FCC members of both parties had words of caution about parts of the National Broadband Plan concerning media. Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said at Tuesday’s commission meeting that she has qualms about the reallotment of spectrum used by TV stations that the plan envisions. Commissioner Robert McDowell asked the commission to “tread gingerly” regarding set-top boxes. Blair Levin, who’s leaving the commission as the executive director of the broadband-plan work now that the document is complete, said his staff had taken concerns like Clyburn’s into account.

The FCC approved Tuesday by a unanimous vote a brief statement of principles on broadband. FCC Republicans Robert McDowell and Meredith Baker were sharply critical of some aspects of the plan itself, which was not put up for a vote before being submitted to Congress. Both found lots to like in the plan but said it must not be used as a lever for imposing more regulation. Agency officials said the FCC will offer a list in coming days of more than 40 rulemakings that will be begun as a follow-up to the plan.

The current FCC is more active in finding solutions to broadband issues than its predecessor under Chairman Kevin Martin, telco officials said on a CompTel panel. “I think there has been a change in tune with respect to competition since the Martin administration,” said Tony Hansel, Covad assistant general counsel. Martin said “you have to choose between competition and investment,” and current Chairman Julius Genachowski “has already acknowledged that’s a false choice.” Stephen Crawford, Alpheus senior vice president, said, “It is exciting that they realized they've got to have those long-term goals, but at the same time the FCC is saying tell us what we can do right now."

TORONTO -- Despite a growing number of network monitoring tools at their disposal, Canadian cable operators admit they're still fumbling for ways to gauge and fix the plethora of digital signal problems that are bedeviling their best customers.

Mediacom and Time Warner Cable have decided to phase out Sprint’s wholesale VoIP services and take their IP voice service operations in-house, the companies said. Cost is the primary reason that cable operators plan their own IP voice operations, companies and analysts said.

NASHVILLE -- The release of the National Broadband Plan signifies how “essential telecommunications is to our lives,” Jonathan Adelstein, the Rural Utilities Service administrator said in a CompTel keynote. “Broadband offers probably the greatest potential to advance our social and economic welfare since the rise of electricity. It’s that critical that everybody have it.” He credited the FCC and the White House with strong efforts toward broadband expansion. “It’s great to be part of an administration which has put broadband expansion at the very top of its agenda,” Adelstein said.

Some members of Congress may be wary of spending additional money on broadband, said Republican aides at a Broadband Breakfast event Tuesday morning. The FCC’s National Broadband Plan asks Congress for $16 billion for a national public-safety network and $9 billion for a new Universal Service Fund emphasizing high-speed access. Aides from both parties called the plan a step toward broadband for all.

Governmental plans for broadband deployment in the U.S. and other countries should emphasize universal connectivity rather than a limited population’s reaching the highest speeds, David McGlade, Intelsat’s said Tuesday on a panel at the Satellite 2010 conference in National Harbor, Md. Speeds as high as 100 Mbps, although reachable, make sense only for the densest regions, he said.

Utilities should be allowed to use the public safety wireless broadband network in the 700 MHz band to promote grid reliability and efficiency and Congress must consider amending the Communications Act to make it possible, the FCC said in a National Broadband Plan released Tuesday. The commission devoted an entire section to the “important” role broadband and advanced communications would play in achieving energy independence and efficiency.

Maine regulators will spend three months reviewing a petition by FairPoint Communications to accept the company’s bankruptcy reorganization plan and to grant it relief from performance requirements. FairPoint petitioned March 5 for commission approval of its plan and to revise a 2008 order granting it the right to acquire Verizon’s phone network, the commission said.