FCC Needs Better Broadband Data to Analyze Competition, DOJ Says
The FCC needs more specific broadband and telephone service data to perform a solid competitive analysis of the markets it regulates, the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division said in an ex parte filing. The National Broadband Map isn’t a precise enough tool to meet the commission’s needs, DOJ said. The department weighed in more than a month after the close of the FCC’s comment period on how its Form 477 Data Program could be improved.
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Industry groups and companies urged the FCC to streamline its data collection process rather than ask for more information from industry, but state regulators said they needed access to better data from the FCC (CD April 18 p5).
Collecting census block data, “to the extent practical and not overly burdensome, will yield information that is important and beneficial in promoting competition,” DOJ said. Data now available is too limited, the department said, saying several industry commenters cite the National Broadband Map as a starting point. The NTIA map “is an interesting and informative tool, but its purpose is only to show where broadband service is available,” DOJ said. “Its use for competition analysis is thus extremely limited."
Several industry commenters said the FCC should use data already available from carrier websites and make greater use of information from companies that harvest this data, DOJ noted. “These tools have only limited use for competitive analysis,” the filing said. “Such analysis must incorporate net effective pricing, including what services specifically are being offered, for what standard prices, and with what available discounts and promotions."
Better data benefits everyone, said Andrew Schwartzman, senior vice president of the Media Access Project. “The commission’s data, while somewhat improved from what went before, is nonetheless still insufficient for good policymaking,” Schwartzman said Monday, commenting on the DOJ filing. “Price information, in particular, is very much needed. It is important to recall that carriers receive many benefits from the government, including protection from new competitors. … It is perfectly reasonable for the government to exercise oversight."
"We agree with DOJ, that more detailed information is needed, and pricing information is very important to determine market conditions,” said Public Knowledge spokesman Art Brodsky. “We have said for months that pricing and speed are important for policymakers to see. We are sorry industry disagrees.”
But Free State Foundation President Randolph May said the best measure of competition is the number of competitive alternatives available. “In theory, more data, if it is reliable, is better than less data,” May said. “But DOJ appears to be asking for much more information, for purposes of a competitive analysis, than where broadband is available, which may be problematic. Information concerning pricing, discounts, standards of service, and so forth, is more difficult to come by, and, more importantly, very changeable in a dynamic, evolving marketplace."
"We spent $200 million for a National Broadband Map that’s not good enough to analyze competition for broadband services,” said Information Technology & Innovation Foundation Senior Fellow Richard Bennett. “Rather than costly one-time reports on the availability of broadband services in the U. S., we need a system that collects data from carriers in real time and mashes them up for analysis. Technology markets are in a state of continual flux, so it’s more appropriate to develop systems that continually update themselves than it is to produce laborious manual reports that begin to lose relevance the day they're published and become even less relevant as time goes by."
"Certainly more information is better in these instances to truly evaluate the situation and the state of the market,” said David Honig, president of the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council. “The data has to be reliable and meaningful to consumers and companies across the nation to be of any value. What we know overall is that consumer demand for mobile broadband is high and continues to grow, which is helping drive competition in the wireless market. We also know that too many Americans across the country still do not have access to broadband or enough choices for service."
"One plausible read is that DOJ wants the commission to publicize more granular broadband pricing data in order to nudge the carriers to offer targeted promotions more widely,” said MF Global analyst Paul Gallant. “Transparency has been a key FCC focus, and DOJ’s letter may provide some cover in that direction."