Found on Slashdot Friday, 10-JUL-2010:
FCC Dodges Pointed Questions On US Broadband Plan
Ars [ars technica] covers a series of questions that US senators put to the FCC chaiman following up on his appearance before the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee in April. The headline question was a blunt one asked by octogenarian Senator Daniel Inouye (D-HI): "The National Broadband Plan (NBP) proposes a goal of having 100 million homes subscribed at 100Mbps by 2020," he wrote, "while the leading nations already have 100Mbps fiber-based services at costs of $30 to $40 per month and beginning rollout of 1Gbps residential services, which the FCC suggests is required only for a single anchor institution in each community by 2020. This appears to suggest that the US should accept a 10- to 12-year lag behind the leading nations. What is the FCC's rationale for a vision that appears to be firmly rooted in the second tier of countries?" In the FCC's formal response, Chairman Genachowski doesn't rise to the "second tier" bait, and in fact talks about "ensuring that America remains a broadband world leader," as if he believes we currently are. A blogger over at Balloon Juice is a little more forthright on the "What is the FCC's rationale" question: "The rationale is that this is the best they can do with a legislative branch in the pocket of telecom providers."
Ars' article:
FCC's response (PDF):
Balloon Juice blog:
***** Moderator's Note *****
I'm surprised: has Slashdot grown a pair of horns? This is a big change from the "Bubble Gum Tech" they usually feature.
Bill Horne Moderator