U.S. to wake up to broadband in a few years

When it comes to broadband, the U.S. is still in the stone knives and bear skins era. Fast phones, online educational courses, and free access in hotels and public places is fairly common in Asia. More importantly, the infrastructure is paving the way for new generations of start-ups.

But the U.S. is waking up, said Peter Morris, a partner at New Enterprise Associates at the VentureOne Summit taking place in San Francisco this week.

"Communication infrastructure is totally related to gross domestic product per capita," he said. "At some point, there is going to be a national initiative. By the end of the decade, there are going to be some non-linear (i.e. big and unexpected) events in communications to let the U.S. catch up with the rest of the world."