Commissioner Copps: National Broadband Strategy Gaining Steam

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Editor’s Note: I’ll be blogging much of today from the Broadband Policy Summit IV here at BroadbandCensus.com. Check back for updates!

-Drew Clark, Editor, BroadbandCensus.com

Federal Communications Commissioner Michael Copps, in the keynote address: “The issue of a national broadband strategy is beginning to take on a life of its own. We are going to hear more about it in the national campaign, and we are going to hear more about it when the new Congress assembles next year.”

Copps also praised the March decision by the FCC to update and expand broadband data collection. (The formal decision from the agency has not yet been released.)

On the first panel, Greg Rothschild, top aide to House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell, D-Mich., said that the current Congress wasn’t very focused on telecom-related issues. However, he said, Network Neutrality remained the “wild card” in the debate:

“Network neutrality can always bubble up…. Net neutrality moves to the forefront depending on consumer reaction, and a lot of that depends on the network operators,” said Rothschild.

“Last Congress, when Net neutrality was a big issue, we had votes in the subcommittee, and the full committee, and [in Congress.] Frankly, Net neutrality, or non-discrimination [rules] lost all three times.”