The Federal Communications Commission is asking the public for suggestions on how to extend broadband networks nationwide. It’s the first formal step in developing a plan which must be complete by next February.

That deadline was ordered by Congress as part of the recently approved fiscal stimulus plan. Just over $7 billion of the plan’s total spending is allocated to expanding broadband provision. At the moment almost half of homes in the U.S. do not have access to broadband services.

The FCC plan will have to address the difficulties of extending broadband to areas, particularly rural regions, where the commercial market would likely not find services profitable. There will likely be political disputes about how much influence such funding should have on the free market and whether officials should attach strings to any grants and subsidies they provide. For example, it’s possible grants could be conditional on broadband providers agreeing to follow the FCC’s principles on net neutrality.

Among the topics the FCC wants public input on are:

• the overall question of extending broadband provision in an “effective and efficient” way;
• how to make services affordable and increase take-up;
• how well existing grant schemes are working to extend broadband; and
• how broadband provision can best serve social goals such as public information, education, energy efficiency and job creation.

The Commission says it wants feedback from everyone affected by broadband, including individual consumers, businesses and government at all levels.

While they backed the call for public input with a 3-0 vote, the commissioners are not united on the severity of America’s broadband problem. Robert McDowell argued that existing broadband networks were a  “solid foundation upon which to  build ” and that “even in light of imperfections, the American broadband market has positive  momentum in a time when other sectors are struggling. ”

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Entry was posted on Wednesday, April 8th, 2009 at 5:51 pm under Internet, Politics, Technology.

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