Consumers Union responds positively to FCC’s broadband plan

Mar 16, 2010 Technology

In response to the National Broadband Plan presented to Congress today by the Federal Communication Commission, Joel Kelsey, a policy analyst with Consumers Union (the nonprofit parent company of Consumer Reports) released the following statement.

We commend the commission for the goals and the vision in this plan to bring affordable, high-speed Internet access to all Americans. The U.S. has fallen behind other countries, both in terms of how many people have broadband and the speed of those connections. This plan seeks to knock down the biggest obstacles to bringing high-speed Internet to more people at a reasonable price. This is the first step in a long process. The commission has laid out a lot of important questions the government must answer to put us on the right path, and we look forward to working with the commissioners and Congress on the road ahead.

In its own statement today, the FCC detailed its vision for the American broadband network [PDF] by 2020. Among other goals, the plan calls for promoting competition in the broadband market and closing certain "broadband gaps." Those gaps include the 100 million Americans who currently have no broadband access at home (especially in rural areas and among "vulnerable" populations) and the shortage of broadband spectrum for mobile devices.

—Nick K. Mandle