FCC Opens Section 706 Inquiry Into Deployment of Advanced Telecom Capability
The FCC launched an annual broadband progress inquiry into whether advanced telecom capability "is being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion," as expected (see 1606270080). The commission has used previous negative findings to help justify certain regulatory actions, such as its 2015 net neutrality and broadband reclassification order. The notice of inquiry released Thursday starts a proceeding mandated by Section 706 of the 1996 Telecom Act. Republican commissioners approved in part and concurred in part.
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The NOI seeks input on the current state of deployment and availability of advanced telecom capability. "We seek comment on the appropriate criteria and benchmarks by which to measure whether fixed and mobile broadband services provide access to advanced telecommunications capability," the notice said. "We seek comment on whether to update our existing 25 Mbps download/3 Mbps upload speed benchmark for fixed advanced telecommunications capability, as well as on whether we should establish a speed benchmark for mobile broadband services and, if so, what that speed benchmark should be. We also seek comment on the relationship of non-speed performance metrics, including service consistency and latency, to advanced telecommunications capability, and on whether and how to adopt benchmarks for these metrics."
The notice seeks comment "on criteria and benchmarks by which to measure" advanced telecom capability deployment to schools and classrooms, and on other factors that may affect the deployment and/or availability of advanced telecom capability. "We seek comment on the various data sources used by the Commission for the purposes of our annual Broadband Progress Report, and whether additional or alternative sources of data are available to inform our analysis under Section 706(b)," it said.
GOP commissioners said they approved initiating the proceeding pursuant to the statutory mandate but suggested the outcome is known. "As in previous years, this proceeding promises to play out like a 1970s television show: a predictable script that meets a preordained goal," Commissioner Ajit Pai said in a statement. "There will, of course, be some drama. Will the Commission adopt a definitive benchmark for mobile broadband? Will the Commission add latency, jitter, or packet loss to the definition of broadband? Will the Commission acknowledge that the Universal Service Fund is spending billions of dollars to build out services that don’t qualify as broadband? But everyone knows the denouement: Early next year, the FCC will find that broadband is not being deployed 'in a reasonable and timely fashion.'”
"Having better data and soliciting the views of interested parties on the state of broadband deployment and the deregulatory ways to improve it -- if done in a neutral way -- could be helpful to our overall obligations at the Commission," Commissioner Mike O'Rielly said in a statement. "In a number of instances, however, the text of this item strays from that role and, therefore, I can only concur with those portions. ... In the end, the NOI is not completely objectionable on its face. But make no mistake, everyone is already in on the larger joke to be played with this inquiry process. We all know the eventual outcome of the final report pursuant to section 706 that will be coming in the future. This seemingly benign NOI does not hide the reality that awaits."