FCC ‘Dedicated’ to Meeting President’s E-rate Goals, Wheeler Tells MMTC
The FCC is “dedicated” to meeting President Barack Obama’s goal of putting high speed Internet in 99 percent of U.S. schools and libraries, said FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler Thursday at the Minority Media and Telecom Council’s Broadband and Social Justice Summit. Event panels had current and former FCC members discussing the spectrum auction, broadband deployment and other important issues facing the commission. In a brief address, Wheeler focused on the D.C. Circuit’s net neutrality decision (see above article in this issue), the IP transition and E-rate. The country’s schools and libraries will have Internet speeds of at least 100 Mbps and will be upgraded to “a gig within the next five years or sooner,” said Wheeler.
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Although still expressing support for the E-rate concept, Commissioners Ajit Pai and Mike O'Rielly said the FCC should more closely monitor how the funds involved in the program are spent. The commission should be as concerned about the “contribution side” of E-rate as the “modernization side” said O'Rielly. By expanding E-rate, the cost of home Internet access could be driven up, he said. “Internet rates matter to families,” he said, suggesting that making it harder for people to access the Internet at home could negatively affect the employment rate. The country needs “centers of learning” such as schools and libraries to have high speed Internet, said Commissioner Mignon Clyburn.
On the IP transition, Wheeler repeated a point he made in a blog post on the FCC website (http://fcc.us/1i2sdRI) that the “values” that applied to analog networks should still apply in the IP world. Wheeler wants to preserve what made the country’s communications networks “the best in the world,” said Special Counsel-External Affairs Gigi Sohn at the event. Wheeler also brought up the use of mobile technology to give people access to healthcare. Clyburn is leading the FCC’s efforts in mobile health, Wheeler said.
The far-reaching positive effects of broadband access were a common theme at the MMTC event. “Access to broadband is important for everyone” Wheeler said. Former FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, now CEO of PCIA, compared broadband access to the roads that linked the Roman empire. A “robust broadband network” is an easy way to create companies that in turn create jobs, he said. The job creation ability of broadband is an argument against limiting the participation of large incumbents in the incentive auction, said AT&T Vice President-Regulatory Affairs Joan Marsh. When such companies participate, the increased value of the spectrum they acquire means economic benefits “flow” into the community, she said.
The telecom infrastructure that will be needed to support ubiquitous broadband should be an important source of employment and investment for minority- and women-owned businesses, said National Urban League CEO Marc Morial. He likened cell towers and wireless signals to an invisible nationwide highway project that represents an opportunity for minority-owned companies. “These assets are to the 21st century what sand and gravel and concrete are to the 20th century,” said Morial. African Americans and Latinos are a powerful force in the wireless market, which represents an underutilized opportunity for “powerful positioning for people of color,” he said. The “build out” of broadband infrastructure could be “a major driver of investment and job creation,” he said, and must include minority- and women-owned businesses as licensees. That might require new policies from the FCC regarding where spectrum involved in the upcoming auctions ends up, Morial said. Former Chairman William Kennard agreed: “We have an historic opportunity to create conditions to make sure those licenses get in hands of small and minority businesses."-- Monty Tayloe (mtayloe@warren-news.com)