Posted by Richard Whitt, Washington Telecom and Media Counsel
Today the FCC asked Congress for a one-month extension to deliver its National Broadband Plan, explaining that it needs more time to review the public record and to brief key officials. The deadline originally had been set for February 17th.
For years Google has been a vocal proponent of a national broadband strategy, and we're eager to see this plan delivered to Congress as soon as possible. That said, given the immense challenges faced by FCC staff in putting together such a comprehensive and far-reaching document, asking for an additional four weeks is not at all unreasonable. A broadband plan for our country may be too many years overdue, but with so much at stake, it's important to get this done right.
We continue to believe that the FCC should set both shorter-term "ubiquity" goals of bringing high-speed Internet access to every single American, and longer-term "stretch" goals of driving the adoption of truly high capacity broadband pipes. We hope the Commission shares this dual vision, and we look forward to seeing their final product.