FCBA Panel Debates Broadband Future

It was titled "Regulation After the National Broadband Plan," but this event could have been dubbed "The Future of Communication." Hosted by the College of Communication and the Federal Communications Bar Association´s New England Chapter, it was an afternoon of spirited discussion and debate on the possible effects of the FCC´s National Broadband Plan.

Dean Tom Fiedler delivered the introductory remarks, reminding the crowd at the Photonics Building that it all started with a young BU professor named Alexander Graham Bell right here in 1876.

US Department of Commerce General Counsel Cameron F. Kerry gave the keynote address outlining the administration's plans for expanding broadband access to everyone in the U.S. He was followed by a distinguished panel of experts including BU COM alumna Gigi Sohn, President and Co-Founder of the Washington-based public interest group, Public Knowledge, as well as representatives of the wireline and wireless industries and the Massachusetts Broadband Institute. They debated everything from network neutrality to increasing portions of the broadcast spectrum available for wireless broadband.