Uncle Sam’s Broadband Plan: Which Way Forward for the New Interagency Broadband Council?

In the run-up to his State of the Union address earlier this year, President Obama launched a broad federal effort to expand access to “fast and affordable” broadband Internet. Pulling together 25 federal agencies, he created a new Interagency Broadband Opportunity Council (BOC) to identify unnecessary regulatory and policy barriers, spur investment, and align funding policies and decisions to support broadband access and adoption.

Now the BOC must begin its work, and challenges abound: How should it frame a uniform strategy that all stakeholders can support? How can it develop the ideas and policies needed to accelerate deployment and adoption of next-generation services? And how can it get agency buy-in?

The BOC has issued a request for public comment as it charts its path forward. With the deadline for submissions set for early next month, please join ITIF on Friday May 29 for an expert panel discussion on the opportunities and challenges for the administration in improving U.S. broadband policy.