VP Biden Kick Starts National Broadband Plan

Vice President Joe Biden, speaking to industry leaders in Georgia in mid-December, announced that $183 million in government economic recovery funds have been awarded to 17 states to kick start President Obama's National Broadband plan, which hopes to provide every American with affordable broadband Internet access.

The money announced by the Vice President is part of a package totaling over $7 billion. The National Broadband plan aims to bolster the broadband network in under-served and remote areas, and in public facilities and schools. The Obama Administration believes that the “science, technology and innovation the Administration is making through the Recovery Act (will) lay a new foundation for economic growth,” according to a press release from the United States Department of Agriculture.

According to the press release, Vice President Biden said, “New broadband access means more capacity and better reliability in rural areas and [under-served] urban communities around the country. Businesses will be able to improve their customer service and better compete around the world … This is what the Recovery Act is all about—sparking new growth, tapping into the ingenuity of the American people and giving folks the tools they need to help build a new economy in the 21st-century."

Since the announcement of the National Broadband Plan, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has been scrambling to develop strategies to implement the plan, but they are struggling with ways to overcome the main roadblocks to broadband growth.

According to Marguerite Reardon, a CNET reporter specializing in high-tech news, hurdles to growth include—

1.) the redirect of funds from the Universal Service Plan (USF) from voice networks to broadband networks;

2.) the attitude among what few service providers there are who refuse (or find it economically infeasible) to service smaller markets, or who only provide limited options in areas where the average income is lower;

3.) the lack of spectrum available for use to expand the broadband market; and,

4.) the lack of innovation (due to lack of competition) from TV setbox suppliers.

The National Broadband plan visionaries hope to see broadband available on everyone's TV eventually. According to Reardon, in order to boost competition and spur innovation, “the FCC is considering requiring paid TV providers, such as Comcast, Time Warner Cable, AT&T, and Verizon Communications to supply a low-cost network interface device that would allow people to access the Internet on their TVs and to access cable TV without using a cable box.”

The FCC plans to present its strategy to Congress in February, 2010.