FCC National Broadband Plan One Year Later: Where Are We Now?

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The national broadband plan is now a year old, and while you're probably more likely to toast St. Patrick than the Federal Communications Commission's 376-page plan, it's worth taking a look at how much (or how little) the commission has accomplished since March 2010.

To be fair, the plan – which was mandated by the 2009 stimulus bill – outlines suggestions for providing the country with broadband service over the next 10 years, so no one expected everything to be in place by the end of this week. But you have to start somewhere, and the commission and supporting agencies have taken some steps when it comes spectrum allocation, broadband mapping, and public safety, among other things. Clearly, there's still a long way to go. While the broadband map showed that 68 percent of households in the U.S. have broadband access - up from 63.5 percent last year - work still need to be done to get to 100 percent. The topics addressed in the last year cover just a fraction of the broadband plan's nearly 400 pages of recommendations for the next nine years. The commission touched on everything from infrastructure and health IT to telecommuting and energy issues, so stay tuned for more rulemakings, committees, proposals, and hopefully, results.


FCC National Broadband Plan One Year Later: Where Are We Now?