Congress Backs National Broadband Plan

Rep Edward Markey (D-MA) on Monday praised the Federal Communications Commission's forthcoming broadband report as a "visionary, far-reaching plan." He later heralded that document as a set of "specific strategies and goals to help our country compete and win in the fiercely competitive global economy." "The National Broadband Plan will unleash a tidal wave of new investment and innovation," said Rep Markey, who chiefly drafted the provision in the 2009 federal stimulus that commissioned the FCC's report. "This plan will lower and remove barriers to new competition in services, networks and devices," he said in a statement. "And it will enable state-of-the-art, high-speed access to educational opportunities, improved healthcare, increased energy efficiency and other national priorities."

House Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) said, "The Plan will be a critically important tool as Congress looks to the challenge of utilizing fully the transformative power of broadband. I look forward to exploring the recommendations in more detail and in the bipartisan manner we have traditionally addressed communications and technology issues." He announced a House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology hearing on the plan March 25. The chairman of the that subcommittee, Rep Rick Boucher, identified four areas in which the Commission's plan addresses key priorities: 1) The transition of the Federal Universal Service Fund to support broadband. 2) Achieving 100 megabits per second Internet access during the coming decade. 3) Working with television broadcasters to identify spectrum that could be reallocated for wireless commercial purposes. 4) The auction the D block of the 700 megahertz spectrum and potentially apply the proceeds to financing the build-out of communications capabilities for public safety, including fire, police and rescue departments nationwide.

Rep Doris Matsui (D-CA) applauded the plan in no small part for adopting as a recommendation a proposal in legislation she introduced (HR 3646). The plan includes expanding "Lifeline/Link-up" for universal broadband adoption in its proposed reforms to Universal Service Fund.