NARUC Urges FCC to Use BroadbandBestPractices.org as Agency's Clearinghouse for Success Stories

WASHINGTON, October 22, 2009 – The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners on Tuesday filed comments at the Federal Communications Commission urged the agency to select its web site, www.BroadbandBestPractices.org, as the commission’s “clearinghouse” for examples of broadband successes.

NARUC praised the FCC for its efforts to utilize the so-called “Section 706” Joint Conference members and structure as part of the national broadband plan that the FCC is charged with carrying out by February 17, 2009. The group is a “joint conference” of state regulators and the FCC, and has been following broadband data and mapping efforts for some time.

NARUC said that it would be inefficient for the FCC to consider launch a duplicative broadband clearinghouse effort.

NARUC said that D.C. Public Service Commission Chairman Betty Ann Kane headed up the effort to create an interactive a “best practices” webpage.

This interactive portal is designed to link to various broadband projects, and one key objective, NARUC said, is to consolidate the information contained in several useful, but incomplete, state-focused websites.

The website, www.BroadbandBestPractices.org, aims to grow over time. Presently, it is  being maintained by the National Regulatory Research Institute, an independent research agency specializing in utility and regulatory practices.

NARUC has provided the NRRI a one-time financial grant start up the site.

The objective of the website design is for public and private broadband project managers, and sponsors, to voluntarily add details about their infrastructure projects and/or adoption programs to the national inventory.

All descriptions of broadband projects/programs can be edited and updated by the original authors or other participants as the projects/programs are completed or expanded.

Finally, NARUC urged the FCC should immediately complete federal commissioner appointments to the Joint Conference and use the conference as the vehicle to suggest possible changes.

BroadbandCensus.com, a data and news provider of information about local broadband deployment and policy, in 2008  conducted a series of stories, “Broadband Census in the States,” about various states’ experience in providing broadband. And, together with Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Texas at Austin, Virginia Tech, BroadbandCensus.com co-sponsored the “Broadband Census for America Conference” in September 2008.

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