WASHINGTON — With the public release of its national broadband plan Tuesday, the Federal Communications Commission prepared to start the hard work of getting Congress to help the agency implement roughly 200 recommendations.
“In every era, America must confront the challenge of connecting the nation anew,” said Blair Levin, executive director of the FCC’s broadband initiative, a yearlong effort that resulted in a 356-page plan draft. “If successful, we will transform our country, and, as America does when it transforms itself, transform the world.”
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 auctions of federal airwaves — to entice some broadcasters to give up their spectrum so the airwaves could be used for wireless Internet access.
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said it was imperative to act on the recommendations. “Certain communities within the U.S. are lagging, and the costs of digital exclusion grow higher every day,” he said. “Millions and millions are being left behind.”
The FCC’s two Republicans cautioned against moving too quickly, saying it was important to assess whether government action would discourage the private investment needed for companies to expand their networks.
