FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly speaking at the ITU World Radiocommunication Conference in 2015. (credit: United States Mission Geneva)

O’Rielly, a Republican, posted a blog yesterday adding his thoughts to a debate “over whether there should be an expansive infrastructure spending and policy bill” with broadband-related infrastructure provisions. O’Rielly argued that broadband deployment in the United States is already very good considering the country’s low population density, with at least 90 percent of residents having access to 25Mbps download speeds. (Former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler had a less rosy view of US broadband, criticizing the lack of competition at high speeds.)

“According to the OECD’s latest statistics, South Korea’s fixed broadband penetration subscriptions per 100 inhabitants was ranked fifth compared to the US ranking of seventeenth, but Korea’s population density in 2015 was 519 per square kilometer compared to our 35,” O’Rielly wrote. “Thus, artificial comparisons to other nations of different sizes and terrains doesn’t serve much value without understanding the contextual situations we face as a nation.”