Examining global examples for a national broadband plan

The FCC is hard at work developing a national broadband plan, due to Congress next February.

A few weeks ago, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) held a workshop in which policy leaders recommended and discussed goals and benchmarks for the national broadband plan. The benchmarks fall into three categories: availability, quality, and cost.

As the FCC and other organizations progress towards a national plan - they are beginning to look at examples of how other countries have tackled similar problems.

The New America Foundation published an overview of successful national broadband goals in six global leaders in high-speed Internet deployment: Japan, South Korea, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and Taiwan. Each of these nations set a national goal to make broadband accessible to all. They set as a baseline speed at least 2 mbps downstream, with the long-term goal of increasing penetration to 100 mbps.

The New American Foundation report urged the FCC to adopt both short-term and long-term plan:

"A National Broadband Plan must combine the short-term goal of achieving universal access with the longer-term need for an infrastructure capable of supporting high-bandwidth applications to ensure continued leadership in the growth and innovation of the Internet."

The FCC also convened a workshop to examine broadband plans in other countries.

While there is much the U.S. can learn from other nations, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) cautions every nation - including the U.S. - must adopt a plan tailored to its unique circumstances. Their report says:

"Given the significant differences in economic, social, geographic and political factors between nations, many of these experiences are not easily transferred from one nation to another."

Blog: FCC hosts three workshops on broadband deployment and adoption (Speed Matters)

100 Megabits or Bust! (The New America Foundation)

Workshop: International Lessons (Broadband.gov)

Explaining International Broadband Leadership (ITIF)