FCC Previews National Broadband Plan

During the past few weeks the FCC has released details about its highly anticipated National Broadband Plan, set to be presented to Congress on March 17, including plans for a dramatic increase in broadband speeds, ideas to free up valuable spectrum, and plans to resurrect the 700 MHz public safety network.

The agency’s first ambitious goal: provide broadband speeds of 100 Mbps to 100 million households by 2020. To achieve this goal Genachowski said the broadband plan will recommend several ideas, including:

• Free up a significant portion of spectrum for licensed and unlicensed use
• Modernize the FCC’s rural telemedicine program to connect thousands of additional clinics across the country
• Improve the E-Rate program, which brings Internet to classrooms and libraries
• Lower the cost of broadband build-out, both wired and wireless, by using government rights of way and conduits

Building on these ideas, last Wednesday FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski revealed that the Broadband Plan will set a goal of freeing up 500 Megahertz of spectrum over the next decade. The Plan will propose a “Mobile Future Auction” to encourage existing spectrum owners, including TV broadcasters, to voluntarily relinquish spectrum and subsequently share in the auction profits.

“The highly valuable spectrum currently allocated for broadcast television is not being used efficiently,” Genachowski said, adding “indeed, much is not being used at all.”

The FCC also plans to encourage new and innovative ways of using spectrum. “New ideas such as databases that dynamically enable — or revoke — access to spectrum in particular times and places promise to change the way we think about spectrum,” Genachowski said. “Entrepreneurs could create new types of devices and ad hoc networks, enabling innovative new uses of spectrum.”

Last Thursday the commission also said that it will recommend that the government invest about $12-$16 billion during the next 10 years to build and help fund the operation of a national public safety wireless network.

During a press briefing Genachowski noted that the government’s financial involvement is a necessity to achieve this goal. “The private sector is simply not going to build a nationwide, state-of-the-art, interoperable broadband network for public safety on its own dime,” he said. Instead, Genachowski announced that the government will provide $12-$16 billion over the next 10 years. ($6 billion will be used to construct the network, and another $6-$10 billion is set aside to fund the ongoing operation of the network.)

The details are still a bit fuzzy, but Genachowski said another D-block auction will take place (similar to the failed 700 MHz D-Block auction from 2008), so one can infer that some form of a public/private partnership is still a possibility.

Also of note, the FCC plans to recommend that public safety have access to the entire 700 MHz band through roaming and priority access agreement, a move that Genachowski says is needed to ensure redundancy and resiliency. Current 700 MHz spectrum owners, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this plan.

For more, read Chairman Julius Genachowski’s remarks on faster broadband, how the U.S. can free up spectrum and the commission’s plans for a public safety network.

Related posts:

1. FCC Releases Exec Summary of Natl Broadband Plan
2. Natl Broadband Plan: Watch the Presentation Live
3. Dish Lifts the Veil on Broadband Plan
4. Comcast Launches National Streaming TV Service
5. Broadband.gov: One-Stop for Broadband Initiatives