FCC Seeks Input for Next Broadband Deployment Report

Chairman Julius Genachowski said he found it unacceptable that 14 million to 24 million Americans remain without access to broadband service, as the commission said in its most recent broadband report. The report also found market forces alone unlikely to close the gap soon, he said. The finding underlines the urgency of carrying out the National Broadband Plan’s recommendations, Genachowski said. Commissioner Robert McDowell said his support for the inquiry shouldn’t be taken as an endorsement of the plan and he’s “concerned that the report’s conclusions may be used to promote and support a regulatory agenda that could have the unintended effect of slowing further deployment, usage, investment, and job creation."

The agency seeks comment on how to define “advanced telecommunications capability” and to interpret broadband availability. It also seeks comment on the updated broadband benchmark that the commission adopted in the last broadband report, which drew criticism from Commissioners McDowell and Meredith Baker and broadband providers (CD July 21 p1). The FCC asks for comments on how the benchmark can remain flexible enough for continuously evolving technology while giving the commission “a relative static point at which to gauge the process and growth in the advanced services market from one report to the next.” It asks how it should consider year-to-year trends in broadband availability when reviewing the benchmark.

The commission asks whether there have been significant recent technology developments that will affect the availability of broadband. The FCC specifically wants comment on how satellite and wireless services should be considered in areas where landline or terrestrial wireless would be particularly difficult or expensive. It also asks how to improve its demographic analysis of broadband deployment to determine which parts of the population remain without access. The commission specifically wants to know how to improve its analysis of underserved groups in rural areas, tribal lands, native homeland areas, minority populations and those with disabilities. It also asks if there are still schools in the U.S. that lack access to broadband service.

The commission wants input on how to better assess broadband availability using data it collected and relied on in the previous broadband report. The FCC also seeks input on ways to improve the analysis of issues like subscribership data and broadband speeds. It acknowledged that a challenge in estimating broadband availability is a lack of comprehensive data regarding broadband facilities. It also seeks comment on the National Broadband Map and its relationship to the inquiry notice. The commission is working with NTIA and state grantees under the Broadband Data Improvement Act to develop the map. The FCC wants to know of any concerns about the map, such as about sources and quality of data. It asks how it should balance legitimate confidentiality interests in the information it collects against the goals of accountability and openness. The FCC also seeks comments on a consumer survey and an international broadband data report that it will do.

The commission asks what actions would bring universal broadband sooner. It said it has taken some steps but wants to know what more it could do to maximize consumer benefit, foster competition and promote mobile broadband infrastructure. The initiatives the FCC said it’s exploring are revamps of the Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation, deployment initiatives on native homelands, a special access overhaul, an interconnection clarification order, a broadband data NPRM, the launch of a spectrum dashboard, revamping roaming rules and 2.3 GHz spectrum band rules, and studies of changes in other spectrum bands.