Verizon and T-Mobile USA have submitted proposals for the national broadband plan called for by Congress, says Wireless Week.
The comments are part of the FCC’s effort to meet its February 17, 2010, deadline to create the plan, which allocates $7.2 billion of the president’s $800 billion stimulus bill to extend broadband coverage to every U.S. resident, especially in underserved rural areas.
Verizon’s proposal includes recommendations to improve cybersecurity, encourage IP-based services and reform the universal service fund (USF).
T-Mobile’s proposal states that mobile broadband should be an essential component of the national broadband plan and calls for additional spectrum that would be obtained by reallocating at least 200 MHz for commercial use.
Monday’s deadline produced hundreds of comments ranging from the American Farm Bureau to the government of Japan. Free Press, Consumer Federation of America and Consumers Union were among the watchdogs to recommend the reclassification of broadband as a telecommunications service, despite an FCC declaration a few years ago that cable broadband is a lightly regulated information service.
ArsTechnica reviews some of the submissions to the FCC’s broadband proceeding to create a national broadband plan. There are now over 300 opinions on how to create a national broadband plan. Here’s the link for uploading a comment.
A June 4th National Broadband Stimulus Town Hall Meeting Webcast produced by the National League of Cities TV, (www.NLCTV.org), in cooperation with BroadbandCensus.com, attracted an on-line audience of thousands of city officials and industry professionals as experts engaged in interactive discussions on how broadband stimulus money will be deployed.
It’s now archived and on-line (with registration).
