Blair Levin is Executive Director of Gig.U. Prior to that, he was in charge of developing the National Broadband Plan and long before that was Chief of Staff for the FCC during the Clinton Presidency. He’s had a lot of experience in telecommunications policy but here we focus on what can be done to move America’s communities forward.
I asked Blair to join us for the show so I could ask him some hard questions about the Gig.U initiative, including the difficulty of achieving universal service and the tradeoffs around allowing entities not rooted in the community to own (and set the rules for) essential infrastructure. I also challenge Blair’s preference for “private sector” investment, asking him what exactly that means.
I hope our discussion is helpful in understanding the tradeoffs communities must make in choosing exactly how to improve Internet access locally. Though Blair and I disagree in some ways, I think we clearly illuminate why we disagree so the listener can make up his/her own mind.
If you have some questions left unanswered or points you wish were made, note them in the comments below and we’ll ask him to join us again.
We want your feedback and suggestions for the show – please e-mail us or leave a comment below. Also, feel free to suggest other guests, topics, or questions you want us to address.
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Thanks to D. Charles Speer & the Helix for the music, licensed using Creative Commons.