Broadband & Community Broadband: Recent and Upcoming Events

As the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) continues to gather input into the National Broadband Plan it will report back to Congress in February, competition policy remains among the most contentious issues. In addition, the Chairman on Monday announced his intention to codify the FCC's existing four open Internet principles, along with two additional principles to prohibit discrimination against particular Internet applications and content and ensure that providers are transparent about network management practices.

As the Internet has evolved -- moving from a relatively small set of networks used by researchers to a worldwide platform used by over a billion people -- its performance has become harder to analyze and understand. Researchers lack access to critical data about the current state of broadband networks, and users can find it difficult or impossible to understand the performance and characteristics of their Internet connections.

In an unprecedented display of consensus, a broad and diverse array of groups concerned about America's broadband future released a Call to Action that provides President-elect Obama and the incoming Congress a policy framework for a comprehensive national broadband strategy.

NOTE: Due to a last-minute scheduling conflict, Douglas Holtz-Eakin is unable to participate in today's event, and the McCain campaign will not be sending an alternate spokesperson. The event will proceed as scheduled with Reed Hundt representing the Obama campaign.

The next president is going to face a host of pressing questions involving technology:

Why is the United States falling behind the rest of the world in broadband access, and how can we reverse that? What should our immigration policy be for… more

Although the U.S. once led the world in Internet deployment and innovation, our nation continues to plummet in international rankings in terms of broadband adoption, speeds and costs. As a result, there is growing support for an affirmative national broadband policy to promote more affordable and ubiquitous access to high-bandwidth connectivity. An MP3 audio recording can be downloaded below, while video is available at right. Since 2001, the e-NC Authority of North Carolina has been at the forefront… more

The New America Foundation/Wireless Future Program is pleased to announce that the International Summit for Community Wireless Networks (ISC4CWN) will be held on May 28th – May 30th, 2008 in Washington, DC. Co-hosted by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) at its downtown headquarters, IS4CWN is the largest gathering of community wireless networking developers, implementers and allies working to build universal, low-cost wireless broadband networks around the world. The Summit serves as an integral… more

When EarthLink announced its decision to withdraw further investments in municipal wireless networks in November 2007, the future of Philadelphia's network, along with hundreds of municipal wireless projects, became uncertain. Wireless Philadelphia, the nation's first big-city municipal wireless initiative, led the way for cities to invest in broadband infrastructure. Although a number of other muni wireless networks have been set up and are running successfully (such as St. Cloud, FL and Chaska and Minneapolis, MN) troubles with the Philadelphia… more

On Tuesday, December 11th, New America Foundation, The Ethos Group, and the Center for International Media Action will release an in-depth analysis and report on Philadelphia’s efforts to build a municipal wireless network. Philadelphia’s initiative to promote wireless technology and address the problem of the digital divide has influenced municipal wireless projects nationwide and helped shape the national discussion over municipal broadband.

The New America Foundation and the Media Mobilizing Project will host a panel of municipal broadband experts to discuss… more

When the transition to digital TV is completed in February 2009, broadcasters will retain channels 2 to 51, but will actually be using less than half of that spectrum to broadcast over-the-air DTV signals. Local TV stations will be separated by empty channels, known as "white space" -- underutilized spectrum that new “smart radio” technologies can use for productive activities, including wireless broadband, without interfering with television reception. DARPA and other wireless innovators have already developed far… more

In the coming weeks, the FCC will set the bidding and service rules for the auction of the 700MHz channels being freed up by the DTV transition—“beachfront” airwaves ideal for the provision of high-speed wireless broadband services. This last big sale of prime spectrum is expected to raise $10 to $20 billion in federal revenue. But far more important to the economy and to consumers is whether this auction promotes broadband deployment and price competition in every part of the… more

With U.S. broadband penetration still lagging far behind other advanced economies—and rural and low-income areas in particular being left on the wrong side of the digital divide—a variety of emerging wireless technologies offer the potential to quickly and cost-effectively bring affordable and ubiquitous broadband access to all Americans. While these wireless solutions offer great promise, they all suffer from a lack of adequate access to the public airwaves (spectrum)—either on an exclusive licensed or shared, unlicensed basis. Recently,… more

After watching first responder communications systems fail on 9/11 and after Hurricane Katrina, with tragic results, the vital importance of spectrum management for public safety communications has taken center stage in recent years. Congress recently passed legislation to reallocate 24 MHz of prime spectrum from TV to public safety in 2009, as part of America’s transition from analog to digital television. Currently, this new spectrum is set to be managed under the same assumptions and orthodoxies as current public safety… more

On June 28, 2006, the Senate Commerce Committee approved wide-ranging (and highly-contentious) telecommunications legislation which is now awaiting action on the Senate floor. The Advanced Telecommunications Opportunity and Reform Act (HR 5252) includes two key sections meant to remove barriers to rural and municipal wireless broadband networks. Title VI would open up much-needed -- and currently unused -- TV spectrum for use by unlicensed wireless broadband devices, and Title V would lift state-level restrictions on municipal broadband networks.… more

At its recent markup, the House Commerce Committee included language in the digital TV transition bill directing the FCC to complete its proposed rulemaking to open up vacant, unused channels in the TV band spectrum (so-called "white space") for unlicensed wireless broadband use (Docket 04-186).

The reallocation of prime airwaves from "broadcast to broadband" has been a major impetus behind DTV legislation. In May 2004, the FCC issued a proposed rulemaking to allow "smart" wireless broadband devices to… more

From the fire fighters who died on 9/11 to the rescue workers struggling to help victims of Hurricane Katrina, the absence of reliable and interoperable voice and data communications among public safety agencies has become an urgent national dilemma. Within the coming weeks, the Senate Commerce Committee will mark up DTV legislation likely to impose a hard deadline on the clearance of TV channels 52 to 69 -- freeing up precious spectrum for public safety voice interoperability and for… more

We've all heard the dire statistics. The U.S. has fallen to 16th in the world in broadband penetration. The dominant cable and DSL duopoly is failing to bring affordable broadband connectivity

Why are America's municipalities -- from small town Corpus Christi and Granbury, Texas, to big cities such as Philadelphia -- building wireless broadband networks and fighting state legislatures that want to ban them? The networks rely on unlicensed public airwaves to extend the reach of WiFi-type broadband coverage to blanket business districts, towns and even entire cities.

Recent reports criticizing municipal wireless networks make them sound like some socialist conspiracy. But the small towns and cities building these networks don't… more

The rapid development of Internet applications and digital convergence has already rendered the Telecom Act of 1996 largely obsolete and a source of contentious regulatory uncertainty. Sen. Ted Stevens, the likely new Senate Commerce Committee Chairman, is expected to initiate a major debate on overhauling the Act next year. Voice over IP and the potential for wireless broadband as an alternative last-mile pipe further complicate the policy debate.

What kind of deregulation - or re-regulation - is best for stimulating… more

Last August, Berlin completed its transition to terrestrial, over-the-air digital TV. From start to finish, Berlin's DTV transition took approximately 9 months. The most interesting feature of its transition plan was that instead of giving subsidies to complete the transition to broadcasters, they were given to consumers. Consumers dependent on broadcast TV were given a voucher so they could purchase digital-to-analog converter boxes allowing them to continue to watch broadcast TV on their analog TV sets.

In… more