FCC Urged to Aim High with Broadband Plan
The FCC should set a goal for everyone in the U.S. to have broadband access by early 2014, major phone companies said late Monday as comments for the commission’s national plan continued arriving. There was wide agreement that overhauling the Universal Service Fund must be a high priority.
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AT&T and USTelecom endorsed the timetable for universal broadband. USTelecom admitted that the goal is a “stretch” but said it’s important for regulators to aim high. Total adoption may be impossible, the association said. But the government should “strive to eliminate every barrier to adoption that prevents end users from becoming connected,” it said.
Setting an ambitious deadline would require the FCC to screen out all but the best proposals, AT&T said. “Proposals that do not directly further these goals should have no place in the Plan -- however well-intentioned they might otherwise be.”
Other companies asked the commission to set rulemaking deadlines. XO Communications said the agency should give itself 90 days after sending its report to Congress to propose specific rule changes designed to have an immediate effect of extending U.S. broadband. After receiving comments and replies, the FCC should complete an order in 180 days, the carrier said. In the first 90 days, the agency should publish a list prioritizing open proceedings relevant to broadband growth and promise to wrap them up within a year, it said.
Many commenters identified the USF as crucial to any national broadband plan. Comments kept close to the arguments in the FCC’s long-delayed rulemaking on a USF overhaul. Companies kept fighting over the details but agreed that the FCC must act soon.
AT&T said a comprehensive revamp of the USF and intercarrier compensation is critical to spurring broadband investment. “The status quo is hastening the demise of the legacy wireline business model, and undermining our transition to the broadband model of the future,” it said.
Revamping the USF should be a “central part” of the FCC’s strategy, said the Rural Cellular Association. USF support should be “directly targeted to fund broadband deployment,” the wireless group said. “Utilizing restructured USF mechanisms offers an efficient and stable means of funding the construction of broadband infrastructure.”
The national plan’s “highest priority” should be “strengthening and preserving our universal service policies in a manner that restates the underlying program’s value in an IP world, said the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association. The money available under the high-cost fund and through the Recovery Act is “woefully insufficient to meet the Nation’s growing broadband needs,” the NTCA said. The FCC should widen the pool of high-cost fund contributors to all broadband providers and to content providers like Google, it said.
The most efficient way to spread broadband Internet is to categorize it as a Title II service eligible for universal-service money, said the Consumer Federation of America and Consumers Union. Labeling broadband a Title II service would expand the base of the USF, which is largely made up of telephone fees, said the consumer groups. The FCC also should support wireless technology, and high-speed fiber in the middle mile, to connect the unserved, the groups said.
Many states, including Massachusetts, Vermont and New York, also asked for broadband to be covered by USF. Other state regulatory commissions pushed for a central role in deploying broadband, saying individual states know their own needs much better than the FCC and other federal agencies.
The states should help the FCC develop address-level data-collection efforts to get a more-accurate look at broadband availability, said the Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Cable and the Massachusetts Broadband Institute. The FCC should define broadband as consistent symmetrical speeds of 1.5 Mbps, said Michigan’s Public Service Commission. It’s important that federal and state agencies using the FCC’s definitions have one that is “unambiguous and standardized to the fullest extent possible,” the state commission said.
The FCC should use financial subsidies to promote the adoption and deployment of broadband, said the NCTA. Because broadband providers are less likely to build out to more remote regions, government subsides will be necessary to entice them to complete development, the association said. Furthermore, the government should provide the framework for broadband deployment but leave much of it to competition, the NCTA said.
The FCC should consider broadband a “baseline essential service” and provide subsidized connectivity for low-income communities, said the Broadband Diversity Supporters. Furthermore, the commission should help minority-owned businesses, socially and economically disadvantaged businesses and new entrants access spectrum, capital and opportunities, the group said.
Broadband speeds “should be based on typical sustained speeds” rather than theoretical maximum speeds, said the National Association of Chief Information Officers. And providers should have greater disclosure about what can affect broadband speeds, such as decreased speeds over distance, it said.