BROADBAND WORKSHOPS KEEP FCC STAFF BUSY,BUT TO WHAT END?

摘要

Aides involved with the FCC's broadband workshops have had an unusually busy August. But a commission official said it's unclear how much the sessions, and field hearings starting next month, will shape the national broadband plan going to Congress. "There will be some good ideas that come out of the workshops, and there will be some information that's not as helpful," a commission official predicted. "We have a very short period of time to process a lot of ideas. It's still very unclear what the final plan will look like in terms of how prescriptive it is." The workshops haven't dealt enough with which regulatory models do and don't work, said Free State Foundation President Randolph May. nn" The FCC has been very clear that this is just one piece of the data they're gathering," said Public Knowledge Legal Director Harold Feld. "If you think this is the whole thing you'll be surprised when a national broadband plan emerges." He said he has been monitoring the workshops closely, especially the questions posed by commission aides. "It gives you a sense of the level to which staff is trying to drill down and what they're looking for," Feld said. "It sends a signal to everyone else ... on the kind of things they're looking for."