FCC Workshop Speakers Urge Better Network, Spectrum Policy
Bandwidth, spectrum management and net neutrality are key to application and device development, panelists said at the FCC broadband workshop Thursday. They urged government funding for broadband projects in small cities and communities.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
Getting high enough speeds is key to productivity, global competitiveness and the growth for applications like video, said Tim Napoleon, chief strategist for Akamai Technologies’ digital media group. The explosion of video is a prime reason behind growth of ISPs, he said. Video consumption is growing with the increase in high-power computers, lower prices and improved overall video quality, he said. The backbone of most ISP networks isn’t designed for video, affecting performance, profitability and audience engagement, Napoleon said. The U.S. ranked 19th in global broadband average speed at 3.8 Mbps, he said, citing Akamai data. Operating on last year’s network won’t lead the country to next year’s applications, said Robb Topolski, chief technologist at the New America Foundation, Public Knowledge and Free Press.
More efficient use of both licensed and unlicensed spectrum is critical with growing adoption of Internet- enabled devices, said Anoop Gupta, Microsoft vice president for technology policy and strategy. “We need broadband technology at scale.”
Companies like TiVo should be freed to innovate in ways of presenting content and services to consumers and integrating those multiple sources, Evan Young, senior director of product marketing, said. Access to signals is key, he said. Competing device makers often don’t have access to signals, resulting in restricted consumer choice to broadband equipment, he noted. Young is a big net neutrality backer: All broadband sites and services should have open and equal access, he said. Neither the last-mile provider nor the backbone provider should favor or restrict certain types of traffic based on either original source or destination device, he said. As multiple services and networks are integrated into single devices, it’s important to maintain parity of service across delivery methods, Young said, noting that “Skype is disfavored on AT&T’s 3G network.” Consumers should have choices over services and the way those services are presented, he said.
Gurley urged stimulus plans and policies that don’t “unfairly disadvantage smaller cities” where needs are high and barriers to change are the lowest. City size matters, he said. Stimulus money should also be used to bring fixed and wireless broadband to community institutions like libraries and schools, Gupta said. FCC policies shouldn’t discourage city experimentations or developments that aren’t scalable to large companies, said Gurley.
Meanwhile, the subscription model of some online content providers is critical for media companies to grab new revenue streams, Napoleon said, noting the amount of premium content that is moving online and starting to get broadcast size audiences.