Adelstein Says Broadband Needs ‘Higher’ Priority in 2009

Boosting the U.S. broadband ranking relative to other countries should be a “higher national priority,” Adelstein said. Broadband is “our greatest infrastructure challenge today” and it’s “critical” that the U.S. get it to rural areas, low-income households and senior citizens, he said. Broadband “dovetails” with other important issues, including economic recovery, healthcare, energy, education and public safety, he said. In spurring deployment, Adelstein sees the private sector doing “the bulk of lifting,” but “there’s also some role for government because we need everyone to benefit from this new array of services,” he said.

Last week’s FCC TV white spaces decision is “one of the most significant decisions the commission has made on broadband deployment,” Adelstein said. Allowing use of that “fallow spectrum” gives the U.S. an “opportunity to reclaim its place as a world leader in broadband deployment,” he said.

Adelstein wants a “stable universal service program that advances our transition to a broadband age.” He endorses a Joint Board on Universal Service recommendation to add support for broadband, because Congress meant the Universal Service Fund to evolve with technology, he said. The FCC correctly decided last week to seek comment on revamp plans for USF and intercarrier compensation, Adelstein said, predicting that an overhaul will have “massive, far-ranging repercussions” for the industry: “The FCC sometimes has a bad habit of springing on the American people huge changes without first actually giving them a sense of which direction we're going.”

Keeping the Internet open should be another priority, Adelstein said. “I like to think that the movement for Internet freedom is tapping the same American spirit that fueled the movement against media consolidation.” Adelstein hailed the FCC for enforcing its Internet principles in a complaint proceeding against Comcast, but said he'd prefer the principles be recast as formal rules.

The U.S. still isn’t ready for the DTV transition, said Adelstein. He cited “personal experience” garnered on the road promoting DTV education. He has taken DTV questions from only a “tiny sliver of the massive population … and I just can’t imagine how we're going to answer all those questions” by February, he said. Awareness of the transition is “pretty high,” but it’s hard to calculate which homes will need technical assistance to get through the transition, he said. The commission, industry and community organizers should collaborate on more simulated analog shutoffs, he said. “These tests educate consumers, manage their expectations and identify potential problems before the whole country takes the plunge.” Regional tests could spur a “rash of calls,” but it’s better “they come in a series of tests over time, rather than getting a massive amount of calls on Feb. 18.”

Broadband Seen as 2009 Focus

Wider broadband reach will be an Obama administration priority the next four years, telecom officials agreed in a later panel. Industry has invested a lot in broadband, but “we're still playing catch up,” said Jim Cicconi, AT&T senior executive vice president. Deploying broadband will be a “central component” of rebuilding U.S. competitiveness, he said. “Broadband is the key issue,” said attorney Richard Wiley, a former FCC chairman. “The problem is how to achieve it.”

Expansive lawmaking on broadband deployment is unlikely, Wiley said. A broadband mapping statute that Congress just passed will help government collect more data on deployment, and “we probably want to let that play out,” he said. The next FCC probably won’t need new laws to “accomplish much of the Obama administration’s agenda,” he added. Free Press Policy Director Ben Scott disagreed, saying new laws are needed to balance against an outdated 1996 Telecom Act: “You can’t regulate a telecommunications sector that’s operating [completely] on broadband networks with laws that are designed for different technologies.”

A USF revamp is one avenue to deployment, Cicconi said. That program is “wheezing, maybe even on its last legs in terms of what it was designed to achieve,” he said. But USF did spread phone service, and should refocus on broadband, he said.

More government wireless spectrum should be opened to the private sector, panelists said. “People talk about spectrum being a precious resource,” Cicconi said, “and it’s true, but the reason … is because the government has appropriated about half of it.” The U.K. tackled the problem by forcing government agencies to factor spectrum allocations’ value into their annual budgets, Scott said. That encouraged agencies to divest unused allocations, he said. This could work in the U.S. because “the problem has been bureaucratic inertia,” Cicconi said. Freeing spectrum probably demands White House intervention and an “innovative approach,” he said.

Deployment is important, but government also must spur adoption in areas with access to broadband, said Scott. Government should promote broadband’s “value proposition,” he said. “Why is it that roughly 50-55 percent of the country subscribes to broadband but 80-90 percent subscribe to cable television and cellphones? It’s because they view those products as more valuable, but neither … delivers the economic and social benefits of a broadband connection.” Lower broadband prices and higher speeds would enhance value, he said.

The FCC needs a way to create a nationwide interoperable public safety network using D-Block spectrum, panelists said. “One way or another we've got to get it done to protect our citizens,” said Wiley. It borders on “scandalous” that a 9/11 Commission recommendation to form the network still is “sitting there,” illustrating a “failure of leadership by Congress and the administration,” Cicconi said.