• PC World
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WASHINGTON, D.C. -- On the fourth anniversary of the 1996 Telecommunications Act's enactment, the Federal Communications Commission is releasing a report trumpeting the act as paving the way for the tech industry to boost the U.S. economy.

FCC Chair William E. Kennard, who spoke Tuesday at the National Press Club, praises the Telecom Act for launching America into what he calls the "broadband Internet age." He cites the Internet's state of exponential growth.

The report notes a handful of milestones:

• More than 230,000 jobs were created in the communication services and equipment industry since 1996.
  
  
• The number of schools with Internet connections in low-income areas quadrupled from 19 percent in 1994 to 80 percent in 1998.
  
  
• The miles of fiber systems used to transport information have nearly doubled since 1996.
  
  
• About 1.7 million users connect to the Web at speeds at least 25 times faster than a 28.8-kbps modem.
  
  
• Internet usage has grown about threefold since 1996 to almost 80 million users in 1999.
  
  

The report also supports Commerce Department findings that information technology industries directly contributed more than one-third of real economic growth between 1995 and 1998.

When asked about the pending approval of megamergers in the telecom industry, Kennard declines comment. The recently proposed merger between America Online and Time Warner, as well as the pending deal between CBS and Viacom, require approvals by the FCC and the Justice Department.

Mr. Broadband at the FCC

Introduced as "Mr. Broadband," Kennard recognizes the need to make high-speed Internet access a reality in U.S. homes.

"The average Internet user in America spends 25 hours a year waiting for Web sites to download," he says, calling it the "world wide wait on the World Wide Web."

One of the most important initiatives for growth is to continue building the piping for broadband. "Anyone that wants to invest in broadband is going to be able to do so," Kennard says. The government will interfere little or not at all, he pledges. Local telephone carriers and, to a lesser extent, cable companies are making broadband access more available.

One American mainstay that broadband will transform is the centerpiece of home entertainment: television. Right now, most viewers wait until the evening prime time slot rolls around to watch their favorite TV show. Kennard expects that broadband will eventually foster on-demand television programming, calling it a "time shift" where viewers "watch what they want, when they want."

"This is truly the beginning of a new era in which high-speed broadband access will be as ubiquitous as the dial tone is today in American homes and businesses," Kennard says.