The FCC is set to share the nation's first official broadband plan with Congress Tuesday – a sort of Declaration of the Internet that seeks to ensure that a fast broadband connection is just as much an unalienable right as life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

That's pretty ambitious, but the FCC is as unambiguous about its intentions as the colonists were about throwing off the yoke of another form of oppression. For example, goal No. 3 states that "Every American should have affordable access to robust broadband service, and the means and skills to subscribe if they so choose."

Still the plan, put together by the FCC after months of hearings and public comment periods, is pragmatic and reformist in its details, rather than revolutionary. That is, at least according to a summary (.pdf) released Monday.

The FCC is calling for more competition among broadband providers, more spectrum for wireless data services, subsidies for rural and poor citizens, and education for the digitally challenged. There's a little bit for every constituency, from those who worry most about the digital divide to those who see a future where all health records are digitized and networked.

There's not much for those who dreamed of a drastic call for an all-fiber network to be built and subsidized by the government. There is, in fact, no government building of public networks at all. Nor is there much in the way of support for municipalities and states.

And for those itching for a confrontation between users and the big telecoms, the plan will disappoint since it steers clear of controversial topics such whether the wireless industry has to follow the same open requirements now applied to DSL and cable companies, and whether those who own the infrastructure connecting people to the net have to rent their lines to competing services at a fair price.

The plan recommendations are split between those steps that Congress should take, and those that the FCC can implement with its own procedures.

The latter recommendations include increasing competition between broadband providers by collecting more data on broadband pricing, performance and competition and requiring broadband providers to give feds more information about what areas they service and at what speed. To promote wireless broadband, the FCC says it want to free up more spectrum for wireless data usage — recommending that 500 megahertz be freed up in next 10 years and 300 of that made available for mobile use in the next five years.

This is the centerpiece of the plan, because if the agency can get spectrum back from TV broadcasters and auction it to the telecoms, it could bring in a lot of money that can fund the rest of the plan.

The plan also wants to make it easier for infrastructure to be built and run. For instance, it could reduce the price of renting space on a utility tower.

The plan also call for new rules for cable set-top boxes, the ones that most people rent from their cable company. The FCC wants to make it simpler for outside companies to make these boxes in the hopes that some company will make a version that combines chat, social networking sites and search right into the television.

The FCC also wants to subsidize broadband using the Universal Service Fund, which currently uses fees from phone companies to subsidize low-income phone users and rural health care. That re-jiggering would involve moving around some 15 billion in subsidies over the next decade.

The FCC also wants to create a Digital Literacy Corps of adults and youth to help those who want to get online, but who don't understand it or are intimidated by it. The FCC also wants a hand in turning the electric grid into the e-grid, complete with smart meters that let people see what they are using and even sell energy back into the grid if they have solar panels.

In terms of safety and security, the FCC proposes creating a nationwide wireless network dedicated to public safety and emergency workers.

While the proposal suggests that Congress put a few billion dollars a year for the next few years into broadband subsidies, the FCC says that it will be able to cover the costs of the new plan from spectrum auctions, provided all goes to plan and broadcasters play nicely.

Early reactions to the FCC's have been positive, though no one seems overjoyed at the pragmatic plan.

The Consumer Federation of America called it a "significant first step in the right direction." Public Knowledge president Gigi Sohn referred to it as a "balanced, comprehensive and forward-looking plan that should serve the country well." The wireless industry says it's happy the FCC "recognized the importance of the mobile internet to the economy and to meeting many national priorities" and wants to give it more spectrum.

Once Congress gets the report, there will be hearings and speeches and lobbying, but likely there won't be too much action from Congress until the nation's health care plan has been taken care of.

But the FCC can continue to work on its own, and the government is continuing to pass out $7 billion in stimulus grants and loans to broadband projects around the country, which are independent of the national broadband plan. Tellingly, there is no call in the broadband plan for Congress to set aside large chunks of new money to help extend broadband networks around the country, relying instead on competition and subsidies to achieve that goal.

Photo: Creative Commons licensed by Dhareza

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