A Chat with the Chairman

By Brad

Following the release of the FCC’s National Broadband Plan yesterday, Chairman Julius Genachowski sat down for an interview on YouTube:

National Broadband Plan Wrap-Up

By Brad

A sampling of online chatter following yesterday’s release of the National Broadband Plan. First up, the Huffington Post:

Among the cornerstones of the plan is a ‘shoot for the moon’ goal of connecting 100 million U.S. households to 100 megabits per second broadband service over the next decade. Goals of this ambition require an unshakable policy foundation that is unequivocally supportive of investment. This means the many rule-makings that likely flow out of this plan must be cohesive in nature—pulling in the same constructive and unifying direction and staying true to the Chairman’s early and firm commitment to fact-based, data-driven decisions.

From Business Week:

If the U.S. military ranked 17th in the world, you can bet that as a nation we would make strengthening our armed forces a national priority. Yet that’s just how the U.S. stacks up against the rest of the world in terms of access to high-speed Internet connections. The vital communications systems that make our economy work and serve as a platform for business innovation and social interactions are second-class. Sadly, many of us have accepted that.

It’s time to overcome our broadband complacency. The national broadband plan sent to Congress on Mar. 16 by the Federal Communications Commission is critical to our economic and national security. Without a plan, we simply cannot compete.

The L.A. Times:

The FCC’s plan calls for a dramatic expansion of affordable, high-speed Internet. A chief goal is to ensure that at least 100 million homes have access to networks that allow data downloads at speeds at least 20 times faster than what most networks now deliver.

The bulk of the recommendation can be enacted by the FCC, such as diverting money from a fund for affordable phone service to rural areas to be used for increasing broadband access.

But Congress would have to act on others, particularly changing rules for federal auctions of federal airwaves to entice some broadcasters to give up their spectrum so the airwaves could be used for wireless Internet access.

USA Today:

FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn criticized the recommendation to coax, and possibly force, television broadcasters to give up some airwave spectrum. The plan aims to increase broadband competition by boosting the amount of spectrum for wireless Internet services to 500 MHz from 50 MHz.

She said that “it is certainly possible, if not likely” that the few minority-owned stations likely would be among the first to sell their spectrum. She says she would find a policy that further diminished that number to be “untenable.”

The Wall Street Journal:

The FCC report suggests that 100 million U.S. homes—of a total 112 million—should have “affordable access” to 50 megabit per second Internet service in five years. That’s about 10 times faster than most homes get today. But the plan doesn’t define affordable.

Nor does it offer a specific recipe for its aim. The FCC says it will ultimately propose dozens of new rule changes to enact some of the ideas in Tuesday’s report.

The New York Times:

The broadband 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.

President Obama said the plan recalled the way “past generations of Americans met the great infrastructure challenges of the day, such as building the transcontinental railroad and the Interstate highways.”

We’ve Come a Long Way

By David

The Internet is the great equalizer and enabler in today’s global, digital economy – those not online have the most to lose. We are thrilled to see many months of collaboration between the public and private sectors come to bear in a historic National Broadband Plan. 

We’ve come a long way in the development of high-speed Internet, and going forward, the people who can benefit most from broadband connectivity should be the focus of every discussion on Internet policy. The plan provides a great opportunity to extend the power of connectivity to all Americans, consistent with the President’s goals and vision.

The Road Ahead

By Bruce

I applaud the FCC for presenting an ambitious plan that sets goals for greater broadband availability, adoption and speeds — all key to the advancement of our economic, health care and educational systems. 

The National Broadband Plan both highlights a decade of success and innovation in Internet technology and lays out the work that remains ahead. It has been estimated that hitting the targets outlined in the plan, including at least 90 percent broadband adoption by 2020, could cost as much as $350 billion. This plan could be powerful and positive provided strict new regulations are not imposed to undermine investment. 

Then & Now

By Brad

In 1996, the cable and telecommunications industry invested $5.7 billion in infrastructure; since then, they have invested more than $161.2 billion.

In 1999, there were just 105 different broadband providers across the United States; today, the FCC reports that there are nearly 1,400.

In 2000, there were approximately 7 million broadband lines; now there are more than 132 million.

In June 2000, 59 percent of U.S. zip codes had at least one high-speed Internet service provider available; today, broadband has been deployed to 100 percent of zip codes across the country and only 6 percent of U.S. homes don’t have access to any broadband services, according to the FCC.

According to the NTIA, 4.4 percent of U.S. households had adopted broadband Internet in August 2000; as of October 2009, this number had multiplied to 63.5 percent of U.S. households.

According to IIA Broadband Ambassador Bret Swanson, monthly Internet traffic was approximately 170 million gigabytes in 2004; as of October 2009, monthly traffic measured two billion gigabytes — a tenfold leap.

On July 30, 2008, the Internet Innovation Alliance was first out of the gate calling for a National Broadband Strategy; now, the Federal Communications Commission officially presents its National Broadband Plan to Congress.

At Long Last: A National Broadband Plan

By Brad

It’s an historic day for America’s Internet, as this morning FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski officially released the National Broadband Plan.

The full plan is available at Broadband.gov.

Interview with a Commish

By Brad

Network World asked communications policy expert Hugh Carter Donahue to interview FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell about net neutrality. The result is a long and interesting exchange on the nature of the Internet, the role government should have in overseeing it, and the effect new regulations could have on private investment:

What effects do you think mandatory standards will have on broadband network and equipment investment and software programming? Will these standards stimulate or freeze investment and innovation, or turn out to be neutral?

Hundreds of billions of dollars have been invested in America’s broadband networks since the Internet was privatized in 1994. More investment is pouring in over the horizon. New rules, regardless of their context, always invite litigation and, therefore, uncertainty. Capital avoids uncertainty. It is not hard to envision a scenario where new investment is inhibited by new rules. Investors of all kinds told the FCC as much during our Oct.1 hearing on investment in the broadband market.

Check out the full interview.

Previewing the Plan

By Bruce

Over the weekend, the Washington Post published an editorial by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski in advance of the FCC’s National Broadband Plan:

Our nation is at a high-tech crossroads: Either we commit to creating world-leading broadband networks to make sure that the next waves of innovation and business growth occur here, or we stand pat and watch inventions and jobs migrate to those parts of the world with better, faster and cheaper communications infrastructures.

This, of course, is not a choice—which is why, this week, at the behest of Congress and the president, the Federal Communications Commission is delivering the first National Broadband Plan: a comprehensive strategy for dramatically improving our broadband networks and extending their benefits to all Americans.

On a related note, today the FCC has released the Executive Summary for the National Broadband Plan, available here in a PDF.

Concerns About a National Broadband Plan

By Brad

An editorial in the Wall Street Journal examines the FCC’s National Broadband Plan — scheduled to be previewed tomorrow — and worries that it may lead to a power grab by the government agency: 

In 2009 alone, broadband providers spent nearly $60 billion on their networks. Absent any evidence of market failure, the best course for the FCC is to report back to Congress that a broadband industrial policy is unnecessary. Instead, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is moving to increase the reach of his agency and expand government control of the Web.

Among other things, he wants broadband services reclassified so the FCC can more heavily regulate them. The national broadband plan, to be unveiled tomorrow, will call for using the federal Universal Service Fund to subsidize broadband deployment. The USF currently subsidizes phone service in rural areas, and Mr. Genachowski knows that current law prevents it from being used to subsidize broadband unless broadband is reclassified as a telecom service. Congress ought to be wary of letting the FCC expand its jurisdiction through back doors like this.

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Questions for the Commish

By Brad

Immediately following the unveiling of the FCC’s national broadband plan next Tuesday, Chairman Julius Genachowski will be fielding questions on YouTube about the plan and the FCC’s steps moving forward. Questions can be submitted via CitizenTube.

A Matter of Spectrum

By Brad

In a move to free up more of the nation’s spectrum for wireless use, the House Energy & Commerce Committee passed a spectrum inventory bill yesterday. Via Broadcasting & Cable:

H.R. 3125, the Radio Spectrum Inventory Act, requires the FCC and the National Telecommunications & Information Administration to conduct an inventory of how spectrum is being used, by whom and how efficiently.

House Communications & Internet Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Rick Boucher, who co-sponsored the bill, said the new four-year time frame was “in recognition that the agencies simply need time in order to perform the complex evaluations that will undermine these evaluations.”

A Broadband Education

By Brad

As part of its upcoming national broadband plan, the FCC has announced it wants to create a “digital literacy corps” to help educate people in low broadband adoption areas about the benefits of broadband. Reports Broadcasting & Cable:

[FCC Chairman Julius] Genachowski said that rural, minority, low-income, seniors, the disabled and tribal communities have fallen behind in broadband, and the cost of digital exclusion is “high and growing higher every day.”

Other inclusion proposals include creating an “online skills” portal with free lessons and digital education, though of course that will require broadband availability.

The FCC will also recommend public funding for the National Telecommunications & Information Administration to support public-private partnerships for outreach and education and targeted support for senior citizens.

A Day Early

By Bruce

In a surprising move — for government, anyway — the FCC has announced that it’s much anticipated national broadband plan will now be released on March 16 — a day earlier than originally scheduled.

Using Spectrum to Provide Service

By Brad

Reuters reports that as part of its national broadband plan — due to be presented before Congress in just eight days — the FCC will recommend dedicating some spectrum to provide free or low-cost wireless Internet service to low-income and rural communities.

Lacking Authority

By Brad

Via InfoTech & Telecom News, the Electronic Frontier Foundation — long supportive of net neutrality principles — is arguing against the FCC imposing new regulations:

In comments filed with the FCC in February, the San Francisco-based organization said the agency lacks the authority to issue neutrality regulations that would ban Internet Service Providers (ISPs) such as Comcast from favoring some forms of Internet traffic over others.

“Congress has not deputized the FCC to be a free roving regulator of the Internet,” the group argued in a filing that came as a shock to net neutrality supporters such as the intensely pro-regulation “public advocacy” groups Free Press and Public Knowledge.

“So while EFF strongly endorses the goals of this commission ... a limitless notion of ancillary jurisdiction would stand as an open invitation to future commissions to promulgate ‘policy statements,’ issue regulations, and conduct adjudications detrimental to the Internet,” EFF wrote.

Read the full Heartland Institute report, which also quotes IIA Co-Chairman Bruce Mehlman.

A “Revenue Neutral” Plan

By Brad

Via Reuters, some insight into where funding for a national broadband plan will come from:

The U.S. National Broadband Plan set for release this month will not call for additional spending beyond the existing programs, a move likely to garner support from lawmakers, a Federal Communications Commission official said on Wednesday.

The highly anticipated blueprint will be “revenue neutral” overall because spectrum auctions will compensate for any needed spending, said the official, who was not authorized to speak before the public release of the plan.

Outside of the spectrum auction — which could bring in as much as $50 billion for the plan — the FCC is also set to recommend redirecting the universal service fund to connect four percent of Americans currently lacking broadband access.

A Question of Authority

By Bruce

One of the questions surrounding the current net neutrality debate is whether the Federal Communications Commission has the authority needed to impose new regulations on the Internet. As Computer World reports, former solicitor general Gregory Garre believes the FCC must ask Congress for authority before it acts:

If the FCC wants to create new Internet regulations, it should have the backing of Congress, Garre added. “It would be appropriate for the FCC to go to Congress,” he said. “This isn’t some minor regulatory issue we’re talking about. The FCC itself has described the Internet as something that ‘has transformed our nation’s economy, culture and democracy.’”

Countdown to a National Broadband Plan

By Bruce

In just 14 days, the FCC will present a national broadband plan to Congress. Today, the Wall Street Journal highlights some of what the plan will entail:

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski’s coming National Broadband Plan will propose up to $25 billion in new federal spending for high-speed Internet lines and a wireless network for police and firefighters as part of a broader plan that appears to be a win for wireless companies.

The plan will also offer a variety of ideas for expanding Americans’ access to affordable Internet over the next decade. Mr. Genachowski has been slowly releasing details about the plan, which will be released in mid-March, and last week suggested that Congress spend $12 billion to $16 billion for the wireless Internet network for police and firefighters.

Talking with the Commish

By Brad

Yesterday, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski sat down with the Washington Post to talk about the national broadband plan and the importance of being connected.

Public Safety

By Brad

As part of its presentation to Congress of a national broadband plan, the FCC has announced it will recommend a federal grant program of $6 billion to build a wireless public safety network. An addition $6-$10 billion will also be proposed in order to operate it.