FCC architect Levin likes where National Broadband Plan is going

Blair Levin, credited as the architect of a U.S. National Broadband Plan during his stint with the FCC, thinks the concept had a "pretty good year" and is stutter-stepping to reality.

Levin said that the plan has moved "two steps forward, one step back" as an "agenda-setting and target-clarifying device" and that spectrum reallocation from broadcasters to wireless is necessary to make it a reality.

While the former FCC chief of staff said he supported a voluntary spectrum reallocation auction, he warned that if broadcasters do not give up enough spectrum voluntarily and a crisis develops the government could step in and take it. This move, he admitted, would lead to years of litigation.

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