What are the reasons behind?

What are sound economic reasons why US has fallen significantly behind other nations in broadband penetration?

• US is significantly behind Japan, South Korea and many European countires when it comes to broadband penetration and wireless advancement. What are some of the sound economic reasons for this to have happened despite the technology being pioneered in the US? (De)Regulation, competition or lack thereof, consumer behavior, other....Please give detailed insights and relevant arguments explaning the economic reasons for this lag.

• Answer:

  1) User apathy. Many people don't see a valid reason to pay $40 a month for what's generally percieved as slightly faster than dial-up Internet. 2) High penetration of existing media. If you already have copper phone wires (and a huge percentage of those lines are unsuited for DSL due to quality, distance, or analog repeaters) and cable TV, you're less likely to get broadband (whose big drivers appear to be VoIP and streaming video). Countries that have low penetration of existing phone cabling and cable TV will be able to leapfrog the US by deploying Fiber to the Home or WiMax. When the next-next gen stuff comes out with an actuall killer app (that's not something-you-already-have- over-IP) expect US consumers to get back on top of the pile.