PolicyBlog

I was really wowed at the FCC on Friday.  The Chairman and Commissioner Copps recognized several companies for their cool, innovative products and services that help make communications more accessible to people with disabilities.   Winners included CTIA for their recently launched accesswireless.org website; Apple for their iPhone 4 and 4S; and Universal Subtitles, whose product allows anyone to simply add captioning to any video they post on the Internet, to name just a few.   And Verizon was... Read More

Broken policy requires level-headed reforms that advance a greater good.  As we have all painfully seen this year in Washington, this is easier said than done. The debate around how to reform the archaic inter-carrier compensation (ICC) and Universal Service systems (USF) seems have been with us forever. Major players have historically never seen eye-to-eye, and in fact couldn’t even agree on the scope or nature of the problems. This has been the downfall of any effort to modernize and... Read More

 This weekend I finally bit the bullet and caught up on a stack of reading, and came across this National Journal article that is now available outside the paywall. On this blog, we often write about how complex today’s Internet, broadband, and backbone networks are, and how their complexity and interconnectedness are creating new waves of innovation and products and services for consumers.  Consumers are empowered by so many new innovations.  They have new tools and services for home security... Read More

Today Blair Levin and the FCC’s broadband team previewed their recommendations for universal service and intercarrier compensation reform.  These will be a key part of the National Broadband Plan going to Congress in a few weeks.  The recommendations are bold and practical.  They appear to want to take these tough problems head on and provide a rational framework for repairing these broken systems.    Now, before your eyes glaze over, consider this: just about everyone with a phone pays into... Read More

In a few weeks, the FCC will post its plan for ubiquitous deployment of broadband.  A couple of thoughts: We all share the same ultimate objective: to ensure that broadband helps all Americans reach their full potential, while addressing important social challenges, providing the foundation for job creation and economic growth and, of course, giving consumers the opportunity to choose their own  Internet experience. With under a month to go before the FCC unveils its broadband plan, last week’s... Read More