What Do Clear, Google, And President Obama Have In Common?

by Elias Shams

They all want to get us  on high-speed broadband. One for profit, I shall call it the wireless company, “Clear”. One for believing access to high-speed broadband is a necessity these days and not a luxury anymore, I shall call it “our President”. And,  one for God knows why, I shall call it “Google”. The good News is more corners of the country will have high-speed Internet access, existing connections would become much faster, and we  will be cruising the Web with 100 Mbps

The Federal Communications Commission just delivered its long-awaited National Broadband Plan to Congress yesterday, with the goal of creating a nationwide communications network connecting more than 90% of U.S. households. You can review part of the 376-page plan here and here. They are both in pdf.

The plan is meant to guide the government’s strategy on broadband for the next decade and beyond. It reflects the Obama administration’s concern that the nation that invented the Internet is in danger of falling behind the development of online applications in other countries that have faster broadband speeds at lower prices. While much of the plan focuses on wired broadband connections, two of the six long-term goals stated in the plan focus on wireless services.

To save you time, here are the highlights:

i) To connect 100 million households with affordable broadband at speeds of 100 megabits per second, with 1 gigabit connections at anchor institutions such as schools, hospitals and military installations.

Although existing connections are often fast enough to let people watch TV shows or movies on computers, faster connections would open new kinds of services, such as fast-loading, high-definition videos ideal for viewing on big-screen TVs. The FCC also says faster broadband would enable doctors to monitor patients over the Internet and broaden the opportunities for students to take classes online.

ii) Free up another 500 megahertz of wireless spectrum by 2020 to meet the growing demand for mobile services as well as an auction of D-Block spectrum and greater use of unlicensed spectrum.  TV broadcasters have already shown serious concern to this.  As a reminder, they gave up more than 100 megahertz of their spectrum when they shut off analog signals last year and began broadcasting only in digital.

The plan calls for 300 megahertz to be released in the next five years. The plan would be to allow TV broadcasters to be paid from auction receipts to relinquish some of the spectrum they use for mobile services. In the past, all money received from spectrum auctions has been given to the U.S. Treasury. Mechanisms include incentive auctions, which allow auction proceeds to be shared in an equitable manner with current licensees as market demands change. These would benefit both spectrum holders and the American public. The public could benefit from additional spectrum for high-demand uses and from new auction revenues. Incumbents, meanwhile, could recognize a portion of the value of enabling new uses of spectrum. For example, this would allow the FCC to share auction proceeds with broadcasters who voluntarily agree to use technology to continue traditional broadcast services with fewer spectrums.

iii) To create a nationwide wireless public safety network for first responders.

iv) The plan recommends using Universal Service Fund (USF) proceeds for broadband development, and could include shifting up to $15.5 billion from USF to broadband initiatives.

v) The plan also suggests that a block of spectrum be licensed with the condition that the licensee offer free or low-cost service. The plan also would expand the number of companies that pay into the USF fund.

vi) Further the plan calls for creating a Mobility Fund so that no states are lagging significantly behind the national average for 3G wireless coverage, since 3G coverage is the basis for 4G coverage

Funding?

What I don’t quite understand yet is the funding (part iv mentioned above):

a) Yet it’s not certain the FCC can find the corporate support and legal clearance to carry out the entire plan

b) The FCC does not estimate the total cost of the plan. It insists that its proposals could be paid for by auctioning off slices of the airwaves. But the agency will have to persuade Congress that as much as $20 billion from the airwave auctions be set aside for broadband plans and not get routed to other purposes. That would come on top of the $7.2 billion for broadband included in the 2009 stimulus bill. The Commerce and Agriculture departments are handing out that money now.

Although, the FCC plan lays out a framework for overhauling the federal Universal Service Fund to pay for expanding broadband instead of basic telephone service; but, tapping this fund for broadband could be an uphill push.  Not to mention the long-distance revenue base that supports the Universal Service Fund is shrinking. So, how is that going to work? FYI, The $8-billion-a-year program, financed by a surcharge that businesses and consumers pay on long-distance bills, was established to subsidize telephone service in sparsely populated places.

The Wired Part

As for the wired part of the game, I think it will be much cheaper and less complicated than the wireless. Since, the collapse of the telecom and burst of the bubble in  early 2000, the infrastructure has been laid under the ground, ready and waiting. Besides Google, hardly anyone knows about it.

- There are thousands of miles of ‘dark’ Fiber Optic lines – as in, ‘not lit and not in use, but laid, prepared and ready. The capital markets providing needed money to Light these lines dried up at the turn of the Century – that last small step is all that’s necessary to bring “Fiber to the Curb” which equal truly unprecedented speeds to all households. What’s needed? Networking ‘gear’ capable of lighting, transmitting and switching the nearly unlimited amount of data that can be carried by existing Fiber.

- Much of these lines are not strung from pole to pole, but utilize existing Rights of Way like Pipelines and Railroads! – that’s why Railroads are in the business. That’s why so-called Energy Companies like ENRON also traded future Bandwidth – they owned or controlled Rights of Ways all over the Nation thus allowing these thin (and armored) Fiber Optic Lines to be installed at nominal costs in relation to their true value. They sit unused, while most data is transmitted via ‘copper’ lines – last centuries technology.

- The Nation is far along in Fiber Optic infrastructure – the cable is already laid, but remains ‘dark’ awaiting a truly comprehensive approach to lighting it all, connecting it all and cheaply fulfilling this hard-to-believe possibility of inexpensive data transmission at unheard of speeds. Literally, with Fiber-to-the-Curb (and across oceans) and for example Hospital Computers in Delhi could communicate enormous imaging data and the like with Hospital Computers in NYC as though part of the same network in the same building!

- It’s within reach, nearly done but requires that last big push. Who knows what can bring about this push if the Public is not even aware of the existing, wasted capabilities in all the thousands of miles of existing, installed Dark Fiber.

Anyway, National Broadband Plan is just the starting point for future broadband discussion. How Congress reacts to the 376-page plan will be watched closely by industry going forward. Even the FCC noted in its comments that the plan will always be in “beta” mode since technology will continue to evolve.