FCC Seeks Comments on Broadband Study Conducted by The Berkman Center

On July 14, the Commission announced in a press release that Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet and Society would conduct an expert review of existing literature and studies about broadband deployment and usage throughout the world to inform the Commission's development of a National Broadband Plan. A draft of that report is now ready for public review and comment.

After an Introduction, Part 2 of the report outlines current thoughts on "what is broadband?"—that is, how the target of the policy should be defined, and how the definition may reflect on policy emphases. It briefly notes current reasons given in other countries for emphasizing next generation connectivity as a policy goal. Part 3 describes our independent assessment of current benchmarking and measurement sources, and describes the results of our independent analysis and testing of benchmarks. Part 4 describes our findings on competition and open access policy. Part 5 offers an overview of practices and policies concerned with mobile and nomadic access. Part 6 discusses government investment practices, on both the supply and demand sides of broadband and next generation deployment.

The FCC is asking six questions:

1. Does the study accomplish its intended purposes?

2. Does the study provide a complete and objective survey of the subject matter?

3. How accurately and comprehensively does the study summarize the broadband experiences of other countries?

4. How much weight should the Commission give to this study as it develops a National Broadband Plan?

5. Are additional studies needed along the lines of the Berkman study?

6. Please provide any other comments on the Berkman study that you deem relevant.

Comments are due November 16, 2009.