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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Geoff Daily of App-Rising has concerns about how projects are being chosen for broadband stimulus funds:
Last night CNN aired a story during the Situation Room highlighting two participants in the first round of the broadband stimulus.
The first was Hiawatha Broadband, a terrific rural broadband deployer in southeastern Minnesota. They interviewed a host of people about how the hardscrabble rural towns Hiawatha was aiming to serve don’t have broadband at all, and as a result their public safety is in jeopardy as they have no efficient way to communicate during an emergency. Unfortunately, despite the fact that they’re a poster child for the types of communities the broadband stimulus is intended to help, their application was denied.
Then CNN went up to Bretton Woods, NH, where RUS did find a project it deemed worthy of funding, namely building fiber to 400 skiing chalets. I’d been suspicious about this program already, but CNN put an even finer point on it: only 40 of those homes actually have full-time residents.
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.
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.
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.
With broadband stimulus funds slowly making their way to applicants, a new wrinkle has emerged that may slow down recipients putting the money to good use. As Phone Plus reports, it comes down to the question of taxes:
[I]f the government doesn’t clarify whether the grants are considered taxable income, onlookers fear recipients won’t use the money any time soon – defeating the purpose of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
When asked whether recipients would be taxed on the stimulus funds, the Treasury Department reportedly offered no concrete answer. Stay tuned…
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.
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.
Yesterday, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski sat down with the Washington Post to talk about the national broadband plan and the importance of being connected.
We’re excited to announce that seven community leaders have joined our Broadband Ambassador program today. Coming from diverse professional backgrounds, each ambassador shares our enthusiastic support for broadband Internet access and adoption for all Americans.
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.
Yesterday, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski revealed that as part of its impending national broadband plan, television broadcasters would be asked to volunteer some of their spectrum. From Ars Technica:
The FCC’s boss has to maneuver somewhat gingerly around this issue. The broadcasting industry has given a distinctly cold reception to wireless and consumer device maker proposals for ways that television license holders could dramatically reconfigure their high altitude, high power transmission systems to free up as much as 180 MHz of spectrum. Now the FCC and NTIA are talking about 500 MHz.
So Genachowski emphasized that this would be a “voluntary program.”
With the unprecedented adoption of mobile Internet in recent years, America is facing what Genachowski himself has called a “looming spectrum crisis.” Wireless carriers agree. Which means if broadcasters refuse to volunteer spectrum for wireless use, the fight could quickly turn heated. Stay tuned…
I commend the FCC for its leadership on broadband adoption and for recognizing the role the Internet plays in the American job market. We no longer operate in a brick-and-mortar economy. Broadband increases opportunities for American businesses large and small to succeed and advance and enables new job creation as well.Investing in Internet technology and infrastructure benefits all business sectors, and at a time when economic recovery is at the top of our national agenda, broadband advancement has never been more critical.
— Bruce Mehlman
The new FCC study underscores the need to remain focused on closing the digital divide by addressing the American public’s attitudes about broadband and reinforces the IIA’s belief that digital literacy must be a key component of the National Broadband Strategy, due to Congress next month. In a 2009 survey of 900 African Americans and Hispanics by Obama pollster Cornell Belcher, 43 percent of respondents cited not knowing how to use the Internet or not seeing the need for the Internet as the reason why they are not online, and 44 percent of those same minorities polled said they would be more likely to subscribe to Internet services if they were provided free lessons on how to use the technology. Bridging the digital divide and getting every American online should be our top priority—broadband Internet is the great enabler and the great equalizer.
In advance of its deadline to present a national broadband plan to Congress on March 17, the FCC conducted a consumer survey on Internet usage. The commission will be presenting the results at the Brookings Institute today, but via Multichannel News here are some highlights:
The survey, a random phone survey conducted in October and November, found that 80 million adults (and 13 million kids) do not have high-speed Internet at home.
More than one-third of the non-adopters (28 million adults) indicated that they don’t have broadband because either the price of service is too high (15%); they can’t afford a computer; installation costs are too high (10%); or they don’t want a long-term service contract (9%). According to the survey, the average monthly broadband bill is $41.
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