Implementing the National Broadband Plan

The Federal Communications Commission and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) should collect more detailed and accurate data on actual availability, penetration, prices, churn and bundles offered by broadband service providers to consumers and businesses, and should publish analyses of these data.

The Federal Communications Commission should continue its efforts to measure and publish data on actual performance of fixed broadband services. The FCC should publish a formal report and make the data available online.

The Federal Communications Commission should develop broadband performance standards for mobile services, multi-unit buildings and small business users.

The Federal Communications Commission should ensure that special access rates, terms and conditions are just and reasonable.

The Federal Communications Commission should clarify interconnection rights and obligations and encourage the shift to IP-to-IP interconnection where efficient.

The Federal Communications Commission should initiate a proceeding to ensure that all multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) install a gateway device or equivalent functionality in all new subscriber homes and in all homes requiring replacement set-top boxes, starting on or before Dec. 31, 2012.

Congress, the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission should consider clarifying the relationship between users and their online profiles.

The Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission should jointly develop principles to require that customers provide informed consent before broadband service providers share certain types of information with third parties.

Federal Communications Commission consumer online security efforts should support broader national online security policy, and should be coordinated with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Federal Trade Commission, the White House Cyber Office and other agencies. Federal agencies should connect their existing websites to OnGuard Online to provide clear consumer online security information and direction.

The federal government should investigate establishing a national framework for digital goods and services taxation.

The United States should continue to support policies that hasten the rollout and uptake of telecommunications technology that bridges the international digital divide.

The Federal Communications Commission and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA ) should create methods for ongoing measurement of spectrum utilization.

Congress should consider expressly expanding the Federal Communications Commission's authority to enable it to conduct incentive auctions in which incumbent licensees may relinquish rights in spectrum assignments to other parties or to the FCC.

Congress should consider granting authority to the Federal Communications Commission to impose spectrum fees on license holders and to National Telecommunications and Information Administration to impose spectrum fees on users of government spectrum.

The Federal Communications Commission should make 500 megahertz newly available for broadband use within the next 10 years, of which 300 megahertz between 225 MHz and 3.7 GHz should be made newly available for mobile use within five years.

The Federal Communications Commission should auction the 10 megahertz Upper 700 MHz D Block for commercial use that is technically compatible with public safety broadband services.

The Federal Communications Commission should accelerate terrestrial deployment in 90 megahertz of Mobile Satellite Spectrum (MSS).

The Federal Communications Commission should revise Parts 74, 78 and 101 of its rules to allow for increased spectrum sharing among compatible point-to-point microwave services.

The Federal Communications Commission, within the next 10 years, should free up a new, contiguous nationwide band for unlicensed use.

The Federal Communications Commission should spur further development and deployment of opportunistic uses across more radio spectrum.

The Federal Communications Commission and National Telecommunications and Information Administration should
develop a joint roadmap to identify additional candidate federal and non-federal spectrum that can be made accessible for both mobile and fixed wireless broadband use, on an exclusive, shared, licensed and/or unlicensed basis.

The Federal Communications Commission should take into account the unique spectrum needs of U.S. Tribal communities when implementing the sprectrum recommendations.

The Federal Communications Commission should implement rules that will lower the cost of the pole attachment "make-ready" process.

The Federal Communications Commission should improve the collection and availability of information regarding the location and availability of poles, ducts, conduits and rights-of-way.

The Federal Communications Commission should establish a joint task force with state, Tribal and local policymakers to craft
guidelines for rates, terms and conditions for access to public rights-of-way.

Congress should consider enacting "dig once" legislation applying to all future federally funded projects along rights-of-way (including sewers, power transmission facilities, rail, pipelines, bridges, tunnels and roads).

The Executive Branch should develop one or more master contracts to expedite the placement of wireless towers on federal government property and buildings.

The government should focus broadband R&D funding on projects with varied risk-return profiles, including a mix of short-term and long-term projects (e.g., those lasting 5 years or longer).

The federal government should provide ultra-high-speed broadband connectivity to select Department of Defense installations to enable the development of next-generation broadband applications.

The National Science Foundation should establish an open, multilocation, interdisciplinary research center for areas related to broadband, addressing technology, policy and economics. Center priorities should be driven by the agenda identified in the National Academies research road map.

The Federal Communications Commission should start a rulemaking process to establish more flexible experimental licensing rules for spectrum and facilitate the use of this spectrum by researchers.

The Federal Communications Commission should create the Connect America Fund.

The Federal Communications Commission should design new Universal Service Fund funds in a tax-efficient manner to minimize the size of the gap.

The Federal Communications Commission should take action to shift up to $15.5 billion over the next decade from the current High-Cost program to broadband through commonsense reforms.

The Federal Communications Commission should examine middlemile costs and pricing.

The Federal Communications Commission should broaden the universal service contribution base.

The Federal Communications Commission should manage the total size of the Universal Service Fund to remain close to its current size in order to minimize the burden of increasing universal service contributions on consumers.

The Federal Communications Commission should continue reducing intercarrier compensation rates by phasing out per-minute rates for the origination and termination of telecommunications traffic.

Congress should consider expanding combination grant-loan programs.

Congress should consider establishing a Tribal Broadband Fund to support sustainable broadband deployment and adoption in Tribal lands, and all federal agencies that upgrade connectivity on Tribal lands should coordinate such upgrades with Tribal governments and the Tribal Broadband Fund grant-making process.

Federal and state policies should facilitate demand aggregation and use of state, regional and local networks when that is the most cost-efficient solution for anchor institutions to meet their connectivity needs.

The federal government and state governments should develop an institutional framework that will help America's anchor institutions obtain broadband connectivity, training, applications and services.

The Federal Communications Commission should consider free or very low-cost wireless broadband as a means to address the affordability barrier to adoption.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration should explore the potential for public-private partnerships to improve broadband adoption by working with other federal agencies.

The federal government should explore the potential of mobile broadband access as a gateway to inclusion.

The Executive Branch should convene a Broadband Accessibility Working Group (BAWG) to maximize broadband adoption by people with disabilities.

Congress, the FCC and the Department of Justice should modernize accessibility laws, rules and related subsidy programs.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration should establish a National Broadband Clearinghouse to promote best practices and information sharing.

Congress and the Secretary of Health and Human Services should consider developeing a strategy that documents the proven value of e-care technologies, proposes reimbursement reforms that incent their meaningful use and charts a path for their widespread adoption.

The Federal Communications Commission and the Food and Drug Administration should clarify regulatory requirements
and the approval process for converged communications and health care devices.

Congress should consider providing consumers access to -- and control over -- all their digital health care data in machine-readable formats in a timely manner and at a reasonable cost.

The Federal Communications Commission should establish a Health Care Broadband Infrastructure Fund to subsidize network deployment to health care delivery locations where existing networks are insufficient.

To protect against waste, fraud and abuse in the Rural Health Care Program, the Federal Communications Commission should require participating institutions to meet outcomes-based performance measures to qualify for Universal Service Fund subsidies, such as the Department of Health and Human Services' meaningful use criteria.

The Federal Communications Commission should periodically publish a Health Care Broadband Status Report.

The federal government should increase the supply of digital educational content available online that is compatible with standards established by the Department of Education.

Congress should consider taking legislative action to encourage copyright holders to grant educational digital rights of use, without prejudicing their other rights.

The Department of Education and other federal agencies should provide support and funding for research and development of online learning systems.

The Department of Education should establish a program to fund development of innovative broadband-enabled online learning solutions.

The Department of Education should provide additional grant funding to help schools train teachers in digital literacy and programs targeting science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). States should expand digital literacy requirements and training programs for teachers.

The Department of Education should develop digital financial data transparency standards for education. It should collaborate with state and local education agencies to encourage adoption and develop incentives for the use of these standards.

The Federal Communications Commission should adopt its pending Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to remove barriers to off-hours community use of E-rate funded resources.

The Federal Communications Commission should provide E-rate support for internal connections to more schools and libraries.

The Federal Communications Commission should initiate a rulemaking to raise the cap on funding for E-rate each year to account for inflation.

The Federal Communications Commission should collect and publish more specific, quantifiable and standardized data about applicants' use of E-rate funds.

Congress should consider amending the Communications Act to help Tribal libraries overcome barriers to E-rate eligibility arising from state laws.

The Federal Communications Commission should award some E-rate funds competitively to programs that best incorporate broadband connectivity into the educational experience.

The Federal Communications Commission should start a proceeding to explore the reliability and resiliency of commercial broadband communications networks.

The North American Electric Reliability Corporation should clarify its Critical Infrastructure Protection security requirements.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Federal Communications Commission should continue their joint efforts to identify new uses for federal spectrum and should consider the requirements of the Smart Grid.

States should require electric utilities to provide consumers access to, and control of, their own digital energy information, including real-time information from smart meters and historical consumption, price and bill data over the Internet. If states fail to develop reasonable policies over the next 18 months, Congress should consider national legislation to cover consumer privacy and the accessibility of energy data.

The Department of Energy should consider consumer data accessibility policies when evaluating Smart Grid grant applications, report on states' progress toward enacting consumer data accessibility, and develop best practices guidance for states.

The Federal Communications Commission should start a proceeding to improve the energy efficiency and environmental impact of the communications industry.

The federal government should continue to work with the transportation industry to safely incorporate the next generation of in-vehicle communications technology.

Small Business Administration resource partner programs should provide enhanced information technology applications training.

The government should develop a public-private partnership to provide technology training and tools for small disadvantaged businesses and small and medium enterprises in low-income areas.

The Department of Labor (DOL) should accelerate and expand efforts to create a robust online platform that delivers virtual employment assistance programs and facilitates individualized job training.

The federal government should promote telework internally.

The Economic Development Administration should create an easy-to-use, dynamic online information center that gives regional development managers access to integrated federal, state local Tribal data.

Federal government agencies and departments should serve as broadband anchor tenants for unserved and underserved communities.

The Office of Management and Budget should review and coordinate federal grants that have a broadband connectivity requirement. Federal government grant funding should not limit or permit limitations on the use of federally funded facilities or services for broadband deployment, except when technology solutions cannot ensure privacy or security of data.

OMB should develop a vision and strategy to guide agencies on cloud computing.

The Executive Branch should create an interagency working group, comprised of the senior grants officials from each agency, to implement guidelines and requirements for interagency coordination of grants and to improve Grants.gov to make it easier for applicants to use.

The Executive Branch, in collaboration with relevant regulatory authorities, should develop machine-readable repositories of actionable real-time information concerning cybersecurity threats in a process led by the White House Cybersecurity Coordinator.

The Executive Branch should expand existing and develop additional educational programs, scholarship funding, training programs, and career paths to build workforce capability in cybersecurity.

The Federal Communications Commission should work with Internet service providers (ISPs) to build robust cybersecurity protection and defenses into networks offered to businesses and individuals without access to cybersecurity resources. ISPs that participate in this program should receive technical assistance from the federal government in securing their networks.

The Office of Management and Budget and the Federal CIO Council should develop a single, secure enterprise-wide authentication protocol that enables online service delivery.

Congress should consider re-examining the Privacy Act to facilitate the delivery of online government services and to account for changes in technology

The Executive Branch's review of the Paperwork Reduction Act should aim to enable government to solicit input to improve government services.

The federal government should improve the delivery of means-tested benefits to low-income Americans.

Government should make its processes more transparent and conducive to participation by the American people.

All responses to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests by Executive Branch and independent agencies should be made available online at www.[agency].gov/foia

Congress should consider increasing funding to public media for broadband-based distribution and content.

The federal government should create and fund Video.gov to publish its digital video archival material and facilitate the creation of a federated national digital archive to house public interest digital content.

The Federal CIO Council should accelerate the adoption of social media technologies that government can use to interact with the American people.

The Executive Branch and independent agencies should expand opportunities for Americans with expertise in technological innovation to serve in the federal government.

The Department of Defense (DoD) should develop a secure Internet-based pilot project that enables members of the military serving overseas to vote online.

Survey public safety broadband wireless mobile infrastructure and devices.

Preserve broadband communications during emergencies

The FCC should expand its outage reporting requirements to broadband service providers.

The FCC and the Department of Homeland Security should create a cybersecurity information reporting system.

The FCC should explore network resilience and preparedness.

The Federal Communications Commission should explore standards for broadband communications reliability and resiliency.

Congress should consider enacting of federal Next Generation 911 (NG911) regulatory framework.

The the federal government should disseminate information about the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) development and deployment.

The Executive Branch should clarify agency roles on the implementation and maintenance of a next-generation alert and warning system.

The FCC should quickly publish a timetable of proceedings to implement plan recommendations within its authority, publish an evaluation of plan progress and effectiveness as part of the annual Section 706 Advanced Services Inquiry, create a Broadband Data Depository, and continue to utilize Broadband.gov as a public resource for broadband information.

Ensure that assessment tracks BTOP outcomes, not only execution.

Create a panel of experts from the academic and research community to advise on assessment approaches.