FCC Announces Broadband Agenda: USCM Continuing to Meet with FCC on Rights-of-Way, Public Safety Concerns
By Ron Thaniel
April 19, 2010
The FCC announced on April 8 the agenda for implementing recommendations of the National Broadband Plan (Plan) that will involve more than 60 rulemakings and other notice-and-comment proceedings.
Of particular interests to The U.S. Conference of Mayors is that the Rights-of-Way Task Force is scheduled to begin work in July and in late Q2 or early Q3 2010.
After a successful local government lobbying campaign led by The U.S. Conference of Mayors, the Plan, mandated by last year’s economic stimulus package, did not include recommendations that would have limited local government rights-of-way authority or would have undermined local budgets by imposing a less than fair market value as the standard for fair and reasonable rights-of-way compensation. However, while the Conference of Mayors closely monitors this through ongoing discussions with FCC staff, the Plan, as referenced, does call for a Rights-of-Way Task Force with state, Tribal and local policymakers to craft guidelines for rates, terms and conditions for access to public rights-of-way.
In addition, the Plan recommends the license of the D-block for commercial use, with options for public safety partnerships. The Conference of Mayors is opposed to a commercial auction of the 700 MHz D-block. The Conference, along with a coalition of state and local government associations, is supporting legislation to reallocate the D-block of spectrum for public safety. Of note, and to this point, the FCC will adopt an order and NPRM to pave the way for an auction of the 10 MHz of spectrum in the Upper 700 MHz D-block in the first half of 2011.
The 2010 Broadband Action Agenda focuses on four key goals:
Promote World-Leading Mobile Broadband Infrastructure, Innovation
- Seek to make an additional 500-megahertz (MHz) of spectrum available for mobile broadband within the next ten years.
- Increase opportunities for unlicensed devices and innovative spectrum access models.
- Expand incentives and mechanisms to reallocate or repurpose spectrum to higher-valued uses.
- Improve the transparency of spectrum allocation and utilization.
Accelerate Universal Broadband Access, Adoption, Advance National Purposes Such as Education, Health Care
- Carry out the transformation of the Universal Service Fund over the next ten years to support broadband service.
- Upgrade the E-rate program.
- Reform and upgrade the Rural Health Care Program.
- Create a Connect America Fund to extend broadband service to unserved areas of the nation and to ensure affordable broadband service in high-cost areas where support is necessary.
- Create a Mobility Fund to bring all states to a baseline level of “3G” (or better) wireless coverage.
Foster Competition, Maximize Consumer Benefits Across Broadband Ecosystem
- Enhance broadband and marketplace choices for small businesses and mobile providers by establishing consistent policy frameworks for special access and wholesale wireline competition.
- Improve consumer disclosures and FCC data collection to better monitor and promote broadband competition.
- Fulfill mandate from Congress to ensure that video navigation devices, such as smart video devices, are available to consumers in the marketplace, spurring innovation in home video devices and driving increased broadband adoption and utilization.
Advance Robust, Secure Public Safety Communications Networks
- Facilitate the creation of a nationwide interoperable public safety wireless broadband network.
- Promote cybersecurity and protect critical communications infrastructure.
- Aid the transition to next-generation 911 and alerting systems.
For specific details, please see the 2010 Broadband Action Agenda at http://www.broadband.gov/plan/broadband-action-agenda.html and an implementation schedule at http://www.broadband.gov/plan/chart-of-key-broadband-action-agenda-items.pdf.
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