This week Sprint and Verizon both came out with statements supporting the newly annouced National Broadband Plan. The plan outlines six goals for America’s internet. To find out more about the plan you can visit http://www.broadband.gov/ but here are some highlights:
The Goals
- Goal 1: At least 100 million U.S. homes should have affordable access to actual download speeds of at least 100 megabits per second and actual upload speeds of at least 50 megabits per second.
- Goal 2: The United States should lead the world in mobile innovation, with the fastest and most extensive wireless networks of any nation.
- Goal 3: Every American should have affordable access to robust broadband service, and the means and skills to subscribe if they so choose.
- Goal 4: Every community should have affordable access to at least 1 Gbps broadband service to anchor institutions such as schools, hospitals and government buildings.
- Goal 5: To ensure the safety of Americans, every first responder should have access to a nationwide public safety wireless network.
- Goal 6: To ensure that America leads in the clean energy economy, every American should be able to use broadband to track and manage their real-time energy consumption.
The site also hosts a coule of useful tools, one being a broadband speed test (http://www.broadband.gov/qualitytest/?TB_iframe=true&height=500&width=470&qt=true) and the other is a form people can use to report “Broadband Dead Zones”. By using the form you can put your address in the national Broadband Dead Zone Registry. The registry will be used to track and point underserved areas.
Sprint and Verizon were both quick to make statements.
From Sprint:
“With the release of the National Broadband Plan, the FCC gave America a roadmap to a better broadband future. Sprint applauds Chairman Genachowski, his fellow Commissioners, and staff at the FCC for producing a comprehensive set of recommendations designed to expand the availability of high speed affordable broadband across the U.S.,” said Vonya B. McCann, senior vice president, Government Affairs, Sprint.“At Sprint, we share many of the FCC’s goals as outlined in the plan. Over the next several days, we will be reviewing the plan’s specific recommendations and look forward to working with the FCC and Congress to expand affordable high-performance broadband services,” McCann continued.
From Verizon:
“Verizon strongly supports the emphasis in the National Broadband Plan on the deployment of broadband facilities and adoption by all Americans. To that end, we are encouraged by the call to reform the policies that subsidize some companies’ telecommunications services so the policies are focused on the technologies of the 21st century. The plan also properly focuses on identifying the barriers to swift deployment and adoption and proposing recommendations to remove or overcome those barriers.“The plan correctly notes that government is a major purchaser of services and can be a catalyst for using broadband to reform the health care delivery system, improve energy conservation, preserve the environment, and promote the use of broadband technology to advance education.
Read the Broadband Plan here http://www.broadband.gov/
More from Sprint http://newsreleases.sprint.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=127149&p=RssLanding&cat=news&id=1402871
More from Verizon http://newscenter.verizon.com/press-releases/verizon/2010/verizon-statement-on-fccs.html
