The FCC today paved the way for Tuesday’s release of a national broadband plan by publicizing the executive summary for the plan.

The five-page document outlines four areas where the FCC says “government can influence the broadband ecosystem”: competition policy, allocation of public resources like spectrum, the universal service program, and action in sectors such as education and health care where the government shapes progress “significantly.”

The good news is that aggressive regulatory burdens do not appear to be in the offing; the bad news is that the FCC did not rule out future intervention.

The recommendations noted in the executive summary include a call for the FCC and other policymakers to undertake “a comprehensive review of wholesale competition rules to help ensure competition in fixed and mobile broadband services.”

What does that mean, exactly? Randolph May of the Free State Foundation translated in a post at his group’s blog today:

In plainer English, this means considering requiring that some Internet service providers unbundle and share their networks with other would-be competitors. The FCC tried that approach of “managed competition” in the late ’90s in implementing the Telecom Act of 1996. The result was not pretty. Investment was stifled. The court ultimately overturned the FCC’s mandatory sharing rules — but not before a lot of damage was done. The FCC shouldn’t even start down this road again.

May also called attention to other troubling aspects of the forthcoming plan, including calls to: to reallocate “unlicensed spectrum”; offer a free or low-cost wireless broadband service; create a Connect America Fund to finance “affordable broadband and a Mobility Fund to foster 3G wireless coverage in states; and foster a “public media ecosystem.”

As part of its pre-release public relations campaign, the FCC has been emphasizing for days that the plan is not “self-executing.” But the FCC isn’t calling for a “comprehensive review” of competition policy and pushing for new programs because it wants to do nothing.

The executive summary tips the FCC’s broadband hand, and the plan warrants close scrutiny in coming months as policymakers interpret the recommendations.