Headlines, Digital Divide

With a stroke of a pen, the Federal Communications Commission could connect millions of minorities and poor Americans to broadband. For several years, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition has supported a proposal that the FCC should auction the AWS-3 spectrum band and require that the winner provide a free tier of broadband service nationwide.

Some minority groups weighed in Thursday on the National Broadband Plan released earlier this week, saying they are hopeful the proposal will help narrow the broadband digital divide.

After unveiling the National Broadband Plan, Federal Communications Commission members approved -- by a 5-0 vote -- a Joint Statement on Broadband which expresses the six beliefs the commissioners share.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski reminded people why it was so important to craft a National Broadband Plan.

Federal Communications Commission Michael Copps identified a two-prong challenge before the Commission: ensuring that the Internet of the future can support the information infrastructure which democracy requires and, stemming the decline of traditional media journalism that still supplies the overwhelming bulk of our news and information.

The National Broadband Plan outlines dozens of policy recommendations aimed at raising the portion of people with high-speed Internet connections to 90 percent, from the current 65 percent, over the next decade and significantly increasing the connection speeds of homes with such service.

Trinity County is a strikingly beautiful part of Northern California — tall pine-covered mountains, clear lakes, and rivers filled with salmon and trout. But only around 14,000 people live there, and they don't have an easy time getting an Internet connection.

Rep Edward Markey (D-MA) on Monday praised the Federal Communications Commission's forthcoming broadband report as a "visionary, far-reaching plan."

Over the course of the past year the Consumer Federation of America has urged the Federal Communications Commission to take a pragmatic, real world approach to the urgent national problem of making a world-class broadband network truly universal in America.

The New Zealand cabinet has signed off on proposals for the roll out of high speed broadband in rural areas and the reform of the Telecommunications Service Obligations.