UPDATE 1-U.S. FCC opens effort to boost broadband to nation

(Adds AT&T, consumer comments, broadcast ownership detail)

By Kim Dixon

WASHINGTON, April 8 (Reuters) - U.S. regulators fired the opening salvo on Wednesday in a debate over how to vault the United States from a trailing position among industrialized nations in offering high-speed Internet to all its citizens.

The Federal Communications Commission, taking orders from Congress, has until February 2010 to draw up a strategy to bring high-speed Internet to nearly half of the U.S. population -- many in low-income and rural areas -- that does not get it.

"We are coming to grips with the fact that we have a long way to go to get high-speed value-laden broadband out to all citizens," acting FCC chief Michael Copps told a public meeting.

A report for the United Nations out this week said the U.S. has fallen to 17th from 11th in a survey of the use by advanced nations of information and communications technology, which took into account adoption, speed and literacy.

The plan will address controversial issues as Internet openness, affordability and connection speed.

The Obama Administration's nearly $800 billion stimulus legislation ordered the plan and allocated $7.2 billion in funds the government will dole out to promote expansion.

Copps and Obama have both heralded the technology as a means to fuel economic growth in areas, including healthcare and education.

Robert McDowell, the sole Republican on the FCC, said the plan should not include any "counterproductive government mandates."

It "must allow network operators a reasonable opportunity to pay back investors," he said.

Those views echo those of many in the telecommunications industry, which in general oppose mandates for openness that prevent Internet providers from discriminating as they route Internet traffic.

McDowell is among those who refute the UN and other groups' international data portraying the U.S. broadband picture as dismal.

AT&T Inc (T.N) said it hopes the agency uses the opportunity to revamp the FCC's universal service program, which pays to fund universal telephone service.

Current policies were "conceived for the voice-centric wonders of the black rotary phone and (are) not conducive to the dynamic world of broadband," AT&T vice president Bob Quinn said in an email.

LOWER PRICES, FASTER SPEEDS?