**REMARKS OF**

**COMMISSIONER MICHAEL J. COPPS**

**NORTHERN MICHIGAN BROADBAND SUMMIT**

**GRAYLING, MICHIGAN**

**OCTOBER 1, 2007**

** **

Good afternoon.  Thank you for your welcome today and for the
opportunity to come back to Michigan.  I am particularly pleased to be
here in the company of my friend, Congressman Bart Stupak.  Simply put,
I just think he's among the best and the brightest our country has to
offer.  He's smart---really smart and I don't have to tell you that. 
He's dedicated to serving and to finding practical solutions to
difficult problems.  And he knows how to bring folks together to
accomplish good things.  He's a committed champion for Michigan and a
real authority on the communications issues that I spend my time on. 
Whether it's promoting broadband for rural America, ensuring
interoperable devices for public safety, fighting for more local voices
in the media that serve the UP, or making sure the DTV transition is
successful, your Congressman is a tireless advocate for the citizens of
Michigan and for all Americans.  You're fortunate to have him.  You're
fortunate, in fact, to be blessed with so many fine public servants in
Congress from Michigan.  Folks like John Dingell and Carl Levin and John
Conyers are among the nation's most senior statesmen. And younger
Members like Sen. Stabenow, Fred Upton and Mike Rogers are also
tremendously influential.

 

I said that I am pleased to come back to Michigan.  This is actually
very special for me because I have a life-long affinity for this state,
particularly, I have to say, for the Upper Peninsula.  Some of my
happiest memories concern that place.  Although I was born and raised
across the lake in Milwaukee, my Dad had business property in the U.P.
and the need to go there several times each year.  We went always to a
little town called Felch.  How many of you know Felch?  Well, it's home
to warm and glowing memories for me.  Felch is about 25 miles northeast
of Iron Mountain, but it was just this side of Heaven for a young kid
who liked to trout fish, go bird hunting and then---glory of glories
each November 15---move into a little cabin in the woods my Dad
built---I even got to help build it---for the opening day of Deer
Season.  I remember we'd be out on a usually snowy stand by sun-up,
either at an old logging cross-roads or standing by while my Dad and his
pals did a "drive" through the woods, and then, after dark, we'd go back
to the fellowship of the camp---Camp Fork Horn we called that little
cabin in the forest.  Every couple of days we'd go over to where my
Dad's mine superintendent lived in the company house to enjoy the
luxuries of indoor plumbing, running water, a hot shower, electric
lights, and listening to the radio.  Those were days to cherish, and
every time I go back---which isn't nearly often enough, I prove Thomas
Wolfe wrong---you can go home again.  So thanks again for inviting me.

 

Before jumping into the topic of the day, for those of you who don't
eat, live and breathe the Federal Communications Commission every day of
your lives, I should spend just a minute describing the place I work and
how it fits into what you are talking about. As I'm certain most of you
know, the FCC is an independent regulatory body.  We oversee in varying
ways---and those various levels of involvement are arguably part of the
problem---telephone, cable, wireless, broadcast and satellite
communications.  There are five Commissioners---three from the
President's party, two from the loyal opposition.  I am on the minority
side right now.  We conduct our business---which includes the licensing
of spectrum, rulemaking and adjudicating disputes---through open
proceedings in which any citizen can participate, at least that's the
theory.  Our job is to implement the communications laws passed by
Congress and signed by the President. 

   

It's an exciting place to be.  I'll tell you at the outset that I am a
true believer in the future of communications technologies and
services.  I was an optimist about the future of telecom even when the
bubble burst a few years ago, believing that they would not only come
back, but they would come back with sufficient force to lead our
economic development in the 21^st^ century.  I believe that more than
ever today.  We have come a long way in telecom since I was a boy
growing up here.  When I went to Felch and wanted to call my folks back
in Milwaukee, I went to the general store and cranked up the telephone
that was mounted on the wall.  It's mind-bending to compare that with
the tools we communicate with today---wireless, Wi-Fi, WiMax, broadband,
digital broadcasting, cognitive radio, and interactive media.  But I
think even all this great progress is just the beginning.  I don't
believe we've seen the tenth of what's coming yet.  Because what is
coming down the road is going to make all of the dramatic
telecommunications changes of the past century---and they were
dramatic---pale by comparison. 

 

Not to long ago, I participated in a demonstration of Internet 2 which
is a dedicated, ultra high-speed broadband network used by a consortium
of leading-edge businesses and universities.  Sitting in an office in
Washington, DC, I actually "drove" a camera exploring the ocean floor in
Monterey Bay, moving it wherever I wanted it to go.  That was a voyage
of discovery for me in more ways than one.  Then they told me to don
three-dimensional goggles, and I went on to perform long-distance knee
surgery, with my hand holding a scalpel guided by specialists in
California and Australia.  Don't worry, it wasn't a real patient, but it
was a totally realistic experience.  So there are truly incredible
things happening.  And in a state as vibrant as Michigan, just think of
the tremendous impact these changes will have on our lives, our jobs,
and our industries.

 

Since I joined the Commission in 2001 the principle of universal service
has been my guide---to bring the best, most accessible and
cost-effective communications system in the world to all of our
people---and I mean ***all*** of our people.  We can't afford to leave
anybody behind in this great new age of high speed communications.  That
means those who live in rural America, those who live in the inner city
and those who live on tribal lands; it means not just the affluent and
privileged, but those who are economically disadvantaged and those with
disabilities.  Each and every citizen of this great country should have
access to the wonders of communications.  I'm not talking about doing
all these people a favor by including them; I'm talking about doing
America a favor.   

 

Today, having access to advanced communications is every bit as
important as access to basic telephone services was in the past. 
Providing meaningful access to high speed broadband for all of our
citizens may well spell the difference between stagnation and economic
revitalization---for Michigan, and for our country.  And the difference
between having a chance or being left behind for millions of our fellow
citizens.  We all know that broadband is already becoming key to our
systems of education and commerce and jobs and entertainment and
therefore, key to our future.  We are seeing technologies for
telecommuting, telemedicine, tele-goodness-knows-what's-next.  And
perhaps nowhere do these applications hold so much promise as they do
for rural communities like those here in Michigan.  That's because they
collapse distance by bringing the best resources in the land, sometimes
from thousands of miles away, to our rural schools and businesses and
homes. 

 

The way I see it, broadband is really the great infrastructure challenge
of our time.  You know, if you course back through the annals of our
nation's history, you will find that just about every major era has had
its own major infrastructure challenge.  In the very early days, as
settlers streamed out beyond the Eastern Seaboard, the challenge was to
get the produce and products they made to market.  We needed roads and
turnpikes and bridges and canals; we needed ports and harbor
improvements; and, working together---the people, communities and their
government---we got the job done.  Then, as we became a continental and
industrial power, the need of the era was to lay a railway grid across
the country, climaxed by the great saga of the Transcontinental
railroads.  Closer to our own era, in the Eisenhower years, came the
Interstate Highway System.  Even in telecom, we found a way to get basic
telephone service out to most of our citizens.  Here is my point: in all
of these great infrastructure build-outs, there has always been a
critical role for the private sector and the public sector to work
together toward a great national objective---citizens, entrepreneurs,
local community organizations and the various levels of government
pulling together for the common good. We didn't just throw up our hands
and say "Leave it to somebody else."  We didn't let sometimes mindless
debates about "regulation vs. deregulation" keep us from doing what had
to be done.  Nor did we say that any one sector had the capacity to meet
these huge national ambitions all by itself.  No, instead we worked
together.  You know, we rightly value that great Declaration of
Independence and that glorious fight for freedom back in 1776, but it
was millions of Americans making a declaration of ***interdependence,***
one upon the other, that built the greatest nation in history.

 

            To me, broadband networks are the turnpikes and roads and
canals and railroads and highways of the Information Age.  I believe
that our future will be hugely impacted by how we master, or fail to
master, advanced communications networks and how quickly and how well we
build out high speed communications connectivity.  And I believe that if
we succeed, we will create millions upon millions of new economic, job
and educational opportunities.  We will see new local businesses---and
local governments, too---providing high-value services all around this
country of ours.  We will advance medical care through the development
and delivery of new health services.  We will ensure that schools and
libraries are huge digital resources for their communities.  In these
and so many other ways---ways that we don't even glimpse yet---we will
harness a host of new technologies and services  for the benefit of
every American. 

 

            Those who get access to high-speed broadband will win. 
Those who don't will lose.  It's as simple as that.  I want to make sure
we all get there, and that America's rural communities get there as soon
as everyone else.  I'll tell you another thing I'm convinced of:  if
high speed broadband is permitted to remain more an urban phenomenon,
the digital gap in this country that already separates urban and rural
America will grow still wider, and we could find that rural America will
be relatively worse off in the Twenty-first century of modern
communications than it was in the days of plain old telephone service in
the last century.  We just cannot and must not let that happen.  The
competitive world in which we and our children will live is not going to
make time for rural Michigan to catch up.  That may sound harsh, but
it's also true. 

 

A few facts demonstrate how far we have to go.  This is sobering. The
OECD recently ranked the United States Number 15 among the nations of
the world in broadband penetration, down from 12^th^ in 2006.  In 2001,
that same organization ranked us 4^th.^  Other studies conducted by
various international organizations, industry associations, think tanks,
and business analysts put the United States at 21^st^, 24^th ^ or
25^th^.  No matter how you slice it, by nearly every measure the U.S. is
many rungs too low, and it comes at too high a cost if our small-town
businesses enter the digital economy and our students enter the digital
classroom at dial-up speeds.  I'm told that Michigan is ranked 35^th^
out of 50 states when it comes to broadband penetration, with only 37%
of households subscribing to broadband.  Even more startling is the fact
that in many parts of Michigan, it's tough just to get a broadband
connection: by some estimates only 25% of the rural population in
Michigan is able to do so.  I'm anxious to learn how Felch is
faring---I'll bet not so well.  When I look at these numbers, I can't
help but think about how my old boss, Senator Fritz Hollings of South
Carolina used to say, when he was talking about a major problem, how
"the ox is in the ditch."  Well, our ox is in the broadband ditch, and
we'd better come up with a plan real soon to get that ox out of
there---because he's bad stuck right now. 

 

Here's the problem.  We don't have a strategy to get the ox out.  We
don't have a policy that brings together the creativity and innovation
of business, federal, state and community stakeholders.  We are, as far
as I can find, the only industrial country on the face of God's green
earth without a broadband strategy.  That's why we're so far behind.  
Some folks say not to worry, we're only behind because in Japan and
Korea, everyone lives in high rise apartments, the population density is
so different, and we'll catch up eventually.   I don't buy that
argument.  Norway, Sweden, Finland, our Canadian neighbor to the
north---they have lower population densities than we do and they're
cleaning our clock, too.  Maybe it's because they did some things
differently.  Maybe different competition policies?  Maybe better
incentives to build the infrastructure?  Who knows---maybe they decided
to have a broadband strategy in each of those countries? 

 

The important question, of course, is what can we do about all this?  I
don't happen to think there is a one-size-fits-all, silver bullet
broadband solution for this country.  And I'm not saying that what
worked somewhere else is necessarily going to work here---although we
ought to be studying and learning from what others do because there just
might be some valuable lessons there for us.  The rural Upper Peninsula
will likely require a different approach than dense urban centers like
Detroit.  There are great differences---in population, culture and
topography across this vast land of ours.  So we probably need to
embrace all kinds of solutions if we really want to get that ox out of
the ditch.   But isn't experimentation, innovation and creativity what
we're all about?

 

            In the first instance, we always look to the market to
deliver broadband.  That's the way it should be.  Private enterprise is
the locomotive of America's success.  But if the market isn't delivering
the goods---and sometimes it doesn't---then we need to expand our
thinking.  For some communities, that might mean looking at municipal
broadband.  Lots of places rightly continue to do that even though a few
have run into problems.  And that's surely not the only road to head
down.  There are other models.  Some communities are entering into
public and private partnerships with companies and carriers that can
help them bring home the broadband bits.  Others are developing
cooperatives to aggregate demand for business and residential broadband,
making the case for commercial deployment in rural areas more
attractive.  Again, there's not a one-size-fits-all approach here.  Each
community needs to evaluate its own needs and abilities.  The point is
to welcome and encourage that kind of local creativity and
innovation---it's as American as apple pie.  Remember, that's how we
built the place.  And your towns and communities can look across the
country and find models for action to get the build-out done. 

 

            We should also be open to a variety of technologies.  FCC
statistics suggest that together DSL and cable technologies account for
96 percent of all broadband.  We need to embrace more than just these
two technologies if we wish to succeed and wish to assure consumers of
the benefits of real competition.  That means not just more fiber
deployment, but freeing up wireless spectrum and considering the use of
white spaces---empty channels on the public airwaves that have the
potential to be a dynamic source of broadband in just a few years time. 

 

So how do we turn things around?  What is that comprehensive national
strategy.  First it must begin with a strong commitment from the very
top that broadband is our national infrastructure priority.  We need
everyone to understand this is a national priority.  We need not just an
objective of universal broadband, but the strategy and tactics to get
the job done.  That means all of us, both private and public.  That
means all the relevant departments of government cooperating to
encourage broadband deployment, And it means using whatever mix of
grants and incentives that Congress deems appropriate. 

 

There is an important role for the FCC, too.  The Commission owes
Congress and the country more than they are getting.  First, better
data.  The Commission still unbelievably defines "broadband" as 200
kilobits per second.  How 1997 that sounds!  The Commission still
assumes that if one person in a ZIP code has broadband, everyone else
must, too.  That's like going to Detroit, seeing someone driving around
in a brand new Cadillac, and concluding that because one person drives a
Caddy, everyone there must drive a Caddy.  Same logic.  We need better
mapping of who has what, where and at what price. We need  better
definitions of speed.  We need a lot.  And let's also study what other
nations are doing and see if there are things that might work here. 

 

Second, the FCC needs to use its statutory authority to get advanced
communications out to everyone.  To me that clearly means broadband, but
the Commission doesn't always act like it believes the same.  We could
also act as a clearinghouse for all the broadband innovation and
experimentation that's occurring outside the Beltway.  I've recently
attended broadband summits and met with local experts and small business
owners in Cambridge, Massachusetts; Portland, Maine; Lawrence, Kansas;
Little Rock, Arkansas; and all around the country.  I've learned that
our diverse and varied nation has immense reserves of local creativity. 
It's time to start sharing---and encouraging---that creativity, and to
provide a place where communities can go to find out what's working and
what isn't.  Think of the time and money that would save strapped cities
and towns.

 

             Third, the FCC needs to bring competition back into its
telecom policies.  For example, the GAO has demonstrated that the FCC's
deregulatory policies and its approval of one big merger after another
have saddled small businesses with increased costs, like special access
prices---which are the prices typically charged to business customers
and competitive providers for bulk phone and broadband services. The
Commission is scheduled to act on special access soon.  I hope I can
find a majority willing to stand up for entrepreneurs---and ultimately
American consumers---not just incumbent phone companies. 

 

Fourth, we need to support broadband with the Universal Service Fund. 
It worked for plain old telephone service and it will work here.  I am
delighted that the Federal-State Joint Board recently agreed with me
that broadband must be the mission of the USF for the 21^st^ Century. 
We need to make this happen soon.  Congress gave the FCC considerable
authority to get broadband out to all of our people.  We need to use
that authority more aggressively---now. 

 

           Not long ago, I had an opportunity to visit some truly remote
villages in Alaska.  I had the opportunity to visit Manokotak, along the
Igushik River.  Towns like this give new meaning to remote.  It's a
Yup'ik Eskimo village far away from any road system.  The way in and out
is on a tiny plane that lands on a small patch of gravel, surrounded by
mountain peaks.  Fishing dominates the subsistence economy.  But
Manokotak has broadband.  Satellite dishes dot the homes.  So locals who
have craft skills are now in contact with distributors in Anchorage who
sell their products.  There's a telehealth facility in town, where
isolated patients---little kids---can be examined by doctors hundreds of
miles away and be treated without having to be airlifted out.  Then
there's the school.  In Manokotak, the students have broadband---and
they were using that connection to carry on a conversation in real time
with the crew of the International Space Station orbiting far overhead. 
They still have a long ways to go, to be sure, but if we can make a
difference there, think what a difference we can make right here. 

 

This is our challenge. We have to do this---and much more---all over
America. So I applaud everyone who is here working to bring broadband to
the U.P. and to all Michigan.  I know there are many challenges.  But I
am an optimist.  I'm an optimist about all the paradigm-creating new
technologies becoming available to us.  I'm an optimist about our people
and their ability, once they have the facts, to generally steer this
country where it needs to go.  And I am an optimist about the ability of
those of you in this room, pulling and hauling together, to make sure
that in the broadband revolution of our time no community and no one is
left behind.  I look forward to working with you, and with Congressman
Stupak, to make it happen.

 

Thank you for your attention and your wonderful hospitality.