Copps Says Broadband Task Is a ‘Summons to Action’

“The commission has seldom if ever had a greater summons to action.”

Federal Communications Commission Acting Chairman Michael Copps said in a speech Tuesday, “With enactment of the stimulus bill, we are called upon by Congress and our new president to develop a national strategy to get high-speed, opportunity-creating broadband out to all our citizens. This is a very big deal.”

In his remarks to a Federal Communications Bar Association seminar, Copps also said that opening “clogged lines of communications” is a vital first step of FCC reform. He wants the FCC to do a better job of sharing its expertise with the public, and he called on the commission to “take a good hard look at our mission.”

Copps also noted that this is the 75th anniversary year of the FCC and he has asked the managing director’s office to assemble an exhibit on that theme. “And we may be reaching out to some of you to see what interesting things — an old-time phone or radio or television or photograph — we might be able to borrow to put on display. We probably don’t need a lot of old ex parte letters, however.”