NARUC Urges No Federal Limit on State Broadband Data Collection
States want the FCC to declare that its rules don’t bar or limit states’ collection of data from broadband service or infrastructure providers. “States need this data. There is no question that Congress wants States to have this data,” the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) said in a petition. But USTelecom said states’ broadband data collection ambitions shouldn’t surpass instructions by NTIA.
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The alleged ambiguity hasn’t stopped states from seeking information on a voluntary basis, said NARUC General Counsel James Ramsay. But NARUC members have encountered resistance to state legislation on data collection, he said. For example, a Maryland bill combining broadband data collection and net neutrality was defeated after opponents argued “any state requirements would face a federal lawsuit on preemption grounds,” he said.
“Congress has been crystal clear … that it wants States to play a key role” in efforts to spur broadband deployment and adoption,” NARUC said in the petition. The association cited Sections 706 and 254(b) of the 1996 Telecom Act, the 2008 Broadband Data Improvement Act (BDIA) and this year’s American Recovery & Reinvestment Act. NARUC’s petition is in line with a resolution it passed last August.
USTelecom said the FCC considers broadband an interstate service, so Congress tasked the NTIA, not states, “with the ultimate responsibility for mapping broadband availability and determining what information was necessary to accomplish this task. … In implementing BDIA, NTIA has chosen to give the states a key role in gathering and analyzing information on broadband deployment. States are currently collecting this data. We agree with this role and note that broadband providers have been actively supporting public-private partnerships to map broadband in a number of states.”
Cable broadband providers generally don’t have a problem with states collecting data, as long as the state is clear about what it wants and signs a confidentiality agreement with the company, a cable industry source said. Companies prefer looking at requests on a case-by-case basis so they can review the extent of the data desired and promised confidentiality protections, the source said.