FCC Plan Can Help Restore US Standing in High-Speed Broadband

The Federal Communications Commission's just-released National Broadband Plan is a good roadmap for the 21st Century broadband networks our nation needs for jobs and economic development. It's a start to bringing the United States up to world class standards in terms of access, speed and affordability.

The plan includes many positives, but to make the plan work, there must be action by the FCC and other government bodies to provide real incentives that will help generate the necessary several hundred billion dollars in private investment.

Among the proposals:

• Benchmarks for next generation deployment that will push investment and innovation forward now. The FCC says that within five years, 100 million U.S. households should have access to 50 mbps down and 20 up.
  
  
• A "digital literacy corps" to help Americans, especially those who are now underserved, build their online skills.
  
  
• Changes to the Universal Service Fund so Americans in rural and other underserved communities get better access to the next generation of communications (high speed Internet) just as the USF so successfully brought telephone service to those areas for the past 70 years.
  
  
• Provisions to help maintain and create quality jobs for network and content workers as well as 500,000 new jobs.

Higher speeds and accessibility are among the goals CWA has been pursuing through our Speed Matters program, a four-year campaign to advance the buildout of true high speed broadband and provide universal, affordable access. Read more about the FCC plan at www.speedmatters.org.