Jon Banks on Multichannel News July 29th, 2008
Brooke Oberwetter

Multichannel News has published a pretty hefty excerpt of USTelecom’s Jon Banks’ testimony before the House Subcommittee on Telecom and the Internet from last week.

The last several years have brought the once-separate worlds of telecom, media, and technology together, where the health of each segment—its ability to innovate and invest—has a ripple effect on the health of the others and their capacity to deliver new choices to consumers and to our economy.

Telecom, media, and technology—the TMT sector—is a linchpin of our economy. TMT is the fourth-largest contributor to our GDP, and it is the leading driver of growth and productivity in our economy. About one-half of our economy’s productivity growth comes from this sector. In addition, the TMT sector generates over 10 million jobs, providing 8% or more of non-farm employment. Many of these jobs are high-wage jobs in high-growth areas.

The key to the vitality of this sector, and the jobs, economic growth, and innovation it creates, is ongoing and robust investment. Over the last five years, investment in this sector has returned to the levels reached during the heights of the Internet boom. Today, the TMT industry is investing about $400 billion in software and equipment on an annual basis accounting for about 40% of total U.S. non-structural investment. That is, leaving out investment in things like buildings and bridges, the technology, media, and telecom industries are responsible for 40 cents of every dollar invested in our economy.

You can read the whole thing here.

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