Broadband.gov, Workshops Kick Off Rollout
A big component of this year's stimulus package was broadband deployment. In addition to allocating $7.2 billion in broadband grants, the bill also ordered the Federal Communications Commission to come up with a national broadband plan by February.
A big component of this year's stimulus package was broadband deployment. In addition to allocating $7.2 billion in broadband grants, the bill also ordered the Federal Communications Commission to come up with a national broadband plan by February.
The commission on Thursday outlined how it will pursue that plan, the first move of which was the launch of a new Web site, broadband.gov.
"The challenge to develop a national broadband plan that "represents a view that while broadband … is not the sole solution, it is part of the solution for all of the challenges that our country faces," Blair Levin, who is coordinating the national plan at the FCC, said at the agency's monthly meeting.
The FCC will start with 20 workshops throughout August that will be open to the public and webcast online, the first of which will kick off on August 12.
The Web site at broadband.gov, meanwhile, is intended to allow for additional feedback and will eventually include mapping data that people can use for their own analysis, Levin said.
By November, Levin expects to produce a report on the key gaps in broadband in the U.S., followed by the introduction of a policy framework in December. In January, the FCC will have a report about the opportunities to drive the national agenda, and the full national plan will be unveiled in February.
Democratic Commissioner Michael J. Copps stressed that there needs to be "maximum civic engagement."
"We need people talking to us, we need us talking to people and we need people talking to people so that as a nation we can all buy in to an aggressive broadband plan based on a shared understanding of our critical BB is to our individual and [collective] futures," Copps said.
New chairman Julius Genachowski echoed those sentiments. "Broadband is not a solution to any single problem, it is part of the solution to almost every major problem our country faces," he said. "I cannot imagine a more important set of tasks for this agency at this moment in history."
The National Telecommunications & Information Administration (NTIA), meanwhile, unveiled its requirements Wednesday for those who want to apply for the $7.2 billion in broadband grants.