The US telecom regulator Federal Communications Commission (FCC) presented a status report on the National Broadband Plan on January 20, 2010. The National Broadband Plan represents a part of the US government’s 2009 stimulus package.
The FCC is expected to brief about the proposed recommendations of the plan in February 2010, according to the regulator’s web site. One of the key recommendations likely to be featured in the plan is the overhaul of the FCC’s $7 billion Universal Service Fund (USF), which subsidizes phone services in rural areas. The commission is likely to recommend a shift of fund from phone services to broadband in high-cost areas.
Developed by the FCC, the National Broadband Plan aimed at setting up strategies and an appropriate regulatory framework to promote adoption, affordability and wider availability of broadband Internet in the U.S. Under the directives of the Congress, FCC is chalking out a plan to ensure widespread accessibility of broadband Internet in the country and boost overall growth of the US broadband industry.
The National Broadband Plan, which was originally scheduled for submission by the FCC to the Congress on February 17, 2010, was recently delayed by a month and is now expected to be delivered on March 17. The FCC officials have argued that they need more time to collect massive amounts of information through public workshops, field hearings and public notices.
The FCC is also progressing with the “Net Neutrality” regulation, which is aimed at preventing Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and cable companies from blocking or restricting access to legal web site contents, devices, applications or services that competitive service providers wish to run through the respective carrier’s networks. The regulator has already collected public comments on the open Internet rule (currently applicable to wireline networks), which if enacted, will be extended to wireless.
The net neutrality regulation, which consists of a set of proposals, represents the first major initiative ever by the US telecom regulator to control the way the broadband Internet industry is managed. The rule is also backed by the Congress and the White House who are in favor of more regulation of the Internet.
The proposed net neutrality has become a bone of contention between the advocates of the rule and leading US network operators. Large web content and application providers such as Google (GOOG), Amazon (AMZN) and eBay (EBAY) have joined a handful of public interest groups to protest the discrimination by the ISPs and cable companies.
US wireless and cable network operators such as AT&T (T), Comcast (CMCSA), Verizon (VZ) and Qwest (Q), however, have insisted that increased data traffic of bandwidth-intensive services and applications such as video streaming requires them to actively manage their networks.
Operators have argued that the new regulation will discourage investment associated with the expansion and upgrade of their networks and would also throttle innovation and competition. Moreover, the incumbent ISPs have raised concerns that the National Broadband Plan will lead to regulation of services not currently regulated.
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