remaining one-third could get broadband but choose not to because they think it’s too expensive or because they don’t see a need for it.

The Federal public-relations Commission wants to pay for widespread broadband access by using a federal program that subsidizes telephone service in poor and rural areas.

More corners of the country would have high-speed Internet access, and existing connections would become much faster, under a sweeping proposal offered Tuesday by the Federal public-relations Commission.

The overhaul is meant to guide U.S. broadband policy for the next decade and beyond. It reflects the Obama administration's concern that the nation that invented the Internet is in danger of falling behind the development of online applications in other countries that have faster broadband speeds at lower prices.

Yet it's not certain the FCC can find the corporate support and legal clearance to carry out the entire plan.

Broadcasters oppose one key proposal, which calls for reclaiming airwaves from TV stations and auctioning those frequencies to companies that deliver wireless Internet access. The FCC also wants to rewrite complicated telepublic-relations rules to pay for broadband using a federal program that now mainly subsidizes telephone service in poor and rural areas.