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FCC unveils “100 Squared” broadband plan for America
17 Feb 2010 | 14.18 Europe/London
As the clock ticks on delivery of America’s National Broadband Plan, Julius Genachowski, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, has outlined one of the plan’s key goals – to deliver 100 Mbps connections to 100 million households.
Genachowski unveiled the “100 Squared" initiative at the National Association of Regulatory Commissioners (NARUC) conference in Washington yesterday. In a suitably inspirational speech, he asserted that “building world-class broadband that connects all Americans is our generation’s great infrastructure challenge”.
Two things need to happen to make this possible. First, broadband speeds must be improved. Even though America has a substantial number of subscribers already on connections capable of 100 Mbps, such as Verizon’s FiOS package, or DOCSIS 3.0 cable TV networks – the average speed of broadband in America is just 3.9 Mbps, according to Akamai’s latest “State of the Internet” report.
Second, broadband adoption will need a substantial boost, from about 65% of the population today to something closer to 90% (there are about 117 million homes in America.) One way of tackling this will be to catch them young: Genachowski wants to ensure that every child in America is digitally literate by the time he or she leaves high school.
Reading between the lines, it appears that 100 Mbps is one ambition, but the National Broadband Plan is likely to set another target in respect of universal service. “Other countries with broadband plans have universality goals ranging from 1 to 2 megabits. Our goal for universal service will be higher,” Genachowski noted.
It’s also not obvious whether the “2020 vision” refers to the timescale, or the need to set unambiguous and measurable targets. But while the vision is clearly expressed, no doubt the devil will be in the details.
In the FCC's view, this is not just an infrastructure project: the final recommendations will include measures to extract the maximum value from broadband, for instance by imrproving access to telehealth, e-education and smart grids, to name but a few.
Here's the full list of recommendations described by Genachowski, which expected become key elements of the final National Broadband Plan, due to be presented to Congress on 17 March:
Meanwhile, the Brits are getting even more ambitious than the Yanks with a “100 times three” plan. Writing in ZDnet, Malcolm Corbett, chairman of the Independent Networks Co-operative Association (INCA) in the UK, described the aims of a fibre project in Alston, a rural community in Cumbria:
Genachowski unveiled the “100 Squared" initiative at the National Association of Regulatory Commissioners (NARUC) conference in Washington yesterday. In a suitably inspirational speech, he asserted that “building world-class broadband that connects all Americans is our generation’s great infrastructure challenge”.
Two things need to happen to make this possible. First, broadband speeds must be improved. Even though America has a substantial number of subscribers already on connections capable of 100 Mbps, such as Verizon’s FiOS package, or DOCSIS 3.0 cable TV networks – the average speed of broadband in America is just 3.9 Mbps, according to Akamai’s latest “State of the Internet” report.
Second, broadband adoption will need a substantial boost, from about 65% of the population today to something closer to 90% (there are about 117 million homes in America.) One way of tackling this will be to catch them young: Genachowski wants to ensure that every child in America is digitally literate by the time he or she leaves high school.
Reading between the lines, it appears that 100 Mbps is one ambition, but the National Broadband Plan is likely to set another target in respect of universal service. “Other countries with broadband plans have universality goals ranging from 1 to 2 megabits. Our goal for universal service will be higher,” Genachowski noted.
It’s also not obvious whether the “2020 vision” refers to the timescale, or the need to set unambiguous and measurable targets. But while the vision is clearly expressed, no doubt the devil will be in the details.
In the FCC's view, this is not just an infrastructure project: the final recommendations will include measures to extract the maximum value from broadband, for instance by imrproving access to telehealth, e-education and smart grids, to name but a few.
Here's the full list of recommendations described by Genachowski, which expected become key elements of the final National Broadband Plan, due to be presented to Congress on 17 March:
- A recommendation for improving the highly successful E-Rate program -- which made Internet connections in America’s classrooms and libraries a reality -- so that kids and teachers can have a 21st century educational experience that is the envy of the world.
- A recommendation to modernize the FCC’s rural telemedicine program to connect thousands of additional clinics and break down bureaucratic barriers to a telehealth future.
- A recommendation to take the steps necessary to deploy broadband to accelerate a smart grid.
- A recommendation to develop public/private partnerships to increase Internet adoption, and ensure that all children can use the Internet proficiently and safely -- with programs like NCTA’s new A+ program playing a helpful role.
- A recommendation to free up a significant amount of spectrum in the years ahead for ample licensed and unlicensed use.
- A recommendation for lowering the cost of broadband build-out -- wired and wireless -- through the smart use of government rights of way and conduits.
- A recommendation for creating an interoperable public safety network to replace the currently broken system.
100 megabits times three
Meanwhile, the Brits are getting even more ambitious than the Yanks with a “100 times three” plan. Writing in ZDnet, Malcolm Corbett, chairman of the Independent Networks Co-operative Association (INCA) in the UK, described the aims of a fibre project in Alston, a rural community in Cumbria:
Their ambition boils down to three 100s: 100Mbps per second — a network that is capable of delivering symmetric, future-proof broadband; 100 percent coverage — no-one left behind; and £100 per year, or thereabouts, for the basic connection cost, roughly the price of the current telephone-line rental.