— Declaring expansion of broadband Internet access the nation’s next
great infrastructure challenge, federal regulators on Monday unveiled
an ambitious, decade-long strategy to make super high-speed connections
available in every corner of the country.
The plan by the Federal Communications Commission
sets a goal of making sure at least 100 million homes have affordable
access to networks that allow them to download data from the Internet
at speeds of at least 100 megabits per second — at least 20 times
faster than what most people get today. The proposal, which will be
sent to Congress, also seeks to put ultra-fast Internet access of 1
gigabit per second in public facilities such as schools, hospitals and
government buildings in every community.
The goal is to transform the nation’s Internet
infrastructure and make high-speed access affordable to everyone, the
FCC said. The agency proposes to use wireless connections as a cheaper
and quicker alternative to laying wires or fiber-optic cables to
unserved areas. One of the plan’s main objectives, it said, is to make
The plan, which for the most part the FCC would
implement, is expected to face opposition from broadcasters, who fear
they would be forced to give up some of their airwaves.
Telecommunications companies and some Republicans in Congress also are
concerned about possible new regulations that, they warn, could stifle
investment in expanding broadband networks.
Although the FCC made paper copies of the 356-page
plan available to reporters Monday, it will not be released to the
public until Tuesday. As such, interest groups and analysts were unable
to comment on the details Monday. They stressed those details were
crucial.
Still, consumer and public interest groups praised
the commission for taking on the challenge of spurring the expansion of
affordable high-speed Internet after years of waiting for private
companies to do it.
“It’s exciting that we have national attention on
putting together a broadband plan after this issue had been dropped
from the federal agenda for a number of years,” said
“To date, just leaving things up to the market has
not produced affordable broadband,” she said, noting that Internet
access is more expensive in the U.S. than at least a dozen other
developed countries.
Another key component of the plan is creating a new
wireless network for police, firefighters and other public safety
workers so they can communicate and share data and video between
departments during major emergencies.
Lawmakers and public safety organizations have pushed for such a network since the
had trouble communicating. In 2008, the FCC tried to lure private
companies to help build such a network by offering cheap access to
public airwaves, but the effort failed.
The FCC has recommended Congress authorize
There is no set price tag for the overall plan
because Congress could decide to accelerate parts of it. FCC officials
said the plan is designed to pay for itself through existing revenue
streams, such as fees already charged to telecommunications companies
to spread service to rural areas. Combining that funding and money for
a public safety network would put the overall plan’s decade-long cost
in the tens of billions of dollars.
The FCC, which spent a year studying the issue, said
the federal government needs to do more to assure that high-speed
networks reach all Americans, allowing them to tap into the information
economy and take advantage of advancements to come, such as electronic
health records.
“The National Broadband Plan is a 21st-century road
map to spur economic growth and investment, create jobs, educate our
children, protect our citizens, and engage in our democracy,” said FCC
Chairman
Tapping into the wireless airwaves is a key part of
the FCC’s plan. It wants to reallocate a huge chunk of radio-frequency
spectrum to use for high-speed Internet service, regarded as a much
cheaper and quicker way of spreading broadband service than laying
fiber cables — particularly in rural areas.
But that spectrum is assigned to TV and radio
broadcasters, who are expected to strongly oppose any proposal to take
it away, even if the FCC would share money with them from auctioning
off the use of those airwaves to telecommunications companies.
FCC staff said it would be up to broadcasters to
decide if they wanted to give up some of their airwaves. But the report
said the FCC should explore alternatives, such as forcing some
broadcasters to change how they transmit, if incentives don’t produce
enough free airwaves.
That wording raised alarms at the National Association of Broadcasters.
“We were pleased by initial indications from FCC
members that any spectrum reallocation would be voluntary, and were
therefore prepared to move forward in a constructive fashion on that
basis,” said
vice president. “However, we are concerned by reports … that suggest
many aspects of the plan may in fact not be as voluntary as originally
promised.
Telecommunications industry trade group USTelecom, which represents companies including
said it applauded the goals of the plan, and commended the FCC for what
it perceived as the plan’s focus on lowering costs and expanding access
through market competition, rather than regulation.
Access to high-speed Internet service has grown
dramatically — nearly 200 million Americans now have access, compared
with 8 million in 2000, the FCC said.
But about 100 million U.S. homes do not have
high-speed Internet access in their homes. Much of that is because of
the price for service, but about 14 million Americans could not get
access — even if they could afford the bill — because it is not
available where they live.
Congress included
Consumer groups and Internet activists have
complained for years that the U.S. had no real broadband strategy, a
major reason that the country continues falling in international
rankings for high-speed Internet access per capita. The U.S. is 15th in
the 2009 tally from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development after having been fourth in 2001.
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