FCC may endorse broadband goals, but not vote on plan

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is urging his four colleagues on the commission to sign a joint "mission statement" endorsing the overarching goals of the proposed national broadband plan in lieu of an up-or-down vote on the massive technology blueprint.

The plan, to be formally unveiled at the agency's March 16 meeting before the next day's congressional deadline, seeks to extend affordable high-speed Internet access to all Americans by 2020.

The latest draft, compiled by the agency's 50-member broadband team under Genachowski's leadership, draws to varying degrees from ideas espoused by the agency's other appointed commissioners, sources said.

But instead of risking a split vote among the five regulators on approving the plan, Genachowski is seeking consensus on a joint statement, which sources said would provide him with some political cover for the controversies that are certain to be triggered by the some of the plan's recommendations.

"If people are left of center, they're going to say [the plan] doesn't go far enough, and if they're right of center, they're going to say it goes too far," a telecommunications insider said. "It's going to get shot at from all sides."

The draft, a few hundred pages long, is expected to spawn several legislative and regulatory proposals, setting the stage for protracted battles over implementation.

A central recommendation calls for reorienting the multibillion-dollar federal Universal Service Fund from subsidizing telecom costs in low-income and rural areas to reducing monthly broadband bills for eligible Americans. The agency says this goal can be achieved without expanding the program's size.

Among the funding requests is a proposal for $9 billion in supplemental congressional appropriations over three years for a new fund promoting broadband deployment to rural areas.

"If Congress were to make such an appropriation in a timely manner, this could enable the FCC to achieve more quickly the objectives set forth in the plan for universal broadband" without having to expand the USF, the draft states.

The money would complement the $7.2 billion set aside by last year's economic stimulus package to provide loans and grants to spur the technology's rollout to unserved and underserved regions. The draft also urges Congress to consider expanding that effort, now being run by the Agriculture and Commerce departments.

Genachowski recently said the plan would seek $12 billion to $16 billion from Congress to construct and operate a nationwide, wireless broadband network for emergency responders. The FCC hopes industry players will invest billions of dollars more, spurred by tax incentives in the plan.

Federal dollars also are sought for a new digital literacy corps that would provide outreach and training to communities that need assistance with computer technology.

The blueprint sets an ambitious June 2012 deadline for the creation of standardized set-top boxes that could be used with any cable systems and would serve as "gateways" for Internet access on televisions, a source said. The devices would be sold in stores.

While the draft mentions the FCC has approved tentative rules to expand and bolster the agency's network neutrality principles designed to preserve the Internet's openness, it does not recommend any new Internet regulations for carriers.

Despite these and many other sweeping initiatives, the draft is realistic about the tremendous challenges ahead for the commission. "Although the plan sets forth a vision to achieve universal broadband, no one can accurately foresee every variable that will happen between now and 2020," it states.

"The precise timing of achieving universal availability will depend on many variables, many of which are beyond the control of regulators," the draft says, noting, "The FCC may need to make mid-course corrections along the way."