The Federal Communications Commission is proposing an ambitious 10-year plan that will reimagine the nation's media and technology priorities by establishing high-speed Internet as the country's dominant communication network.
The plan, which will be submitted to Congress on Tuesday, is likely to generate debate in Washington and a lobbying battle among the telecommunication giants, which may face new competition for customers, and the broadcast television industry, which is resisting giving back spectrum the government wants to use for future mobile service.
The blueprint reflects the government's view that broadband Internet is becoming the common medium of the United States, gradually displacing the telephone and broadcast television industries.
According to FCC officials briefed on the plan, the commission's recommendations will include a subsidy for Internet providers to wire rural parts of the country now without access, a controversial auction of some broadcast spectrum to free up space for wireless devices, and the development of a new universal set-top box that connects to the Internet and cable service.
The effort will influence billions of dollars in federal spending, although the FCC will argue that the plan should pay for itself through the spectrum auctions. Some recommendations will require Congressional action and industry support, and will affect users only years from now.
For much of the last year, Julius Genachowski, the FCC chairman and the plan's chief salesman, has laid the groundwork for the Congressionally mandated plan by asserting that the United States is lagging far behind other countries in broadband adoption and speed. About a third of Americans have no access to high-speed Internet service, cannot afford it or choose not to have it.
The plan envisions a fully Web-connected world with split-second access to health care information and online classrooms, delivered through wireless devices yet to be dreamed up in Silicon Valley. But to get there, analysts say the FCC must tread carefully with companies like Comcast and AT&T that largely control Internet pricing and speeds. Already, there are questions about the extent to which the FCC has jurisdiction over Internet providers.
In recent weeks, the most-talked-about idea in the television industry has been a voluntary auction of over-the-air spectrum for future mobile broadband uses. In total, the FCC is hoping to free up roughly 500 megahertz of spectrum, much of which would come from television broadcasters.
The proposal already faces resistance from the TV industry. Stations say they still serve a valuable public service, especially during emergencies, and say the FCC proposals could cause gaps in signal coverage.
But FCC officials assert that the spectrum changes are necessary given a looming spectrum shortage. Said Colin Crowell, a senior counselor to Genachowski: "It isn't a crisis tomorrow, it's a crisis in five or six years."
