CFA: Knowledge, Power and Resources in the National Broadband Plan

In meetings with policymakers at the Federal Communications Commission, the Consumer Federation of America emphasized four basic points:

1) The United States needs to return to world leadership in communications because universal broadband service is vital to building an effective economy and society, as well as maintain the global competitive position of the United States.

2) The laissez faire policy of the Bush administration had failed miserably, reducing the U.S. from the top of the global communications ranks to a middling position. Immediate implementation of active public policies to address both digital exclusion and digital evolution are critically necessary to restore the U.S. to world leadership. Dr. Cooper lamented the fact that the Bush administration had abandoned the public interest principles of the Communications Act, principles that had served the nation so well for a century, and urged the Commission to return to the vigorous implementation of those public interest principles in policy.

3) In order to implement the necessary policies, Cooper urged the FCC to view each major obstacle to digital inclusion and evolution through three lenses - knowledge, power and resources. It should explain why the policy is necessary, what its authority is and the existing authorization to spend resources to implement the policy.

4) In each area, the commission should identify the immediate steps it will take to start the movement toward the goals, as well as those measures that require more knowledge, new authority or additional resources.

Cooper explained that the National Broadband Report should find that the FCC should define broadband as eligible for support with universal service funds, following the Joint Board recommendation. Since the National Broadband Plan is just a report, to Congress, albeit an important one that will be influential in justifying further action, the FCC should immediately launch the proceedings necessary under the Communications Act to do define broadband as a universal service. In those proceedings, the Commission will, naturally, state the full rationale for the proposed rule, the authority under which it is acting and the resources it intends to use to implement the rule. It would also identify areas where there are uncertainties that need to be clarified.