THE CABLE PIPELINE

The FCC’s recent release of its long awaited Broadband Plan has hit the streets with a resounding affirmation of what America needs with connectivity, competitiveness, affordability, speed, and social readiness. If the plan is adopted as proposed, America will truly benefit from the economics of a public-private partnership in creating a superior broadband pipeline for global success, see (National Broadband Plan: Connecting America).

The Plan Outline:

• Accessible and Affordable to 100 million homes with speeds of 100 megabits upload and 50 download
• Be (Number One) in Mobility access and speeds compared to any other nation
• Create Universal Access for all Americans including the means, skills, and affordability; if they choose
• Upgrade Community Schools, Hospitals and Government buildings for access to 1 Gbps broadband service
• Create a Public Safety Wireless Network and access for all first responders
• Promote a Clean Energy Economy, and ensure Americans are able to track energy consumptions through broadband

The Road Map:

• Foster robust competition within the broadband sector to drive demand for increased network performance while lowering deployment cost of infrastructure; monitor and benchmark competitive behavior, provide consumers with performance of broadband services, reform access to right-of-ways, review wholesale access policies, and increase spectrum availability

• Reallocate the existing Universal Service Fund to provide all Americans with access to broadband just as the plan was used to fund telephone service to all Americans in the 20^th Century
• Reclaim Broadcast Spectrum in auctions of, (300 MHZ by 2015-500 MHZ by 2020), for the Wireless Industry and other ancillary uses thereby fulfilling a need to expand a burgeoning Mobile demand in connecting consumers, businesses, and the public sector
• Promote E-rate and Rural Health Care Programs, support non-profit and government institutions with affordable and alternative means of connectivity to broadband infrastructures which allows lower investment costs by reforming incentive structures, licensing and data interoperability for all public organizations

Shifting Priorities

• The FCC moved to gather existing spectrum from the Broadcast Industry to help free up space for the Wireless Industry, in much need of new spectrum on its continued growth forecasts. The benefactors will be companies like Cisco, providing network support, and Verizon and AT&T Wireless operators. Broadcasters will benefit from sharing in spectrum auction fees of their unused bandwidth.
• The Universal Service Fund will be used to promote and incent companies to build-out their networks to underserved portions of the markets for wire-line and wireless access. This fund is severely outdated from its original intent of providing access to telephone service for the nation.

The FCC seems to have done its homework. Congratulations to the FCC commissioners, staff, and partners, for their hard work and dedication in creating a viable and workable solution for a National Broadband Plan roll-out for the next decade. While it is not heavy on regulation; the plan sets out a road-map to foster collaboration, innovation, investment opportunities, and transparency within its recommendations. Legislators should look to affirm the plan quickly and move forward with an innovative and economically sound superior broadband gateway for our public and private sectors.

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• Fred Campbell Responds to the FCC’s National Broadband Plan on BitsonBroadband.com (prweb.com)
• TV broadcasters to fight FCC over broadband spectrum (newstatesman.com)
• Wireless Carriers Celebrate FCC’s National Broadband Plan (blogs.wsj.com)
• Plan would give 90% high-speed Internet (cnn.com)

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What will 2010 bring for the Cable-Telecom-Wireless Industry’s? Broadband and Wireless will continue an evolution of defining the way we communicate and make decisions that affect our daily lives in significant ways. Relevant companies will struggle to deal with an ever increasing shift of consumer preferences in their business and home information, communication, and entertainment needs.

Here are my Top 10 Predictions for 2010:

1. The FCC will move to increase regulation of ISP’s as a way to open broadband options for both business and consumers
2. The Universal Service Fund will be re-directed to increase broadband access to the underserved
3. The FCC will gain spectrum back from the broadcasting industry to advance Wireless industry initiatives and will continue to grow exponentially in 2010
4. Consumers will look for economical and alternative ways to connect to the things that are important to them through a broadband global universe, including information, entertainment, education, and health
5. Cable TV companies will struggle with a dwindling demand for linear programming and the consumers demand for viewing content on their own terms. TV Everywhere will be a success in the short term
6. Cable-Telecom companies will continue to struggle with customer satisfaction issues and will begin to focus more on this issue as subscribers continue to migrate elsewhere. Companies like Cox Communications will continue to thrive due to a focus on quality engineering and customer service
7. Demand for access to content on an A-La-Carte basis will gain ground with Over-The –Top Access Providers making significant head-way during the year
8. Cable-Telecom companies with underperforming networks will be subject to buy-outs and take-over’s as the industry continues to consolidate and upgrade infrastructures
9. Verizon (FIOS) will continue to gain market share where rolled-out due to its advanced capabilities for consumers and businesses
10. The Cable-Telecoms will continue to make their bundles more competitively attractive as they compete for the one-stop-shopping experience

2010 will be all about the customer experience and a continued change in broadband dynamics. The Cable Industry will struggle with a diminishing demand for linear programming, and the success of alternative Over-The-Top models of content access.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Feds Mull Rules, Fees to Spur Net Access (online.wsj.com)
• FCC outlines seven biggest barriers to broadband adoption (arstechnica.com)
• FCC discusses barriers to national broadband plan (news.cnet.com)
• Big cable: move millions from phone subsidies to broadband (arstechnica.com)
• Broadband economics: Competition lowers prices (news.cnet.com)

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It goes without saying that the FCC has a daunting task of rule making when it comes to filling the needs of Broadband Access for Americans in 2010. Therefore it comes to mind, when the Federal Agency is through taking comments on Net Neutrality, The Universal Service Fund, Broadband Adoption, Broadband Access, and Spectrum Allocation, commissioners should consider a mere simplistic and underlying fact of the success of our economy in the past, in best serving its current purpose.

Robust competition, as stated by both Commissioners Mignon Clyburn (Democrat) and Meredith Attwell Baker (Republican) back in July 2009, within the marketplace has served the U.S. well to eliminate most of the ills associated with economic affordability, adoption, and therefore access to the masses of both innovative, and quality products and services Americans enjoy today, and the Internet should be not any different. However, dubbing one-self a (broadband opinion-ator) can be risky, and suggestions to the complex issues facing the current broadband marketplace woes could be deemed as too simple, but here they lie:

Create and incent a competitive broadband environment to reach all markets, large and small.

Incent companies to build and upgrade infrastructure and content thereby creating new jobs.

Use the Universal Service Fund to incent broadband providers in rural and non-competitive markets.

Incent companies to partner with government to educate the public on Broadband Adoption.

For instance, the current Universal Service Fund, mentioned by FCC Chairman Genachowski in an interview with C-SPAN, was created to incent Telco’s to build out infrastructure which has helped with the adoption and access to telephone service. Now, this model is woefully outdated and should be redirected to Broadband Access in creating the necessary incentives for companies to move faster in upgrading and building new networks in all communities, not just highly populated metro centers. The FCC must know that while some larger markets have enjoyed competition in broadband networks, most communities do not have such competitiveness, thereby severely limiting their options.

Companies are not going to heavily invest in markets where the status quo or lack of serious competition exists, and there is no justification for ROI. Their monies are going to be concentrated in markets where competition does exist, or risk losing market share, and these markets are primarily in more affluent and high population centers. They will innovate and add new services in these markets, and related consumers will benefit from again, robust competition. So, the mantra of the FCC should be Robust Competition, and its tools of the trade should be the creation of a business environment to propagate that mantra in all markets.

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