Feds will play a big part in broadband push

The Federal Communications Commission is slated to publish its big plan for faster broadband adoption throughout the U.S. in about three weeks, but that won’t be the only federal government involvement.

For example, the FCC is expected to propose that federal buildings be used as “anchor institutions” for unserved and underserved communities. The concept is still a bit hazy, but some suggestions have the FCC acting as a kind of local ISP seed in rural and urban areas that find it tough to get broadband service.

That's a novel idea. Government buildings are assured of broadband service, and they will act as a service node in the greater broadband network. But how will the General Services Administration react to this? And what will the ISPs think about the federal government essentially becoming a competitor to them?

However, if the ISPs really cared, I guess they would already have found some way to provide true broadband service to those areas.

Other fed-centered suggestions to come out of the FCC could include better coordination of broadband grants, the release of more government information online, something that will enable people-centric online services, and a government effort to encourage more use of social media.

All neat stuff, and if it ever comes to anything, it would be potentially game-changing in many areas. As they say, the devil will be in the details. Stay tuned.