Public Knowledge Disappointed with FCC Broadband Plan

December 16, 2009

Background: This morning the staff of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) presented the policy outlines for the Congressionally mandated broadband plan, which is to be presented to Congress in 63 days.

The following statement is attributed to Gigi B. Sohn, president and co-founder of Public Knowledge:

“We are disappointed at what the FCC staff said were the most critical elements of the Commission’s broadband plan. At a time when U.S. standing in the world is rapidly falling in broadband penetration and adoption, and when bold plans are called for, the Commission appears to be satisfied with taking incremental steps.”

“As the staff and Chairman Genachowski said, competition is the key to increasing our broadband capacities, yet nothing in the outline presented this morning would increase competition. Reforming universal service and supporting municipal networks are worthwhile goals, but they would do nothing to reverse the slide caused by eight years of misbegotten telecommunications policies that have crippled most meaningful broadband competition for consumers.”

“There was no discussion of opening telecommunications networks to competitors. There was no discussion of structural separations of carriers into wholesale and retail components. These are the factors that Harvard’s Berkman Center told the FCC in a study a mere two months ago were the reasons other countries have surpassed ours – they are using policies we discarded.”

via Public Knowledge Disappointed with FCC Broadband Plan | Public Knowledge.