Proposal to Raise Broadband Benchmark Up for FCC Vote at January Meeting

a vote, an agency official told us Friday. Increasing the standard in determining the adequacy of broadband deployment, from 4/1 to 25/3, would be a “large” shift, Maggie McCready, Verizon vice president-federal regulatory affairs, and William Johnson, associate general counsel, told Wheeler aide Renee Gregory and an aide to Commissioner Mignon Clyburn in separate meetings Tuesday, said an ex parte filing. A draft FCC report on the progress of broadband deployment to be voted on at the meeting concludes that deployment, based on the higher standard, isn't occurring in a “just and reasonable fashion" (see 1501070046). Verizon officials disagreed. They said an assessment shouldn't discount the growth in mobile Internet access, “an important source of broadband connectivity that is being widely embraced by consumers, and, particularly with the widespread availability of 4G LTE,” the commission's report should reflect deployment of these services. The draft report calls the 4-year-old 4/1 standard “dated,” and said 53 percent of rural Americans, and 17 percent nationally, lack access to broadband at 25/3 Mbps speeds. A key consideration is the growth in streaming video and audio, which now comprises 63 percent of downstream traffic, an agency fact sheet about the proposal said. The commission also will vote on issuing a notice of inquiry on how to improve broadband deployment.