National Broadband Plan - Summary

Although the staff of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) created the National Broadband Plan, the author of the plan to a great extent is America itself. As stated by the FCC, "This is America’s plan, written by and for Americans. It’s now time to act and invest in our nation’s future by bringing the power and promise of broadband to us all."

The Executive Summary states that:

Broadband is the great infrastructure challenge of the early 21st century.

Like electricity a century ago, broadband is a foundation for economic growth, job creation, global competitiveness and a better way of life. It is enabling entire new industries and unlocking vast new possibilities for existing ones. It is changing how we educate children, deliver health care, manage energy, ensure public safety, engage government, and access, organize and disseminate knowledge.

Fueled primarily by private sector investment and innovation, the American broadband ecosystem has evolved rapidly. The number of Americans who have broadband at home has grown from eight million in 2000 to nearly 200 million last year. Increasingly capable fixed and mobile networks allow Americans to access a growing number of valuable applications through innovative devices.

But broadband in America is not all it needs to be. Approximately 100 million Americans do not have broadband at home. Broadband-enabled health information technology (IT) can improve care and lower costs by hundreds of billions of dollars in the coming decades, yet the United States is behind many advanced countries in the adoption of such technology. Broadband can provide teachers with tools that allow students to learn the same course material in half the time, but there is a dearth of easily accessible digital educational content required for such opportunities. A broadband-enabled Smart Grid could increase energy independence and efficiency, but much of the data required to capture these benefits are inaccessible to consumers, businesses and entrepreneurs. And nearly a decade after 9/11, our first responders still lack a nationwide public safety mobile broadband communications network, even though such a network could improve emergency response and homeland security.

Read more about the Congressional Mandate and the plan to influence the broadband ecosystem.

The historical and policy context of the National Plan, spectrum reform, solutions and more, detailed in a background brief entitled 'Can The National Plan Expand Rural Broadband Inclusion?' was presented by Bill Gillis, Ph.D., CEO of VisionTech 360, at Telecommunications Law; Law Seminars International; Seattle, Washington on April 15, 2010.

With Congressional passage and executive signature of the Tele-communications Act of 1996, the nation set forth on an intentional path to be a world leader in what was then a young emerging age of “dot com” entrepreneurship and consumer wonderland promised by a globally connected Internet. Central to that path was the removal of remaining regulatory barriers to competitive telecommunications entry into local markets and the establishment of industry ground—rules for competitive engagement...

...Broadband reform in 2010 stands at a unique juncture where it is entirely possible that the interests of historically competing service providers and the public interest may reasonably align in new and innovative ways that can overcome the structural institutional rigidities that have been a barrier to progress in the past.