NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] Yang, Levin @ Stanford Law (4/27 on National Broadband Plan)
Yang, Levin @ Stanford Law (4/27 on National Broadband Plan) http://bit.ly/anw1uX (Stanford) 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. Fueled by private sector investment and innovation, the American broadband system has evolved rapidly to reaching nearly 200 million homes last year. At the same time, nearly 100 million Americans do not have broadband, and major opportunities in broadband-enabled information technology in health, education, energy and public safety remain untapped. To this end in early 2009, Congress directed the Federal Communications Commission to develop a National Broadband Plan to ensure every American has "access to broadband capability" and a detailed strategy for achieving affordability and maximizing use of broadband to advance a host of national purposes, such as health, education, public safety, energy efficiency, entrepreneural activity, and private sector investment. On March 16, 2010, the FCC submitted the 360-page plan, Connecting America: The National Broadband Plan, to Congress and the President. It calls for, among other things, a extensive new initiatives to reclaim spectrum for mobile broadband use and significant reform of the Universal Service Fund, which made voice telephony ubiquitous, to apply to broadband. Phoebe Yang and Blair Levin will provide an executive overview of the Plan and the next steps of implementation. The Plan can be accessed at www.broadband.gov.