FCC promises open process on national broadband strategy

On Tuesday, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Copps promised the public will get a chance to weigh in on the creation of a National Broadband Strategy. He indicated that on April 8 the FCC will "kick-off an open, participatory, public process," including a Notice of Inquiry, to "marshal the data and expertise we need to make sure we meet our legislatively mandated date of one year for presenting Congress and the American people a national broadband strategy worthy of the name." In the interim, the FCC is already soliciting comments on how to roll out broadband in rural America. Not only has the Recovery Act got the agency cranking out broadband strategies, but the 2008 Farm Bill wants one too. The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 requires a rural broadband road map produced by the Commission and the Department of Agriculture. And so as Copps spoke, the FCC issued a call for comments on the rural report. "We expect that the rural broadband strategy developed in this docket will inform our effort to develop a comprehensive national broadband plan pursuant to the Recovery Act," the NOI reads.