Essential Building-Blocks For Universal High-Speed Broadband

The Wireless Future Program of the New America Foundation filed comments on Monday regarding the Federal Communications Commission's development of a national broadband plan. NAF believes that a national effort to invest in the essential fiber infrastructures that interconnect all broadband networks and are essential to high-capacity connections, along with innovative 21st century spectrum polices to tap into the enormous, underutilized capacity of our national spectrum resources can serve as the foundation for high-speed broadband deployment in communities across the country. NAF policy proposals included:

1) Prioritize Open Fiber Networks Connecting Community Anchor Institutions,

2) Leverage Public Investment in Surface Transportation and Smart Grid to Extend Middle-Mile Fiber Access,

3) ARRA Broadband Mapping Should Include a Mapping of Public Spectrum Capability, and

4) Build on the TV White Space Database to Open Access to Unused and Underutilized Frequency Bands.

Public investment in fiber and public access to airwaves ("fiber in the sky") can provide a springboard for expanding high-speed broadband to all communities; benefiting a wide variety of providers, business models, and broadband solutions, while also promoting competition, increased speeds and lower prices, and ensuring the U.S. continues to be a leading innovator in the communication technologies of the 21st century.