The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is proposing a 10-year plan that will re-imagine America's media and technology priorities by establishing high-speed Internet as the country's dominant communication network.

The plan, which will be submitted to Congress on Tuesday, is likely to generate debate in Washington and a lobbying battle among the telecommunication giants, which may face new competition for customers, and the broadcast television industry, which is resisting giving back spectrum the government wants to use for future mobile service.

The blueprint reflects the government's view that broadband Internet is becoming the common medium of the United States, gradually displacing the telephone and broadcast television industries. It also signals a shift at the FCC, which under the administration of President George W. Bush gained more attention for policing indecency on the television airwaves than for promoting Internet access.

Billions of dollars

According to FCC officials, the commission's recommendations will include a subsidy for Internet providers to wire rural parts of the country now without access, a controversial auction of some broadcast spectrum to free up space for wireless devices and the development of a new universal set-top box that connects to the Internet and cable service.

The effort will influence billions of dollars in federal spending, although the FCC will argue that the plan should pay for itself through the spectrum auctions. Some recommendations will require congressional action and industry support and will affect users only years from now.

Still, "each bullet point will trigger its own tortuous battle," said Craig Moffett, a senior analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.

For much of the last year, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, the plan's chief salesman, has laid the groundwork for the congressionally mandated plan by asserting that the United States is lagging far behind other countries in broadband adoption and speed. About a third of Americans have no access to high-speed Internet service, cannot afford it or choose not to have it.

In a speech last month, Genachowski observed that the country could build state-of-the-art computers and applications, but without equivalent broadband wiring, "it would be like having the technology for great electric cars but terrible roads."

On its own

The plan envisions a fully Web-connected world with split-second access to health care information and online classrooms, delivered through wireless devices yet to be dreamed up in Silicon Valley. But to get there, analysts say the FCC must tread carefully with companies such as Comcast and AT&T that largely control Internet pricing and speeds. Already, there are questions about the extent to which the FCC has jurisdiction over Internet providers.

The FCC says it can make some important changes on its own. They include changes to the Universal Service Fund, which spends $8 billion a year from telephone surcharges to ensure that rural and poor people have phone lines at home. It also supplies Internet access to schools, libraries and rural clinics.

By reducing the phone subsidies over time, the fund could instead "support broadband access and affordability," especially in remote locations where private companies have little incentive to build networks, said Colin Crowell, a senior counselor to Genachowski.

In recent weeks, the most-talked-about idea in the television industry has been a voluntary auction of over-the-air spectrum for future mobile broadband uses. In total, the FCC is hoping to free up roughly 500 megahertz of spectrum, much of which would come from TV broadcasters.

The proposal already faces resistance from the TV industry. Stations say they still serve a valuable public service, especially during emergencies, and say the FCC proposals could cause gaps in signal coverage.

But FCC officials assert that the spectrum changes are necessary given a looming spectrum shortage. "It isn't a crisis tomorrow, it's a crisis in five or six years," Crowell said, but allocation "literally takes years."

Genachowski also argues that broadband expansion can be an economic stimulant. "Broadband will be the indispensable platform to assure American competitiveness, ongoing job creation and innovation and will affect nearly every aspect of Americans' lives at home, at work and in their communities," he said.