Industry Scrutinizing Maine's Broadband Definition
The Telecommunications Association of Maine challenged criteria and assumptions used by a state agency to support defining broadband as 100 Mbps symmetrical. The ConnectMaine Authority held a Zoom virtual hearing Monday and seeks comment by Oct. 14 on changes to…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
state broadband rules, including also defining unserved as an area lacking 50/10 Mbps. Maine previously used 25/3 Mbps for unserved and for broadband. Zoom requires 4 Mbps symmetrical for a meeting of about 50 people, so if everyone in a five-person family was doing that simultaneously it would require 20/20 Mbps, said TAM Executive Director Ben Sanborn. “How do we get to that 100/100 from that point?” he asked: TAM wants “a little more transparency as to how you got there, as opposed to [you] just kind of picked a number, because that is arbitrary and capricious.” The authority adopted the definition in June, said ConnectMaine Director Peggy Schaffer. Sanborn replied, “Yes, without rationale.”