Boucher books 3rd broadband hearing before holding the 2nd

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The House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet postponed a planned 4/15/10 follow-up hearing on the National Broadband Plan, and has one on the schedule for Wednesday, 4/21/10. What’s odd is that the hearing is not a rescheduling of the one that was postponed. And we guess they won’t be hosting any FCC commissioners this time – it’s coincident with the next FCC Open Meeting.


As for the commissioners, it’s not that they were necessarily expected this time around anyway. The same subcommittee, under the direction of Chairman Rich Boucher (D-VA), hosted all five at the first hearing just after NBP was released.

The title of this hearing indicates which portion of the Plan will be under the microscope: “The National Broadband Plan: Deploying Quality Broadband Services to the Last Mile.” That would indicate getting service to rural areas, and other areas that pose challenges of one kind or another.

The postponed hearing was entitled, “The National Broadband Plan: Competitive Availability of Navigation Devices,” indicating an exploration of the availability of competitive consumer hardware. It has as yet not made it back onto the schedule.

The 4/21/10 session kicks off at 10AM.