FCC broadband chief hopeful plan suggestions will become realities

Speaking at an event hosted by the Brookings Institution, Blair Levin -- the executive director of the Federal Communications Commission's Omnibus Broadband Initiative -- seemed confident many of the crucial recommendations in the agency's National Broadband Plan would eventually become realities.

He stressed the plan would help the FCC, the executive branch and federal lawmakers begin "breaking down those barriers" that have long stifled action on the broadband front. "If I was handicapping the document... obviously, where we make recommendations to the FCC, that's where [action] is most likely to occur," Levin said. "We spent a lot of time with the commissioners." He said a less contentious plan would have produced more consensus, but ultimately "would not have been as satisfying" or forward thinking as the report delivered to federal lawmakers this week.