Don't Have It, Don't Want It

One line of reasoning about broadband deployment is that carriers and government have failed to push it hard enough. There's another way of looking at matters, however. In the U.K. market, for example, respondents who don't buy broadband access services recently told researchers that they didn't want broadband, or didn't own PCs.

Some 27 percent just didn't want it, and some 22 to 23 percent don't own PCs in the home, so broadband has no value. About 15 percent said they couldn't afford it. This will change as compelling services aimed at TVs and game consoles, for example, become available.

In some cases, the ability to use mobile handsets inside the home for a flat fee each month might be so compelling that will drive broadband adoption. The point is that people buy things when they find things valuable, and many end users still haven't been persuaded.