Broadband Providers Urge Regulatory Restraint

While praising proposed changes to the universal service fund and other items in the Federal Communications Commission's national broadband plan, the nation's largest broadband providers also are urging the FCC to refrain from implementing policies that would discourage private investment in high-speed Internet technologies.

With the FCC's formal release Tuesday of its long-awaited national broadband plan, the nation's largest cable and telecommunications firms voiced cautious praise for the document. In particular, they applauded the FCC's call for transitioning the universal service fund, which subsidizes low-cost telephone service, to support broadband service.