March 2010

Speaker Pelosi touts FCC broadband plan for its job-creation potential

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on Tuesday stressed the Federal Communications Commission's new report on broadband expansion could help spur "millions of new jobs."

While the Speaker did not signal specific support for any of the National Broadband Plan's many proposals, she nonetheless praised its overall aim to broaden access to high-speed Internet as necessary for economic growth. "The deployment of high-speed, broadband infrastructure from coast to coast will fuel the development of millions of new jobs here at home and global competitiveness for our nation," Speaker Pelosi said. She implored members to take action, stressing the plan "provides Congress with an opportunity to work with the FCC to make this goal a reality."

She later added those reforms would be essential to "ensuring that every American has access to affordable and robust broadband Internet service and the economic opportunities it creates." "Just as railroads and highways did in the past, broadband will dramatically increase the productivity and efficiency of our economy in the future and bring more Americans into an online global community and marketplace," she said.

Markey Looking To Legislate Portions Of National Broadband Plan

Rep Ed Markey (D-MA), who was responsible for inserting the requirement for a national broadband report into the stimulus bill, has already introduced a bill to mandate to elements of that plan. The bill's aim is to insure accessibility to and privacy of energy data, and to develop national standards for accessibility.

"We've gone from the black rotary dial phone to the Blackberry, but when it comes to electricity information, we still have to dial-up our utilities and ask for information," said Rep Markey. "With my e-KNOW bill and a new, American-built Smart Grid, the same people who work on killer apps for an iPhone will now help you know how much energy you use from your iFridge, iStove, or IToaster."

FCC dodges answers on reclassification in sweeping national broadband plan

As the Federal Communications Commission unveiled its sweeping national broadband plan, questions loom over the agency's ability to regulate Internet service providers. The agency chose to avoid answering what it will do as a federal court appears that it will undermine the FCC's authority over those services, thereby putting into question some of the biggest proposals in its plan to bring broadband connections to every home in America. Only on the penultimate page of the 338-page plan did the FCC address, in the most noncommittal way, that there are debates out there. The agency laid out arguments presented by corporations and the public on the legal frameworks available to carry out proposals including one that would reallocate an $8 billion annual phone fund for rural areas to broadband services. In its plan, the agency said: "The FCC will consider these and related questions as it moves forward to implement the plan."

Broadband Plan Sketches Competition Policy

Federal Communications Commission commissioners had a lot to say about competition and the National Broadband Plan. A lot of the language in the report paid tribute to the notion of consumers having more choice in broadband providers.

"To ensure that the right policies are put in place so that the broadband ecosystem to have an ongoing, data-driven evaluation of the state of competition," the report reads. And that was the rub for the Commissioners - how to have that further evaluation. The National Broadband Plan took no position on how the competition necessary to improve consumer welfare should develop, at least in the wired world. It sees competition developing in the wireless world with the release of more spectrum. That will only occur if the large incumbents who now lease most of the spectrum are kept away, to let others play. As good as the National Broadband Plan is, it would have been better had it met the competition issues head on. Their large absence from the 376 pages did not stop the discussion of how to achieve competition. In fact, their absence only highlighted their absence as the Commission tip-toed up to the line, then backed off.

It's Time to Save the Broadband "Cop on the Beat"

[Commentary] Does the Federal Communications Commission have the authority it needs to enact major portions of the National Broadband Plan? Without a "cop on the beat," the fate of broadband consumer protection regulations such as privacy, transparency and emergency communications will be at risk, as will other initiatives to ensure great access to broadband and greater adoption of broadband by the disadvantaged.

Let's examine the main arguments against placing broadband Internet access under Title II and separate the myths from the facts.
Myth #1: This debate is all about network neutrality
Myth #2: If the FCC returns to Title II, it must apply all Title II regulation to broadband Internet access services
Myth #3: Title II regulation would apply to Google and Akamai
Myth #4: Title II regulation would deter investment
Myth #5: "Legal precedent" will make it difficult for the FCC to change its position

The Paradox of Thinking Outside the (Set-Top) Box

[Commentary] For the average consumer, the biggest immediate impact of the National Broadband Plan could come from its proposal to replace traditional cable set-top boxes within two years with simple "gateway" devices that handle conditional access and tuning but leave all other functionality to other devices or services.

The FCC hopes to create more breathing room for device makers by forcing cable operators to segregate essential functions like access and tuning from other features like DVR capability and Internet connectivity. As with CableCards, however, more boxes won't necessarily translate into meaningful competition for the incumbent service providers-the commission's ultimate goal. Cable operators, in fact, already face powerful incentives to look beyond the set-top box for delivering new services and functionality to subscribers. Ironically, the commission's new rules could end up bolstering cable operators' competitive position by accelerating the shift from local, set top-based services to network-based services.

Comments on the Video Device Recommendations in the National Broadband Plan

[Commentary] A gateway approach is certainly one of several approaches that should be thought through, and we are pleased that the Broadband Plan acknowledges that "functional equivalents" should also be reviewed. But, while we are committed to working constructively with the FCC on this and related issues, we still firmly believe that technology mandates should be a last resort. And to meet different consumer demands and needs, it is important that innovation be encouraged by both MVPDs and third party manufacturers. Proposals to "disaggregate" a service purchased by a customer, and provided by a MVPD, over-the-top or other service, would undercut the very premise of innovation we should want, and are likely to fail.

NAB: Broadcasters Could Work With FCC on Voluntary Spectrum Reclamation

National Association of Broadcasters spokesperson Dennis Wharton says broadcasters Broadcasters would be willing to work with the FCC if its spectrum reclamation proposal is voluntary, but that is an important "if."

"We want to be conciliatory because we think this is an important public policy issue," Wharton said on NPR's Diane Rehm Show Tuesday. "We plan to work with the FCC and Congress to help them solve the problem," he said. "Broadcasting and broadband are not mutually exclusive ideas," he added. His concern is that the FCC will first take away six channels on an involuntary basis. Sometimes in Washington, the word 'voluntary' has different connotations. A lot of these broadcasters in big cities are offering niche programming services like foreign language stations and religious stations," Wharton said. "But, sure, if it's truly voluntary, I don't think we'll have a problem. But some of the proposals that have come out in the last day or so -- after we were told this was going to be voluntary -- indicate that it's not truly voluntary. There are proposals put forward in some of the trade publications suggesting that six channels will be taken away from broadcasters on an involuntary basis. We're going to study that."

The business case for a national broadband policy

[Commentary] The National broadband Plan compares broadband to electricity. For those of us who have gotten used to broadband, the comparison to electricity is apt.

No matter how pokey the speeds here in the United States (most broadband connections via cable and DSL are in the range 3 to 4 megabits per second) once broadband is part of your life it's unthinkable to do without it. Yet, primarily because of cost, according to studies, 35% of U.S. households are without a broadband connection. In the plan, which was mandated as part of the federal stimulus plan, the FCC seeks to bring 100-megabit-per-second access to 100 million homes by 2020, and even faster connections to libraries and schools. While being able to stream Netflix movies faster is an appealing idea, it's the future of work that is the reason why increasing broadband speed and adoption are necessary.

Xerox CTO Sophie Vandebroek believes that in the future most of us will be attached to companies as contractors, working where we please. Maynard Webb, CEO of LiveOps, is building a business on that premise, running virtual call centers with thousands of contractors working when and where they please. Broadband is vital to that kind of economy, and the kind of desirable work that increasingly involves moving bits back and forth, rather than physical goods.

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.

Benton

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