wireless broadband -- including services riding on secondary-market and unlicensed spectrum -- was another promising technology for rural markets. She said she learned at a recent international conference that other nations are also looking closely at wireless deployment. Abernathy said the triennial review order (TRO), which dropped unbundling requirements for new “next generation technology,” was starting to bear fruit. “But we need more,” she said, emphasizing the need for more deregulatory action. She said the FCC would try to continue to move towards new regulatory frameworks that focus on social requirements, like 911 and disability assistance, rather than price regulations. But while she said she prefers free market principles, she acknowledged they won’t work to bring broadband to rural areas, where investors don’t have hopes for return on investment. “In rural areas, we have to take a different approach,” she said.