Details of Broadband Plan Begin To Emerge

(Excerpt from this week's Independent Report)

As a result of a series of speeches and media interviews by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, some details of the National Broadband Plan are emerging. The FCC is expected to deliver the plan to the U.S. Congress on March 17 – thirty days past the deadline imposed by Congress in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The plan will be unveiled to the public at the March 16 FCC open meeting.

Reportedly, the FCC has completed briefing members of Congress and their staffs about the specifics of the plan.

The plan is expected to include a series of recommendations on the future of the Universal Service Fund. Most details about the USF recommendations have not yet been revealed. However, Genachowski indicated last week in a speech before the New America Foundation, a progressive non-profit public policy think tank, that the plan would propose the creation of a Mobility Fund as part of USF. (Click here to view this week’s Independent Report.)