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National Broadband Plan
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently released their much ballyhooed National Broadband Plan
The plan outlines the following six goals which the FCC hopes to achieve moving forward:
• Goal 1: At least 100 million U.S. homes should have affordable access to actual download speeds of at least 100 megabits per second and actual upload speeds of at least 50 megabits per second.
• Goal 2: The United States should lead the world in mobile innovation, with the fastest and most extensive wireless networks of any nation.
• Goal 3: Every American should have affordable access to robust broadband service, and the means and skills to subscribe if they so choose.
• Goal 4: Every community should have affordable access to at least 1 Gbps broadband service to anchor institutions such as schools, hospitals and government buildings.
• Goal 5: To ensure the safety of Americans, every first responder should have access to a nationwide public safety wireless network.
• Goal 6: To ensure that America leads in the clean energy economy, every American should be able to use broadband to track and manage their real-time energy consumption.
After releasing the plan, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski sat down with PBS’ News Hour for an interview on the sweeping plan.
Initial reaction from some of the country’s largest broadband providers seemed cautious during a policy event at the National Press Club.
An editorial in the Washington Post found the FCC’s plan to be a bit more dubious and questioned whether government involvement in the Internet space is even necessary.
The next steps for the FCC plan will most certainly require Congressional action. Here’s an informative edition of C-SPAN’s The Communicators which explores what role Congress will have in the implementation of the plan.
Don't Let The Government LOCKDOWN The Internet
In a landmark court decision handed down on April 6, 2010, a Federal appeals court ruled for Comcast and against the FCC on key Net Neutrality case
According to the above press report, the “unanimous ruling by the three-judge panel was a setback for the FCC because it questioned the agency’s authority to regulate broadband. That could cause problems beyond the FCC’s effort to adopt official net neutrality regulations. It also has serious implications for the ambitious national broadband-expansion plan released by the FCC last month. The FCC needs the authority to regulate broadband so that it can push ahead with some of the plan’s key recommendations.”
In a radio interview on NPR’s Marketplace the day the court’s Comcast decision was released, Cecilia Kang, technology reporter for the Washington Post, discussed the consumer implications of the court’s decision and its effects on the FCC’s National Broadband Plan.
And in an article entitled, “Net Neutrality is Anti-Consumer,” the editors of the_National Review_ offered up a very thorough piece of analysis regarding the court’s Comcast ruling, explaining why efforts toward government regulation of the Internet will not benefit consumers. In order to overcome their loss in the courts, the National Review editors report that, “Net-neutrality backers, of whom FCC chairman Julius Genachowski is one, have suggested that the FCC should reclassify the Internet as a ‘telecommunications service’ rather than an ‘information service’ in order to gain the regulatory authority it currently lacks.”
Reclassification of the Internet under the FCC’s Title II provisions, however, presents its own set of problems for the Commission. Not only is reclassification legally questionable, but it would almost certainly put the brakes on innovation and future network investment in the Internet.
The FCC could continue to attempt to gain regulatory control of the Internet through reclassification and/or ask Congress to pass statutory changes which grant the Commission that authority, but that could end up being a case study in throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
The existing regulatory environment for the Internet has been working – innovation and new technology has flourished. Private investment coupled with entrepreneurial spirit has created a booming Internet industry – a success story in an otherwise troubled economy.
MCA believes that the FCC’S goal of seeking to connect all of America to the promise of high-speed Internet is a good one. But public policies and regulatory structures that distract from that goal could be barriers to future innovation, instead of encouraging and enabling more competition and increased access to the Internet.
Additional Information on Net Neutrality
Press release from the Institute for Policy Innovation opposing net neutrality regulations
Is the FCC neutralizing innovation?
Network neutrality? How about FCC neutrality?
