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America Has More High-Speed Citizens Than Any Other Country

by Sean Captain on May 21, 2009 at 08:02 AM

The US is the most wired country in the world, according to a new study of industrialized counties that are members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. With 80,071,074 people connected to DSL, cable, or fiber (as of December 2008), America has nearly as many high-speed surfers as the next four countries combined (Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom and France).

But tech patriotism may fade a bit when you consider the plight of average Americans. On a per-capita basis, the U.S. ranks a dismal 15th -- behind Canada and most of northern Europe -- with just 27-percent of its population hooked up to fast pipes. Surprisingly, that still puts the U.S. ahead of cyber-fantasyland Japan, which has a 24-percent connection rate, as well as other wealthy counties, including Australia, Austria, Spain and Italy.

The whole mix may change radically in the next few years, however. In the U.S. the FCC is currently developing a plan to foster universal broadband access for all Americans, backed up by $7.2 billion in funding from the Stimulus Plan legislation. (The FCC will deliver its plans to Congress in February 2010.) And Australia recently announced a $30.6 billion plan to wire the entire continent. [From: The Guardian]

Tags: congress, ethernet, fcc, studies, study, top

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