‘No one is proposing any government spending at this time,’ FCC b...

of the cost of making broadband available to everyone in the country, $20-$350 billion, reflects anticipated capital and operating expenses and shouldn’t be taken as a recommendation for what the government should spend, Levin said. He said he doesn’t know what the group will recommend in February beyond increased information collection. On possible government funding, Chairman Julius Genachowski said “all of the different policy options will have to be explored between now and February.” When Congress authorized broadband grants, it “understood that it was a step in what needs to be a larger, long-term plan for the country, he said. “This is a major challenge for the country that will require a national commitment to make sure that we have a 21st century communications infrastructure available to all Americans.” Universal-service reform and several other matters came up at the meeting, but “exactly what the timing will be of addressing each issue hasn’t been decided yet,” Genachowski said. He did touch on spectrum scarcity, saying he’s “less confident that the country will have the spectrum it needs to meet the purposes that were outlined in the presentation today.” But the chairman said he’s “confident that we will have data that’s sufficient to support what’s recommended.” With the midterm report done, Levin said, he expects meetings with industry to discuss the findings. The meetings will be closed but not confidential, and FCC staff probably will write about them on the commission’s blog, he said. The task force will concentrate, among a longer list of issues in the report, on “things that if we don’t change government policies, five to ten years from now” policymakers will regret it, he said.