Revised Broadband Data Shows Progress, FCC Says; Some Unhappy

“While it’s a good thing the FCC has finally fixed this mess with its data, the fact of the matter is that millions of American households -- in rural and urban communities -- have no access," Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said. "With tens of millions of Americans without access to broadband, it’s simply not credible for the agency to conclude that broadband deployment across the country is reasonable and timely.”

The FCC also released reports on broadband connectivity among military veterans and Native Americans (here). These reports and one on spectrum were done under the Ray Baum Act. The revised broadband deployment report is a draft and not publicly available.

The revised draft has revisions to the initial report due to a finding a company had "drastically overstated" deployment data, the FCC said. It didn't name the company, though Barrier Communications in March acknowledged it overstated data (see 1903070054). It didn't comment Wednesday.

Free Press is "glad to see that the FCC has addressed the error. Of course, fixing this error doesn't fix the other huge flaw," emailed General Counsel Matt Wood. "The Pai FCC keeps trying to take credit for broadband deployment and speed increases well under way before and during Title II's reinstatement. So when Chairman Pai takes credit for ISP investment and improvements he quite literally had nothing to do with, it's an ongoing embarrassment that simply revising the numbers down cannot fix." A Free Press analysis had discovered the Barrier overstatement. Title II is net neutrality common-carrier rules.

Not everyone was convinced by the new numbers. "This is embarrassing," Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said. "The Chairman put forward a draft report with a huge error baked into it that calls into question the FCC’s data practices generally. The FCC’s data and maps have enough problems as is -- they have become repeat offenders. Given all that has happened, it is difficult to have any confidence in this or any other FCC product that purports to show who has broadband and who does not."

Section 706

There remains controversy inside the agency about the annual Telecom Act Section 706 draft report, we're told. Although the Republican commissioners appear to all have voted yes, that's not the case for the Democratic members, an official said. Concerns about the data had continued, at least until this release, inside and outside the agency. An FCC spokesperson declined to comment.

Since last year's report, Americans without 25/3 Mbps fixed terrestrial broadband declined more than 18 percent, from 26.1 million at the end of 2016 to 21.3 million at 2017's end, the FCC said. Most of those gains -- 4.3 million of them -- were in rural areas, it said.

The agency said the data also showed a fast pace of deployment of very fast service. Americans with access to at least 250/25 Mbps service rose more than 36 percent in 2017 to 191.5 million. It said the number of rural Americans with access to such service was up 85.1 percent. It said access to 100/10 Mbps service was up more than 18 percent to 288.4 million, and for rural Americans it was up 44 percent to 37.4 million.

"The report confirms that the FCC’s policies are working," with internet speeds up close to 40 percent and the U.S. now enjoying the world's largest 5G deployment, Commissioner Brendan Carr said. "I’ve seen this progress in communities around the country.” Those policies include "removing barriers to infrastructure investment, promoting competition, and providing efficient, effective support for rural broadband expansion through our Universal Service Fund programs," Pai said.

Tribes

A report on tribal broadband, required by the act and released Wednesday, said many in tribal areas don’t have service, especially in rural areas.

While 92 percent of housing units on urban tribal lands have access to fixed internet at broadband speeds, just 46.6 percent of units on rural tribal lands do. Some 96 percent of people living in tribal areas have access to 4G LTE wireless, compared with 99.8 percent of Americans elsewhere, the report said: People on tribal lands also often have fewer choices of carrier.

“Tribal lands often present significant obstacles to deploying broadband and are expensive to serve,” the report said. “These challenges to deployment … include rugged terrain, complex permitting processes governing access to Tribal lands, jurisdictional issues involving states and sovereign Tribal governments, lack of the necessary infrastructure, and a predominance of residential, rather than business, customers. High poverty rates and low-income levels on Tribal lands, as well as cultural and language barriers, further inhibit the widespread availability of broadband to Tribal residents.”

Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said last week she visited the Lummi Nation in western Washington State, with Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., to see tribal problems up close. “Not only is the 21-page report overdue, it relies heavily on FCC data that the Government Accountability Office has concluded ‘do[es] not accurately or completely capture broadband access on Tribal lands,’” Rosenworcel said: “This is unacceptable. The FCC needs to do better.” The FCC didn't comment.

Other Reports

A "significant number" of military veterans lack access to fixed and/or mobile broadband, a Wireline Bureau report said. It said 92.5 percent of vets have access to at least one 25/3 Mbps fixed ISP, and 78.4 percent have 10/3 Mbps mobile LTE broadband coverage. It said households with vets subscribe to mobile broadband services at lower rates than those without. The bureau recommended Congress consider directing agencies and organizations to collect and share veterans' broadband deployment and adoption data to give a better picture of where and how progress is being made. It said Congress could order agencies and organizations do veteran-specific outreach and education about broadband, and to coordinate. Staff said Congress could require funding agencies consider needs of low-income and rural vets when directing broadband deployment loads and grants, potentially designating some of that funding as partially veteran-specific.

Rosenworcel said the report being 39 days overdue is "unacceptable." While "the report provides some insight into connectivity for veterans, it fails to acknowledge the consequences of the FCC’s proposal to cut off Lifeline service," she said. "The future of this program, which connects as many as 1.3 million veterans, has been uncertain since the agency proposed slashing it by as much as 70 percent. This is cruel."

The FCC also sought comment on bidirectional sharing, to file another report required by the act. The FCC must submit a report by Sept. 23 on “the regulatory certainty that commercial spectrum users and Federal entities need to make longer-term investment decisions for shared access to be viable,” which “evaluates any barriers to voluntary commercial arrangements in which non-Federal users could provide access to Federal entities,” the FCC said in a notice. Comments are due May 31, replies June 17, in docket 19-128.

Bidirectional sharing, in which federal agencies could access some commercial spectrum, has been a long-standing big issue for DOD, but progress has been slow (see 1608030068). In 2016, the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee approved a report on the topic (see 1606080050), but the net effect was to call for a multiday, multistakeholder workshop.