The devil is in the ... Oh, you know | Blogs | ITBusinessEdge.com

There will be a great deal of maneuvering as the Federal Communications Commission defines broadband, works out a national broadband plan, and helps figure out how to dole out funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), which more commonly is referred to as the broadband stimulus. Indeed, nothing concentrates the minds of executives as much as working the system to win a competitive advantage – unless it's working overtime to protect themselves from those competitors.

The reality is that most of the real battles will take place in long filings written in stilted and boring legalese. The Washington Post describes one such battle: Microsoft and other companies in the online gaming industry think that creating a broadband plan should take into account the popularity of their wares. AT&T thinks that e-mail and other basic services should predominate...