FCC Opens Broadband Deployment Inquiry, Asks About Mobile, Satellite Services
The FCC kicked off its annual inquiry into whether broadband is being deployed in a reasonable and timely fashion to all Americans, pursuant to Section 706 of the Telecom Act. The notice of inquiry approved by commissioners Thursday contemplates retaining the agency's 25/3 Mbps broadband definition for terrestrial fixed services while seeking comment on whether the commission should include terrestrial mobile and satellite fixed services in its broadband assessment, FCC officials and a release said.
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The FCC asked whether fixed satellite service should be subject to the 25/3 Mbps broadband speed definition and whether mobile service should be subject to a lower broadband speed definition, agency officials said. The NOI seeks comment on whether broadband (technically, "advanced telecom capability") should include access to both mobile and fixed services, and whether the FCC should develop technical standards on "latency" and "service consistency," a staffer said at Thursday's commission meeting.
The new focus on mobile and satellite fixed service wasn't a surprise (see 1507230054). Chairman Tom Wheeler said there's an old corporate maxim that applies: "If you can measure it, you can manage it. That's what this is all about."
If the FCC finds broadband isn't being deployed fast enough -- as it has concluded in recent years under Democratic control -- it's statutorily mandated to take immediate steps to remove barriers to deployment. In approving its net neutrality order earlier this year, the FCC cited its most recent negative Section 706 finding.
"There is much more work left to do," Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said, noting 25/3 Mbps broadband isn't available to 53 percent of rural Americans and 63 percent of Americans on tribal lands and in U.S. territories. Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel called extending broadband across the country America's "new manifest destiny."
But Commissioner Ajit Pai, who partially dissented, said he couldn't support the "kabuki theater" aspect of recent Section 706 inquiries that he said promise to continue this time. "Here is the sad reality: It doesn’t matter what the public says or what the data show," he said. "When this proceeding ends, the FCC will issue a negative finding about the state of broadband deployment. And that’s because such a finding is necessary to maintain the limitless regulatory authority over Internet service providers, and perhaps other online entities, that the Commission thinks it has under the Telecommunications Act of 1996." Commissioner Mike O'Rielly, who partially concurred, said he wasn't quite ready to make the same prediction, but said he expects he "will be run over when we issue the final report." The FCC report is expected by early February, staffers say.