The US regulator has estimated that its proposed national broadband expansion plan could cost as much as US$350 billion to implement, reports Reuters. The country’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released the figures in a mid-course status report ahead of submitting its full findings to Congress in February next year. The FCC said that investment would be in the range US$20 billion to US$350 billion (the range indicates the slowest speeds to premium fast speeds) and would require upgrades to both the country’s fixed-line and mobile broadband infrastructure. The potential costs for investment dwarfs the US$7.2 billion set aside for the project in President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus package earlier this year, which means it could require significant private sector funding and additional tax payer support.

The panel said the majority of US citizens have Internet access at home, one-third have access to broadband but do not use it, and another 4 percent have no access. However, it noted that those who have broadband are receiving slower speeds than advertised, with actual speeds lagging advertised rates by at least 50 percent during busy hours. The new national broadband plan aims to upgrade the country’s networks to meet growing consumer demand for new bandwidth-heavy services such as video streaming. In the mobile space, the FCC noted the growing popularity of smartphones such as Apple’s iPhone, which has led to the country’s main mobile operators calling for more spectrum to meet demand for the extra bandwidth. The panel said that next-generation upgrades to the networks will mean the sale of smartphones will overtake the sale of standard phones by 2011.