Commentary: Universities Offer Fix for Obama's Flawed Broadband Plan

April 30, 2009 By John Eger

"The Obama administration and the Congress want to stimulate broadband development, but the rules for doing so are not clear and won't be until a good chunk of this stimulus funding has already been spent." -- John Eger (pictured)

Last week, 200 universities nationwide offered a national strategy to the Obama Administration "as a first step in realizing (his) vision bringing the benefits of broadband technology to all Americans."

The plan was offered to NTIA -- The National Telecommunications and Information Administration -- which has $4.7 billion to help build our national information infrastructure as part of the so-called stimulus plan passed by the Congress earlier this year.

In reality the Congress authorized $7.2 billion for NTIA and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to provide broadband to "unserved communities. Neither Congress nor the administration has given any clear definition of the areas qualified as "unserved."

Further complicating matters, the Congress and the Administration asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to create a "comprehensive plan mapping specific policies to bring broadband to the nation." The FCC is expected to draw up a plan to return to the Congress by February 2010.

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