We already have a National Broadband Plan

Thanks to the plan, the FCC is working to free up 500 MHz of spectrum for use in blanketing the U.S. with advanced wireless broadband. The Commission also revamped the Universal Service Fund’s High Cost program to better focus resources on the millions of rural Americans who lack broadband access. And between the FCC’s eRate reforms, its Internet Essentials public-private partnership, and the Dept. of Education’s ConnectED initiative, the administration will ensure that students will have access to the most advanced data networks in their classrooms and in their living rooms.

Nowhere in the 64 NBP-related proceedings at the FCC will Mr. Lopez find a mandate that the taxpayers fund new broadband networks in places where they already exist, nor would he find rules requiring ISPs to share their facilities with competitors who invest nothing in the infrastructure. That’s because we know these models don’t work. Government-owned networks have been piling up multi-million dollar losses across the country for the last decade, and the shared access model prevalent in Europe has failed to produce the level of investment and competition among technologies that we see here.

Our broadband plan is properly focused on promoting more innovation, ensuring that affordable next-generation access reaches every corner of America, and encouraging universal broadband adoption. Kudos to the president for getting it right.

Marquez is national president and CEO of the Latinos in Information Sciences and Technology Association and a former member of the Federal Communications Commission’s Advisory Committee for Diversity in the Digital Age.