Plans for National Broadband Access May Be in Danger

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is gearing up to release its plan for national broadband access on March 17. Open government advocates have hailed the plan's prerogative to increase civic participation in government policymaking.

John Wonderlich of the Sunlight Foundation wrote that the FCC seems "committed to the sort of government policies that can help turn Internet access into a transformative tool for citizenship." If, to paraphrase Thomas Jefferson, a democracy requires an informed citizenry, then broadband enables the masses to reach government information faster with fewer barriers to access. Further, national broadband access increases the capacity for tools that enable citizens to better interact with government information.

Funding for the FCC's plan is a potential roadblock for the effort. Currently, the FCC subsidizes telephone services to poor and rural areas through its Universal Service Fund and plans to establish its broadband-focused Connect America Fund within the existing program. The $8 billion Universal Service Fund is paid for out of surcharges affixed to consumer and business long-distance bills. To pay for extended broadband services, the FCC plans to propose several options to Congress, including a gradual phase-out of the Universal Service Fund telephone service to a focus entirely on broadband. However, the FCC is expected to request another $9 billion from Congress in addition to the $7.2 billion that legislators already provided for broadband lines in the economic stimulus package.

Another potential problem is that cost cuts may give an advantage to big business that could then undermine competition. Blogs on both Verizon's and AT&T's websites praised the agency's efforts. Verizon's vice president for regulatory affairs even called the FCC's plan "bold and practical." However, corporate support may stem from FCC not requiring companies to share broadband lines with rivals, thus favoring big companies and violating the principles of net neutrality. Both companies have ardently opposed any regulation related to net neutrality. The pricey and expansive vision is what critics contend will be the plan's failure. Most reports indicate that without being broken up, the plan is too large to make it into an omnibus bill. Currently, there are fears that the plan is so big that Congress is unlikely to do anything with it at all.