Blair Levin, a Communications & Society fellow at Aspen Institute, talks about the FCC’s national broadband plan that is currently in the process of being implemented. Yewon Kang/MNS
Why He Matters
While executive director of the Federal Communications Commission’s national broadband initiative in 2009, Levin designed the blueprint for a nationwide broadband ecosystem.
As part of President Obama’s 2009 economic stimulus project, the plan aimed to extend broadband access to underserved, rural areas and improve connectivity to strategic institutions that are key to economic growth and job creation.
To lead the broadband initative, Levin rejoined the FCC in June 2009, which he had left eight years earlier. Levin had served as the chief of staff for then-FCC Chairman Reed Hundt from 1993 to 1997. Levin oversaw the implementation of Telecommunications Reform Act, the FCC’s Internet initiative and other programs.
Now working at the Aspen Institute, Levin organizes conference on telecommunications and writes papers on universal broadband.
“It’s not about delivery of specific products but an opportunity to think fresh about the issues.” (1)
Path to Power
Moving from Los Angeles to New Haven, Conn., to attend Yale, Levin met his wife in the Yale law school’s gymnasium. They raised three children in North Carolina.
After graduating, he had what he called a moment of “serendipity” when he met Reed Hundt, who became a lifelong friend and later asked Levin to be his chief of staff at the Clinton administration FCC. Levin describes Hundt as having the forward-looking insight in the early 1990s to anticipate the impact of the Internet and to understand the FCC’s potential power of the FCC. (1)
After four years of working with Hundt, Levin returned to the FCC in 2009 to take charge of the national broadband initiative. He and his team of 70 staffers delivered the proposal to Congress in March 2010. The 360-page document contained nearly 200 policy recommendations for the FCC and other agencies to implement over the next decade. (2)
Although he was operating under a tough mission and tight budget and timeline, Levin said he enjoyed the opportunity to help plan the nation’s broadband ecosystem and set the “directionality” for constant improvement in the future.(1)
The Issues
The broadband ecosystem comprises three elements: content and applications, which refer to daily online uses such as e-mail, search engines and user-generated videos; devices like computers, smartphones and set-top boxes, on which the applications run; and networks, either wired or wireless, fixed or mobile, terrestrial or satellite. (3)
The FCC’s 2009 broadband plan, which Levin helmed, has two goals: to assure that broadband network is implemented nationwide and effectively delivers key public services including education, health care, job training and public safety.
For example, Levin suggested digitizing textbooks so students could take advantage of online links, pictures and discussion groups. Teachers, too, could digitally grade tests and give instant feedback.
“It’s about creating platform that are much more dynamic and constantly improving,” Levin says. (1)
There has been controversy over implementation of the plan, including over spectrum allocation. Critics argue that the plan doesn’t sufficiently improve the speed of wire-line networks in rural areas.
“We didn’t do a good job of articulating that the broadband plan is, in many ways, not about broadband. It’s really about knowledge exchange,” Levin said.(1)
Levin argues that it is crucial to strategically distribute the high-speed network focusing on key industries, including research institutions, financial markets and health care. Also, he believes improving broadband literacy is more important than nationwide broadband access.
His favorite feedback on the plan is that it is “in beta and will always be.” In other words, it has to constantly evolve, grow and change, Levin said.