Tag Archives: National Broadband Plan

Deep Dive into National Broadband Plan.

Posted by on April 20, 2010 No comments
FCC To Think Over Its Authority
Congress has been able to get an initial look at the FCC’s broadband plan, the House Subcommittee on Communications this week is going to examine how it addresses the “broadband availability gap.”
This Thursday’s “The National Broadband Plan: Deploying Quality Broadband Services to the Last Mile” hearing is one of many the subcommittee will hold to review specific elements of the plan. This week the focus will center on chapters 4, 6 and 8 that relate to the broadband plan’s availability provisions.
The subcommittee will talk with the FCC about how the broadband plan addresses what effect universal service, pole attachments and rights of way, municipal networks, speed and price and competition policy issues have on expanding broadband services to “underserved” and “unserved” communities.

Congress has been able to get an initial look at the FCC’s broadband plan, the House Subcommittee on Communications this week is going to examine how it addresses the “broadband availability gap.”
This Thursday’s “The National Broadband Plan: Deploying Quality Broadband Services to the Last Mile” hearing is one of many the subcommittee will hold to review specific elements of the plan. This week the focus will center on chapters 4, 6 and 8 that relate to the broadband plan’s availability provisions.
The subcommittee will talk with the FCC about how the broadband plan addresses what effect universal service, pole attachments and rights of way, municipal networks, speed and price and competition policy issues have on expanding broadband services to “underserved” and “unserved” communities.

Broadcasting & Cable: House To Drill Down Into Broadband Plan.

National Broadband Plan is available online.

Posted by on March 17, 2010 No comments

A file photo of FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski at his office in Washington.

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.

FCC: National Broadband Plan.

National Broadband Plan is here:

Posted by on March 15, 2010 No comments

The plan details how the FCC will work to bring voice and broadband internet services to as many Americans as possible. The plan includes both wireline and wireless components. On the wireless side, the FCC is formally requesting that 500MHz of spectrum be made available for wireless broadband services within 10 year’s time. It wants 300MHz to be available for mobile use in five years.

The FCC currently only has 50MHz of spectrum available to serve these needs. The FCC is considering incentives to convince current spectrum holders to offer their spectrum up for auction. The FCC wants there to be greater transparency in how spectrum is licensed, and also wants there to be specific allocations for unlicensed spectrum and the development of new wireless technologies. The FCC is also looking at numerous ways to decrease the cost of deploying wireless broadband services. It is looking at how infrastructure can play a role, such as access to rooftops, utility poles and other conduits for cell towers and repeaters. The FCC outlined six main goals for the broadband plan.

The main goal is to provide every American with access to broadband service of 100Mbps downloads and 50Mbps uploads, whether that be via wireline or wireless. The FCC believes the U.S. should lead the world in mobile broadband, and should have the fastest, largest network. The FCC also thinks that communities, government agencies, schools and healthcare facilities should have access to 1Gbps broadband. The FCC believes that its plan is possible to achieve without any new funding from the government. It says that all the necessary funds can be collected through additional auctions of wireless spectrum licenses.

he plan details how the FCC will work to bring voice and broadband internet services to as many Americans as possible. The plan includes both wireline and wireless components. On the wireless side, the FCC is formally requesting that 500MHz of spectrum be made available for wireless broadband services within 10 year’s time. It wants 300MHz to be available for mobile use in five years. The FCC currently only has 50MHz of spectrum available to serve these needs. The FCC is considering incentives to convince current spectrum holders to offer their spectrum up for auction. The FCC wants there to be greater transparency in how spectrum is licensed, and also wants there to be specific allocations for unlicensed spectrum and the development of new wireless technologies. The FCC is also looking at numerous ways to decrease the cost of deploying wireless broadband services. It is looking at how infrastructure can play a role, such as access to rooftops, utility poles and other conduits for cell towers and repeaters. The FCC outlined six main goals for the broadband plan. The main goal is to provide every American with access to broadband service of 100Mbps downloads and 50Mbps uploads, whether that be via wireline or wireless. The FCC believes the U.S. should lead the world in mobile broadband, and should have the fastest, largest network. The FCC also thinks that communities, government agencies, schools and healthcare facilities should have access to 1Gbps broadband. The FCC believes that its plan is possible to achieve without any new funding from the government. It says that all the necessary funds can be collected through additional auctions of wireless spectrum licenses.
FCC: Broadband Plan.

…National Broadband Plan…

Posted by on March 15, 2010 No comments
A study by Yochai Benkler at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society on how best to develop the national broadband policy it will be introducing tomorrow. Benkler used international market research to suggest that the best way to develop national broadband at fair prices would be to encourage widespread competition by forcing big companies such as cable MSOs to share their wires with smaller ones.
“There will be enormous political resistance,” Benkler predicted. “But at the same time the FCC has to get the next generation market structure right. Either you are willing to take the step to get more competition or you are engaged in cosmetics.”
The FCC has a history with political resistance to opening networks so it apparently would like to avoid the hassle when it comes to promoting a national broadband plan. “Other countries tend to have broadband dominated by a single telecom carrier: the phone company,” said Blair Levin, executive director of the FCC’s broadband initiative. “The U.S. is very different. The majority actually subscribe through cable. It’s not an apples-to-apples comparison.”

a study by Yochai Benkler at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society on how best to develop the national broadband policy it will be introducing tomorrow. Benkler used international market research to suggest that the best way to develop national broadband at fair prices would be to encourage widespread competition by forcing big companies such as cable MSOs to share their wires with smaller ones.
“There will be enormous political resistance,” Benkler predicted. “But at the same time the FCC has to get the next generation market structure right. Either you are willing to take the step to get more competition or you are engaged in cosmetics.”
The FCC has a history with political resistance to opening networks so it apparently would like to avoid the hassle when it comes to promoting a national broadband plan. “Other countries tend to have broadband dominated by a single telecom carrier: the phone company,” said Blair Levin, executive director of the FCC’s broadband initiative. “The U.S. is very different. The majority actually subscribe through cable. It’s not an apples-to-apples comparison.”

Connected Planet: FCC to release broadband Plan Tuesday.

FCC previews broadband plan, demands half gigahertz of spectrum for the task. Deadline March 17, 2010.

Posted by on March 4, 2010 No comments

Time’s running out for the FCC to present its National Broadband Plan to Congress next month, a set of sweeping regulatory changes geared at making broadband widely and readily available to every nook and cranny of the country — and as the day of reckoning draws near, chairman Julius Genachowski is starting to talk specifics about how the Plan’s going to look. At a speech hosted by the think tank New America Foundation today, Genachowski revealed a few key initiatives geared overall to reach the goal of reclaiming a whopping 500MHz of spectrum to apply toward wireless broadband data over the coming decade. A big part of that puzzle will be something called the Mobile Future Auction where existing spectrum owners (ahem, TV broadcasters) could be given the opportunity to voluntarily — emphasis on “voluntarily” – sell off their airwaves in exchange for a portion of the auction proceeds; it’s claimed that as much as $50 billion in value could be “unlocked” by more efficiently using some of this spectrum, where only about half is currently being used in even the most populous markets. They’ll also be making some moves to encourage more innovation with unlicensed spectrum — an area that has already brought about paradigm-shifting technologies like WiFi and Bluetooth at 2.4GHz — and proposing the launch of a Mobility Fund as part of the Universal Service Fund’s reboot to help build out infrastructure in underserved areas. It all sounds ambitious, yes — but if some of the claims the FCC and others are making about projected wireless data utilization over the next few years are even close to true, drastic action appears to be well-justified.

Broadband.gov: Preview the Plan.
FierceWireless: FCC plan calls for 500 MHz of new spectrum for wireless.