Julius Genachowski, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, said in comments posted Sunday that he realizes the $7.2 billion so far earmarked for creation of a national broadband infrastructure falls far short of the amount that eventually will be needed. He said the FCC is looking at a number of funding mechanisms.
“There is no question that it will take a lot of private investment to do what’s necessary,” Genachowski told BusinessWeek editors. “And we’re looking at what are the ways we can [provide incentives for] private investment. We’ve tried to lay out some cost estimates for what it would take to achieve different goals for the country. But how that investment gets made, over what time period, toward what end, and by whom is something we haven’t tackled yet. That is the next phase of the process we are in.”
A Billion Here, a Billion There …
It’s a vital issue, since many tens of billions of dollars will be in play. Craig Settles, a consultant who advises municipalities on broadband issues, agreed with Genachowski that much more will be needed. The keys, Settles said, are to realize that the goal is not a single monolithic national broadband infrastructure and that there are creative approaches to eliciting the necessary funding from a mix of public and private sources.
The first key is realizing that building a telecommunications infrastructure is not like building a road. “One of the big issues I have seen since the beginning of the stimulus and the national broadband strategy discussions is people with the mind-set that there is one monolithic network similar to I-95 on the East Coast or Route 66 in the middle of the country. If that is your point of reference, you would want to find a company to build or underwrite that.”
If, however, the assumption…