Mark your calendars. September 27 seems to have been some kind of unofficial international day for talking up how broadband creates jobs. Starting with the perspective on CNBC in the morning by Alcatel-Lucent CEO Ben Verwaayen’s (News - Alert) emphasis on the subject, there followed Ericsson’s release of the results of a study on the subject and FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s (News - Alert) address, “Jobs and the Broadband Economy,” delivered at the headquarters of online value experience provider Living Social.

Genachowski started with a tip of the hat to his hosts for creating 2,000 American jobs in just two years and helping small businesses in the expansion of their sales and the lowering of costs to reach target customers. The chairman then reminded the audience that he has been trumpeting, “how broadband is indispensable infrastructure for America in the 21^st Century” for several years. He then went on to cover:

• Why broadband is so vital to our near-term economic recovery and long-term prosperity
• How positive developments in the broadband economy give us strong reason for optimism about our economic future
• What we must do to expand broadband access and adoption, and ensure that America has broadband infrastructure that spurs world-leading innovation, economic growth and job creation

Context for his remarks is that, while Americans are struggling and old economy jobs are disappearing, the U.S. broadband economy is strong, growing and an engine for overall economic vitality. He highlighted that much of the digital economy flourishing worldwide was invented in the U.S. Companies like Apple (News - Alert), Twitter, Facebook and others continue to create value by pushing the innovation envelope.

Why is broadband so vital?

 Genakowski said:

 “The changes being ushered in by high-speed Internet are at least as promising as those brought about by electricity. Instead of appliances on the electric grid, it's now applications on the information grid. Tom Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum recently wrote that we are at ‘the most profound inflection point for communication, innovation, and commerce since the Gutenberg printing press.’ Our ability to meet this moment and seize the opportunities of this new communications technology is critical to our recovery and our economic future.”

He went on that infrastructure, innovation and economic success have always been tied together in the U.S. And today the innovation engine is broadband Internet. In the U.S., the Internet accounted for eight percent of America's GDP growth from 1995 to 2009. Since 2004, it's accounted for 15 percent of U.S. GDP growth and is only growing in importance.

Optimism for the future

 Genachowski pointed to things like cloud computing as indicative of how broadband enabled solutions are driving productivity and making U.S. companies more competitive. He was careful to note that, “the Internet is creating more jobs than it’s eliminating,” citing a recent McKinsey study that broadband Internet creates 2.6 new jobs for every one lost. This includes, for example, Facebook (News - Alert), which researchers say has been responsible for the creation of 182,000 jobs if you include the developers of apps for the popular social networking site. It also includes 4G mobility (an area of U.S. leadership), where a new Deloitte study estimates investment in 4G mobile broadband networks, already underway, will add up to $151 billion in GDP growth over the next four years, creating 771,000 new jobs.

He then expounded upon several other examples of how broadband makes possible new business opportunities for companies of all sizes, regardless of their geographic location. This includes home-based businesses, and growth is coming obviously not just in the U.S. but globally, heightening the pressure to stay ahead of the curve.

The policy push

The chairman then warmed to the meat of his talk:

“To make sure that the U.S. is getting a full and growing share of broadband-enabled jobs, we've got to get our broadband infrastructure right. If we don't, we'll still have job losses here, but the new jobs will increasingly be created in other parts of the world.”

He said that, fortunately, the U.S. is well positioned. It comprises 30 percent of all Internet revenue worldwide and more than 40 percent of net income, and, if done right, there is no reason this dominance cannot be sustained, especially given the favorable business policies Genachowski says have been at the core of FCC initiatives for the past few years. Digital TV and freeing up white spaces of spectrum for new service were sighted in this respect, and he feels the U.S. exporting of things like super Wi-Fi and machine-to-machine technology show the value the country can contribute to maintain its leadership.

He cited several other policies that are seeding the field for future success which have been taken under his stewardship:

• In America's first National Broadband Plan, we set out a vision and an ambitious strategic agenda for seizing the opportunities of high-speed Internet and ensuring U.S. leadership in the global broadband economy.
• In 2010, the FCC adopted a strong and balanced framework to preserve Internet freedom and openness. He stated that, “We said these widely supported rules of the road would increase certainty and predictability in the marketplace, unleashing new innovation and investment across the broadband economy. And they have.”
• The elimination of fifty unnecessary regulations, lifting needless restrictions on the use of spectrum, streamlining the process of attaching broadband wires and wireless equipment to utility poles, and adopting a shot clock to speed mobile broadband deployment.
• Advanced reforms to connect more schools, libraries, and hospitals to fast, affordable Internet, and to increase the speed to market of health-related communications devices and apps.

However, this was not a victory lap as he cautioned that, “there is more to do.”

Government has limited role as facilitator

Unlike other parts of the world, the U.S. relies on the private sector to build our broadband infrastructure. Genochowski says this is the “right course.” However, government does have a limited but essential role to play in as facilitators of investment and innovation, and as assurers that infrastructure gaps are addressed. Responsibilities include:

• Efficiently utilizing assets it controls or manages, particularly being good stewards of spectrum, but also wisely overseeing the use of rights-of-way.
• Ensuring that the programs it manages are fiscally responsible and meet the challenges of today, not the past.
• Taking smart steps to promote broadband adoption and digital literacy, including by empowering consumers and promoting competition.

How these play out in terms of the FCC’s agenda comes in the form of three initiatives:

1. Mobilize America —ensure there is enough spectrum for the crush of traffic new services running on bit hungry smartphones and tablets will generate.
2. Connect America —implementation of the National Broadband Plan.
3. Empower America — use regulatory tools to facilitate the universal deployment of broadband and enable leverage this to create jobs and drive innovation.

As Genachowski sees it, the FCC’s biggest challenge is to fill in four gaps:

• Close the spectrum gap and sign into law a bill that has already passed the U.S. Senate with bi-partisan support.
• Close the deployment gap. Right now, 20 million customers cannot obtain broadband even if they wanted to, and that is why the Universal Service Fund is being over-hauled.
• Close the broadband adoption gap. Addressing the fact that nearly 100 million Americans are not signed up for broadband access which limits their access to education and medical resources and limits awareness of job opportunities which are increasingly online.
• Close the broadband skills gap. Broadband access is not sufficient if the U.S. is to successfully compete in a connected world.

Genachowski ended with an impassioned call to action, stating:

“That requires smart policies to extend broadband infrastructure everywhere and to everyone, to seize the opportunities to expand broadband's invisible infrastructure - spectrum, and to empower U.S. entrepreneurs to out-innovate the world. We can do this. America can do this. Thank you.”

At the end of the speech and the day, the message was clear — broadband and jobs, perfect together! We can only hope that next September 27 there is significant progress to report.

Note:  For the complete text of the Genachowski remarks click here.

Peter Bernstein is a technology industry veteran, having worked in multiple capacities with several of the industry's biggest brands, including Avaya, Alcatel-Lucent, Telcordia, HP, Siemens (News - Alert), Nortel, France Telecom, and others, and having served on the Advisory Boards of 15 technology startups. To read more of Peter's work, please visit his columnist page.