Many people believe that the Internet can help Hawaii’s economy by providing additional customers access to our local companies’ services and products.   For consumers, the Internet helps find services and products we want for the best price.  There are many articles stating that the U.S. is falling more and more behind in Internet acceptance and speeds as compared to other countries.  To combat this trend, President Obama’s new stimulus plan has $7.2B allocated to helping get broadband access to rural and other underserved areas.  The Hawaii Legislature is also trying to pass a Bill this session that would promote Internet access to every home and business in the state.  The Bill also is pushing to increase the speeds to levels comparable to the leading nations of the world (i.e. +60 mbps).  These Bills are intended to fulfill the recommendations of the Hawaii Broadband Task Force which was created by the Hawaii Legislature in 2007.  By reducing obstacles and promoting broadband usage and services, Hawaii may be able to improve its economy by using the great equalizer called the Internet.

However, just improving our Internet infrastructure in Hawaii alone will not improve our economy.  People need to use of the Internet for business and personal gains to get the desired results.  Hawaii has been technology-wise, an early adopter, so broadband penetration (the percentage of households that have broadband service) is one of the highest in the U.S. .    For a couple years, Hawaii was the most penetrated cable modem state.  However, due to our location in the middle of the Pacific, in other reports, Hawaii has been saddled as having some of the slowest Internet speeds in the country.  My personal opinion is that the test done disadvantages Hawaii due to the extra distance to the test servers.

However, in a study done by a professor at the London Business School, counties are ranked by what he calls a Connectivity Scorecard.  This study includes not only considerations for infrastructure required for broadband (e.g. fiber, coax, copper wires) but adds in the factors of usage and skills (computer knowledge) among the consumer, business and government sectors.   How much people use the Internet and what they are using it for, will also be deciding factors on growing the economy.   In the study, despite the U.S. scoring the highest, there are still things it can do to improve its economy.

With the world economy in such turmoil, every state and city will be struggling with how to remain financially viable.  Many are hoping that the Internet will be the savior for them but promoting broadband is not a just subscribing to the Road Runner service.  It’s using that connection to your economic advantage.  E-commerce is a multi-billion dollar worldwide industry which Hawaii can increasingly tap into with better Internet infrastructure and a paradigm shift that includes increasing the usage and skills of the Internet.

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