FCC Draft Broadband Report Draws Provider Praise, Consumer Advocate Pushback
Reactions were mixed to an FCC draft that would find broadband deployment is meeting a Telecom Act Section 706 mandate. Broadband providers and others welcomed a positive finding and credited the commission with clearing deployment obstacles, while consumer advocates were skeptical and slammed agency leadership. Chairman Ajit Pai Tuesday circulated a draft report internally that broadband-like advanced telecom capability is being deployed in a "reasonable and timely" way (see 1902190057). The report was due out Feb. 5 but delayed by the government shutdown. It might be put on the tentative agenda for the March 15 commissioners' meeting, which Pai is expected to highlight Thursday.
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"We are not surprised by the FCC’s finding that the digital divide is narrowing,” emailed Ross Lieberman, American Cable Association senior vice president-government affairs. "Over the past decade broadband providers have invested hundreds of billions of dollars to upgrade and extend their networks. Second, since 2011, the Commission has adopted a series of measures to eliminate barriers to broadband deployment and re-focus its universal service programs to bring broadband to unserved areas." ACA expects industry to continue investing and the FCC to continue pushing broadband to unserved locations, including by holding a Connect America Fund Phase III Auction and "moving forward with the Remote Areas Fund.”
"It is difficult to comment definitively on a somewhat vague press release," but the numbers in the release "are encouraging," emailed Butzel Long attorney Stephen Goodman, who represents Adtran. "Once all the data is released ... we can have a sensible discussion on steps to take to continue to make (or accelerate) progress. In contrast, under the previous Administration, this annual exercise in assessing progress was a staged proceeding, because a negative Section 706 finding of a lack of adequate progress was thought to be necessary in order to allow Section 706 to provide the FCC with authority to adopt 'net neutrality' rules (prior to the re-classification of Internet access service as a Title II offering). So at least we are clearly making progress by conducting an open and honest assessment process."
USTelecom hailed the finding that broadband connectivity is growing. "This is another proof point that the multiyear commitment of broadband innovators to infrastructure investment is expanding both the availability and speed of wired broadband service and reaching consumers in the hardest to wire parts of the country," said CEO Jonathan Spalter. "The FCC’s drive to modernize regulations and remove outdated barriers has helped usher in a pro-consumer environment while stoking the engine for more innovation and investment.”
"This news isn’t wholly surprising," agreed Will Rinehart, American Action Forum director-technology and innovation policy, citing steadily advancing broadband deployment. "Now that the deployment gap is narrowing, the conversation is likely to shift toward questions over the number of competitors and speed. Indeed, the most important story in broadband is how quickly one goal is met and surpassed only for another to be erected. Once the full report is released, everyone will have a better sense of the broadband market, but the early signs suggest that market participants aren’t resting on their laurels."
Others were more critical. “It’s just another rosy FCC report masking America’s dismal performance in achieving the kind of broadband penetration other countries have and we don’t," emailed Michael Copps, ex-FCC commissioner and Common Cause special adviser-media and democracy reform. "It’s downright weird that the Pai majority can’t get away from discredited (by everyone else) census tract reporting and bring its analytical tools into the twenty-first century.”
"As usual, Chairman Pai ignores any evidence he doesn't like, then takes credit for trends that were already well under way before he took office," emailed Matt Wood, Free Press general counsel. Wood said Pai's "self-aggrandizing" news release "moves the goalposts" or "invents new goalposts" by finding the number of people with access to 100/10 Mbps service increased by nearly 20 percent. "That's true enough -- as best as we can tell without more context -- but it's just the continuation of a trend."
Pai's data is "cherry-picked," Wood said. "FCC Form 477 data shows that the number of people with 100 Mbps downstream available to them from wireline providers actually increased by 9.53 percent in 2017... But that same metric jumped by 11.9 percent in 2016 while Title II [net neutrality regulation] was still firmly in place." Wood said the trends "are even more visible at higher speeds," citing access to 300 Mbps downstream from wireline providers as increasing by 64.5 percent in 2017 after it "rocketed up by 193.8% in 2016 under Title II." That doesn't mean Title II deserves all the credit, Wood said, but it does mean Pai "can't take credit for deployment and investment that was already taking place before his tenure."