FCC's Broadband Plan: Mobile Broadband Will Save Us!

The Federal Communications Commission issued the long-awaited National Broadband Plan this week, a 376-page document that makes clear the agency accepts the reality of the current wireline duopoly — and as such, has decided to put the burden of competitive pressure on mobile broadband.

There are many consumer-friendly aspects of the plan, such as opening up set-top boxes and creating an easy-to-understand label that shows people what their broadband connections are capable of. But the FCC has clearly decided against a plan that requires a new infrastructure buildout when the current infrastructure will suffice. If only the agency had moved to tackle this issue back in 2002, when the telecommunications providers were thinking about how their fiber rollouts were going to occur, and implemented policies that could have resulted in a shared nationwide fiber network.