FCC reveal "high-speed broadband for all" plan

High-speed broadband For All?

Federal regulators, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), have disclosed details of a plan to bring high-speed broadband internet access to the masses by increasing delivery speeds and reducing prices for 200 million current subscribers.

The FCC's National Broadband Plan also plans on promoting high-speed broadband as a means of transforming American society and the economy. Everything from healthcare, education and energy to business and finance, the FCC believes greater access to high-speed internet will revolutionize the way all industries work. The FCC will present the outline of the plan to Congress today.

This is a sentiment shared by Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who says the widespread availability of high-speed broadband networks will "catapult" the US economy into growth and restore its competitive edge in business and science.

His comments, published on Google's official blog, were intentionally released ahead of today's publication of the FCC's $7.2 billion plan to rebuild America's communications systems as part of a wider government infrastructure regeneration initiative.

US has fallen behind

"It will harness this communications technology to urgent national priorities, such as jobs, education, health, energy, and security. In short, the plan will lay the groundwork for investing in America's future," said Schmidt.

He added that the US had fallen behind other countries in access to fast networks after inventing the internet. "Long after we recover from this recession, this broadband gap will be a dead weight on American businesses and workers, unless we act now," he said.

The plan aspires to connect 100 million households reasonable, 100 megabits-per-second service in the next 10 years. Such high speed will allow high-definition videoconferencing and medical diagnostics.

Furthermore, the FCC aims to amplify subscription from 65 percent to 90 percent through training communities and other measures.

Related Articles:

Like this article? Get the RSS feed: