In 1997, South Korea decided they wanted to be a broadband powerhouse. The country doled out $24 billion on a national backbone and set clear goals for their national broadband penetration. The South Korean government subsidized rural deployment and facilities-based competition, and actually held incumbent operators accountable for poor rural access.

Now that the average South Korean has a 45Mbps connection, the government is conducting a massive analysis of the quality of consumer broadband. Once they've determined how well providers are performing, the government intends to establish safeguards holding ISPs accountable for poor service:Obviously, South Korea's small size and population density helps in enabling broadband connectivity, but there are still some lessons that can be taken from their broadband policies. Here in the States even getting the FCC to provide accurate broadband penetration data has been like pulling teeth, and the best we get are a scattered few lawmakers insisting that having some broadband plan might be a good idea.

Incumbent lobbyists, fearful (and rightly so) that progressive pro-consumer policies could hurt their bottom lines, have lobbied this nation's government into apathy and inaction.