Providers register mixed reactions to FCC's broadband plan

The National Broadband Plan contains many good ideas, but it also leaves the door open to new regulations of broadband providers, representatives of providers said Tuesday. T

he broadband plan recognizes that private investment will largely pay for the broadband networks of the future, including the goal of bringing 100Mbps of broadband service to 100 million U.S. homes by 2020, said James Cicconi, senior executive vice president for external and legislative affairs at AT&T. But the plan does not, in an outright manner, reject calls from some consumer-focused groups to reclassify broadband providers as common carriers, subject to a broad set of regulations from the Federal Communications Commission. The facts in the plan show a major "success story" for broadband deployment in the United States, but the tone of the plan suggests that the FCC believes more government intervention is needed, said Kyle McSlarrow, president and CEO of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association.