Many Comments Expected on FCC’s National Broadband Plan

The FCC summarized the broadband plan NOI at its meeting Wednesday, but final text released late Wednesday provided more detail about how the commission is thinking about broadband definitions, open networks, universal service and other big issues.

“Broadband can be defined in myriad ways,” noted the FCC. It asked whether the definition should be “tethered to” a number like bandwidth and latency, or rather an “'experiential’ metric based on the consumer’s ability to access sufficiently robust data for certain identifiable broadband services.” The FCC asked if it should apply different definitions for different technologies as well as contexts, for example rural versus urban areas. The agency asked if the definition should adjust as technology changes, and if it should take into account the middle mile in addition to last-mile connections. And the FCC asked if it should unify definitions for three similar terms: “broadband,” “high-speed Internet” and “advanced telecommunications ability.”

The FCC also sought comment on how to define access to the broadband. For example, it asked whether to take into consideration affordability, competition and availability at community center, public Wi-Fi hotspots and other places. The agency asked whether access should consider adherence to the FCC’s Internet Policy Statement, and if the Internet principles “require elaboration or explanation … and whether the Commission should turn the principles into rules through a rulemaking.” The FCC might add a “fifth principle” on nondiscrimination. The agency asked whether such a principle is needed “in light of the current state of competition and the four existing Internet policy principles,” and how it would define the term.

The NOI also asks many questions about the role wireless will play and how to spur more wireless broadband. The FCC previously adopted in its Wireless Terrestrial Rural decision steps to “eliminate disincentives to serve or invest in rural areas, and to help reduce the costs of market entry, network deployment and continuing operations,” the NOI said. Are more steps needed?, the NOI asks. “Should the Commission employ other mechanisms to encourage wireless broadband deployment in rural and tribal areas?” it asks. The NOI also asks about the role of unlicensed services. “Should they be considered as a means of providing broadband service, particularly where no other service exists?” the commission asks. “If so, how should that service be defined or quantified since unlicensed devices are not necessarily associated with specific areas of operation?”

The commission plans to tackle many demand-side issues, too, including affordability, digital literacy and Internet privacy. “A full understanding of the value of broadband networks and the Internet may not be grasped by all Americans,” the FCC said. “Many Americans may lack the complement of computer or other skills necessary to fully participate in the digital broadband era.” The FCC prescribed public-private cooperation to achieve ubiquitous broadband.

The FCC is mulling how to use the Web to enhance transparency and coordination. The FCC asked if there should be a single Web site that all government departments and agencies tasked with broadband stimulus could use to inform the public, and whether such a Web site should be incorporated into Grants.gov or another existing site. And it asked how the federal government can use the Web “to coordinate broadband rollout with tribal, state, and local governments,” among others.

NTIA, which will distribute $4.7 billion in broadband stimulus money, is in the process of creating rules for giving out the funds. NTIA spokesman Mark Tolbert said the agency won’t discuss possible policy differences between its rules and the NOI, only that it’s “working closely with the FCC and USDA to meet our goal and objective of making broadband work as fluidly and transparently as possible.” A spokesman for the Rural Utilities Service didn’t return a request for comment.