The Federal Communications Commission announced today that it has begun developing a national broadband plan to ensure that every U.S. citizen has access to broadband services.

The commission has been charged with developing the plan as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, also known as the economic stimulus package. The federal government has so far committed about $7 billion to ensure that all citizens have access to high speed Internet services.

In general, the goal is to bring high speed Internet services to people living in rural or economically-depressed regions of the United States. Recent research puts the U.S. residential broadband penetration rate at about 57 percent.

But the commission currently has no clue how it will carry out the plan – and it will have to rely heavily on the private sector, in particular communications service providers, to make it happen.

“To be clear, we are not substituting Government policy for market discipline,” FCC (News - Alert) Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein said in a statement. “Any successful broadband strategy will rely primarily and extensively on the private sector to drive deployment and investment. We need to encourage capital investment, and find ways to facilitate access to the capital markets in these challenging times. A true public-private partnership will require far greater focus from our policy leaders to succeed.  We need all players to work together.”

Perhaps the most important issue the commission will have to consider is which technologies will work best, and will be most economical, for delivering broadband to those who currently do not have it. For example, there are numerous technologies which could be used to deliver high speed access to remote areas, including satellite and wireless technologies such as WiMAX (News - Alert), not to mention a variety of fixed line technologies. The commission will also have to decide how to best deliver broadband to people living in economically-depressed urban pockets.

As such, the FCC is soliciting feedback from “all stakeholders: consumers, industry, large and small businesses, non-profits, the disabilities community, governments at the federal, state, local and tribal levels, and all other interested parties,” as to how it should go about developing the plan.

In his statement, Adelstein indicated that there will be a strong emphasis placed on wireless broadband technologies.

“We recognize that any effective effort will rely heavily on wireless broadband as the wave of the future, and a key element to reach hard to serve areas,” he said. “Considering America’s ever-increasing appetite for reliable broadband services and applications from mobile devices, the role that wireless will play in our nation’s overall broadband deployment efforts is undeniable. There is a clear need for focused efforts on spectrum efficiency and management, which will require a thorough spectrum inventory, as many in Congress are now proposing. The future success of our economy demands that we promote the expansion of communications infrastructure and focus our energies on optimizing our spectrum resources.”

The Commission must deliver the plan to Congress by Feb. 17, 2010, so it doesn’t have a lot of time to develop it. What’s more, the FCC will likely have to review mountains of testimony from all the different organizations, interest groups, experts and individuals who offer feedback as to how it should carry out the plan over the next year.

 

The Economic Recovery Act requires the plan to explore several key elements of broadband deployment and use, including:

--The most effective and efficient ways to ensure broadband access for all Americans

--Strategies for achieving affordability and maximum utilization of broadband infrastructure and services

--Evaluation of the status of broadband deployment, including the progress of related grant programs

--How to use broadband to advance consumer welfare, civic participation, public safety and homeland security, community development, health care delivery, energy independence and efficiency, education, worker training, private sector investment, entrepreneurial activity, job creation, and economic growth, and other national purposes.

“Broadband is no longer a luxury,” Adelstein said. “It is essential if we are going to maximize the potential of every citizen to contribute to our social, cultural and economic life. We need the full input of every citizen, whether they live in rural, insular or other high-cost areas, whether they live in economically challenged sections of our inner cities, whether they are persons with disabilities, whether or not they speak English, and regardless of their income level. We need everyone’s voice to create a truly national plan that leaves nobody behind.”

Beyond the challenge of how to build the infrastructure, and what types of technologies should be used, there is the question of whether or not U.S. citizens in rural or economically-depressed areas will have the means to pay for the services that are offered to them. It is one thing to deliver the high speed Internet connection, quite another as to whether an individual has the means to pay for the related Internet services. This issue does not appear to be addressed by the plan.

It is also unclear whether or not the amount of money the government has committed to the plan thus far will be enough to carry out its objective. The FCC has not yet provided an overall estimate of how much it will cost to deliver high speed Internet to the approximately 43 percent of the country that currently doesn’t have it.

“A key part of any meaningful broadband plan must be accurate, reliable and detailed data on broadband deployment,” Adelstein said. “I am pleased that today’s item, among many other important questions, asks how we can build on our current data collection methods to determine who is participating in the broadband revolution, and who is not, including those in tribal lands and rural areas. It is only with these data – which we should have been collecting all along – that we can make sound policy decisions.”

The road to ubiquitous broadband won’t be an easy one – especially considering the volumes of feedback the FCC will receive and the short time frame it has to develop a plan. There are many dissenting views on how such a plan should be carried out – in fact there are some U.S. citizens who think the government shouldn’t even play a role in providing broadband access.

What’s more, the pundits of network neutrality are likely to get involved and could end up making the issue many times more complex, particularly since the issue of net neutrality has been so hotly debated and is nowhere near resolved.