FCC Workshops to take Close Look at Broadband Technology

On August 13, the Federal Communications Commission will hold two workshops on the National Broadband Plan. 1) The first will examine fixed broadband. The goal of the workshop is twofold. First, to present a view on future broadband evolution: What are our future bandwidth needs? What type of services will need to be supported? What types of devices? What network capabilities will be needed to support this range of service needs? In addition to outlining some possible future requirements, some discussion of future network evolution will be included. Second, against this backdrop of possible future evolution, the current and future capabilities of the core technologies used to support fixed broadband applications will be discussed. What are the current performance characteristics of these core technologies (fiber, DSL, coax, satellite, terrestrial wireless)? What is the potential for future performance improvements? Who is best served by each technology and most importantly who is not well served? What specific policies would support further deployment of each technology? What barriers exist to connecting the largest number of peoples to broadband at the lowest cost? 2) The second workshop will explore how the wireless technologies will evolve to address the demands for broadband access. The workshop will address two distinct groups of users: mobile and rural.