Conclusion
To achieve these goals, it is not enough to simply state where we wish to be.* America needs a plan that creates a rocess to meet these targets and look beyond them. The chapters that follow offer specific recommendations to launch that process.
Part I of this plan makes recommendations to ensure that America has a world-leading broadband ecosystem for both fixed and mobile service. It discusses recommendations to maximize innovation, investment and consumer welfare, primarily through competition. It then recommends more efficient allocation and management of assets government controls or influences, such as spectrum, poles and rights-of-way, to maximize private sector investment and facilitate competition.
Part II makes recommendations to promote inclusion—to ensure that all Americans have access to the opportunities broadband can provide. These include reforming the Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation. It also makes recommendations to promote broadband affordability, adoption and digital literacy.
Part III makes recommendations to maximize the use of broadband to address national priorities. This includes reforming laws, policies and incentives to maximize the benefits of broadband in areas where government plays a significant role. This part makes recommendations to unleash innovation in health care, energy, education, government performance, civic engagement, job training, economic development and public safety.
Finally, the plan outlines an implementation strategy to ensure the country executes these recommendations, creates a dynamic process and meets each of the goals outlined here. Before exploring any of these recommendations further, though, it is important to understand the current state of broadband in the United States, which is described in Chapter 3.