FCC National Plan Aims for Data-Driven Approach to Broadband

Blair Levin, recently appointed to head up the national broadband strategy at the Federal Communications Commission, laid out the agency's framework for this plan ­ due in 230 days ­ at Thursday's open meeting. The agency's broadband plan will interact with other congressional mandates, including the Broadband Data Improvement Act, and an upcoming report on high-speed adoption, among others. The agency said it would merge the regulatory process for the regulatory process on high-speed adoption (also called the "Section 706" report after that portion of the 1996 Telecommunications Act) and the national broadband plan. Comments on the 706 report will be considered in the national broadband plan, and vice versa. This will help create ongoing institutional knowledge on broadband, Levin said, which can serve to inform ongoing policy deliberations. The plan will include input from each bureau at the FCC.