In what could be the final deathblow to dial-up connections, the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday will outline to Congress how it will spend $7.2 billion in stimulus funds to provide high-speed broadband Internet access to millions of Americans.
The FCC, under Chairman Julius Genachowski, has spent a year working on a plan that would reallocate up to 500 megahertz of the radio frequency spectrum through voluntary auction. That would add more broadband Internet via airwaves instead of cables and give users a 100-Mbps connection with one Gbps for schools, hospitals, government agencies, and public-safety agencies. The new wide area networks (WANs) would target users who can’t afford current broadband rates or who live in dead zones.
According to data from ABI Research, 30 percent of U.S. households now have Wi-Fi local area networks (LANs) in their homes. “Once the WAN connection is in place through the FCC plan, there will likely be an increase in LAN distribution — routers and access points — to connect Wi-Fi-enabled devices to the network,” said ABI researcher Jeff Orr.
“The national broadband plan is a 21st-century road map to spur economic growth and investment, create jobs, educate our children, protect our citizens, and engage in our democracy,” Genachowski said. “It’s an action plan, and action is necessary to meet the challenges of global competitiveness and harness the power of broadband to help address so many vital national issues.”
According to published reports, part of the FCC plan is to subsidize Internet providers to extend WANs into rural areas and develop a single device that will integrate Internet and cable-TV programming.
The FCC says broadband Internet subscription in the United States has soared from eight million in 2002 to more than 200 million homes, and it hopes to reach another 100 million to bring the country closer…