Report: FCC won't meet February national broadband plan deadline

Details are sketchy, but The Hill is reporting that the FCC won't meet its Feb. 17 deadline to present the National Broadband Plan to Congress.

No official announcement has come from the commission, but a statement from FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell reveals the impending delay: "I am disappointed that the FCC's broadband team is unable to deliver a national broadband plan to Congress by the statutorily mandated deadline," he said. "At the same time, I appreciate that Chairman Genachowski shared the news of his decision with me Tuesday afternoon. Once we receive a draft plan, I hope the document will reflect the benefit of the additional time being taken to prepare it."

McDowell said on C-SPAN's most recent "Communicators" program that it wasn't clear whether the FCC would vote on the broadband plan before it is presented to Congress. Blair Levin, the man in charge of crafting the national broadband plan, has indicated in the past that an FCC vote wouldn't be necessary before presenting the plan to Congress.

Indeed, creating a national broadband plan has become a daunting task fraught with challenges that include how to change the Universal Service Fund, find new spectrum and lack of data about where broadband is and is not available.

For more:
- see this blog post from The Hill

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