#Julius genachowski free

In our conversation, Genachowski seemed confident that, at a minimum, simply giving consumers access to data-how fast their broadband connections actually are, where there are dead spots, and what other ISPs around the country are charging-will prove to be a powerful tool in spurring competition (I tend to agree).

#Julius genachowski free

Television broadcasters and even fellow members of the FCC are concerned about provisions that would ask broadcasters to voluntarily give up excess spectrum that could be used to provide low-cost or free mobile broadband, or be re-auctioned off to help pay back the stations who gave it up.Īnd then there are those who complain that the plan doesn't go far enough: nationwide speed goals are too low (only 100 million households are targeted for 100Mbps speeds, whereas the rest of the country and rural America's goals are more like 4Mpbs, by 2020) it lacks provisions for open access or ' unbundling' of the lines from the service providers and it doesn't say much, if anything, about Net neutrality. Genachowski is a passionate guy who clearly believes that a fast, affordable, and solid broadband foundation is the key to solving all kinds of ills-from the digital divide to energy independence to health care reform (at least in the electronic records sense).īut the broadband plan isn't without controversy: critics charge that it doesn't go far enough to ensure competition in the ISP market-a market that frequently leaves consumers with two broadband ISP options at best, and at worst none at all.