March 16, 2010
F.C.C. Says Adoption of New Broadband Plan Is Vital
By BRIAN STELTER
The
Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday characterized its Congressionally mandated “national broadband plan” as a much-needed step for keeping the United States competitive.
The proposal, which the agency sent to Congress on Tuesday, “is necessary to meet the challenges of global competitiveness, and harness the power of broadband to help address so many vital national issues,” the agency chairman,
Julius Genachowski,
said in a statement.
The 376-page plan reflects the view that broadband Internet is becoming the common medium of the United States, gradually displacing the telephone and broadcast television. But many of the recommendations will require Congressional action, and may take years to put in place.
Some proposals will probably face resistance from the telecommunication giants, which over time may face new competition for customers. Already, the broadcast television industry is resisting a proposal to auction off some of its spectrum so that it can be redirected toward mobile Internet technologies.
The plan broadly seeks a 90 percent broadband adoption rate in the United States by 2020, up from roughly 65 percent. The reasons for being unwired vary: some cannot access it at their homes, some cannot afford it and some choose not to have it.
Recommendations include subsidies to extend broadband to rural areas now without access, the development of a new universal set-top box that would connect to the Internet and cable service and the formation of a “digital literacy corps” to provide skills training.
The plan also includes a faster-Internet initiative that theoretically would equip 100 million households with 100-megabit-a-second access by the end of this decade. According to comScore, the average subscriber now receives speeds of three to four megabits a second.
And it envisions a fully Web-connected world with split-second access to health care information and online classrooms, delivered through wireless devices yet to be dreamed up in Silicon Valley. But to get there, analysts say the F.C.C. must tread carefully with companies like
Comcast and
AT&T that largely control Internet pricing and speeds. Already, there are questions about the extent to which the F.C.C. has jurisdiction over Internet providers.
On Monday and Tuesday, Internet providers sounded generally receptive to the plan, but they indicated that new government regulation could impede their abilities to improve their networks.
Brian L. Roberts, the chairman and chief executive of Comcast, praised the plan in a statement that also said: “With the demand for bandwidth doubling every two years, most recognize the critical need for continued private investment in faster competitive broadband networks, and the importance of maintaining a regulatory environment to promote that investment,”
Some public interest groups suggested that the plan did not go far enough in fostering competition for Internet access.
Lowering prices and raising Internet speeds “will require confronting the market power of the cable and telephone giants that control the broadband market” said Josh Silver, the executive director of the group Free Press. “While the F.C.C. does take some important steps toward a new framework for competition policy, many of the critical questions are deferred for further review.”
The F.C.C. says it can make some important changes on its own, without Congressional action, including changes to the Universal Service Fund, which spends $8 billion a year from telephone surcharges to ensure that rural and poor people have phone lines at home. Over time, the fund will spend more to support broadband availability.
In his statement Tuesday, Mr. Genachowski called the proposal “a 21st-century roadmap to spur economic growth and investment, create jobs, educate our children, protect our citizens and engage in our democracy.”
For much of the last year, he has laid the groundwork for the plan by asserting that the United States is lagging far behind other countries in broadband adoption and speed.
In a speech last month, Mr. Genachowski observed that the country could build state-of-the-art computers and applications, but without equivalent broadband wiring, “it would be like having the technology for great
electric cars, but terrible roads.”
The F.C.C. argues that the plan should pay for itself through the spectrum auctions.
The agency held a meeting Tuesday morning to discuss the proposals.
Blair Levin, the head of the F.C.C. broadband plan task force, told the commissioners that “this plan is in beta, and always should be.”
