According to a new study of broadband access in industrialized countries, the US had slipped to number 15 on the list as of the end of last year.
The Paris-based organization, which counts 30 industrialized and democratic nations from Europe, Asia and North America as its members, has measured the number of broadband subscribers to DSL, cable and other technologies since at least 2001.
The latest report said the United States has the largest number of broadband subscribers _ more than 58 million _ among its members. But the percentage of citizens using broadband is higher among other nations, such as Denmark, the Netherlands and Iceland, which are the top three nations in the report.
The percentage of broadband subscribers in the United States is 19.6. In Denmark, it’s 31.9 percent while the Netherlands is 31.8 percent. In Canada, 23.8 percent of citizens are broadband subscribers, compared with 3.5 percent in Mexico.
On top of that, we’ve also fallen to 20th place in terms of growth of broadband penetration.
Even worse, however, an analysis of the statistics shows we pay a lot more for our high speed service: “$10 per Mbps versus the $1 or less per Mbps that is paid on average by other OECD nations”.
No doubt this is the result of all the “competition” the big telecom companies claim we are blessed with in the US.
Tim, This statistic inspires fear. What can we expect for the future of the United States. Months ago I posted a poem on my blog entitled “The Demise of Great Civilizations.” The poem was written over 200 years ago, by Sir Alex Fraser Tyler, but it’s still relevant: “The average age of the world’s great civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed thorugh this sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependency; from dependency back into bondage.”