December FCC Commissioner Meeting Lays out Framework for the National Broadband Plan

On December 16, the FCC Commissioner’s Meeting was dedicated to an update on the National Broadband Plan (NBP). What resonated was that the NBP is being positioned as a major rewrite of communications law, not just a narrow focus on broadband deployment. This makes a great deal of sense and has been generally suspected for some time as requests for comments have run the full range of topics from laying fiber to e-rate to spectrum policies. Even cable set-top boxes were brought into the discussion, as were the needs for transparency and special consideration for the problems faced on Tribal Lands. Broad scope is an understatement. As the Chairman stated at the close of the meeting, February 17, when the plan is due to Congress, will be just the beginning of an ongoing process.

This meeting was introduced by Blair Levin as a focus on the framework for the plan; he offered that key financial inputs into broadband development will remain with the private sector… who currently invests around $50 billion annually and that key government inputs include spectrum and the universal service fund (USF).

The meeting is archived at: http://www.fcc.gov/live/2009_12_16-open-meeting.html and the related slides and documents are available at: http://www.fcc.gov/openmeetings/2009_12_16-ocm.html