FCC, Congress Debate New Approaches to Expanding Broadband Access

Earlier this year, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) reported that the U.S. had fallen from fourth to 15th in broadband penetration among OECD countries (see the June 13, 2007 issue). This report came as little surprise to states that have been struggling to extend and improve high-speed Internet service, particularly in rural areas. Recognizing the need to accelerate the expansion of broadband networks, both the Federal Communications Commission and the U.S. Senate are now considering actions that would help assess broadband deficiencies and build these networks with the assistance of the states.

 

Earlier this month, the Federal-State Board on Universal Service proposed changes to the FCC's Universal Service program that would expand its focus to include broadband access. Currently, the program collects fees from telecommunications providers to fund the availability and affordability of advanced telecommunications services in low income, rural, insular and high-cost areas. The Federal-State Board, which meets regularly to assess the program, now recommends that it be split into three separate funds: one tasked with expanding broadband access, one with disseminating wireless voice services, and another with providing service backups through Providers of Last Resort. The Broadband Fund would work with states to issue grants to build new facilities in underserved and high-cost areas to ensure that access is available.

 

States would be responsible for identifying these underserved areas and for holding a competitive bidding process for the grants. The Board recommends that states be required to provide matching grants for federal dollars, which may also be used to pursue economic development opportunities through broadband and wireless technology enhancements.

 

Read the Federal-State Board on Universal Service's Recommended Decision at: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-07J-4A1.pdf

 

This new partnership would place even greater pressure on states to produce accurate data about the availability of high-speed Internet services. That data, however, is difficult to collect. First, no standard definition of "high-speed" exists to broadband from non-broadband data services. A white paper by Daniel Correa of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation earlier this year recommended the FCC switch to a two-tiered definition of high-speed access, which would include the current 200 kilobits per second standard as well as a more robust 3 mbps standard. This would help ensure that all areas have access to high-speed networks that can provide more advance services like videoconferencing.

 

Second, the current reporting requirements of the FCC only track whether or not broadband providers have subscribers in a given zip code, according to a Government Accounting Office report last year. The FCC does not ask providers if they have actually deployed broadband services in the area, meaning that a zip code is listed as being served even if that service is only provided to a few businesses.

 

To address this problem, Congress is considering a Broadband Mapping bill that would provide more accurate, more granular and more detailed information about broadband availability. Last month, the House passed its version of the bill, which would fund the creation of a searchable national broadband map. Local planning grants would be offered to communities to help spur deployment in their area. The Senate version, which is still pending, authorizes a five-year, $40 million-per-year program to provide matching grants to state public-private partnerships. These grants would support efforts to identify barriers to broadband adoption.

 

Read S.1492 at: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s110-1492



This legislation would provide federal funding to expand upon the work being done in many states to bring high-speed access to rural areas. Kentucky, in partnership with national nonprofit Connected Nation, has increased the percentage of homes with broadband access from 60 percent to more than 90 percent since the launch of the ConnectKentucky program in 2004. Similar mapping and broadband research programs are being considered in Ohio and New York, also in partnership with Connected Nation. Both of these programs would fund statewide maps of broadband availability and grants for research on how to overcome the rural digital divide.



Find out more about the Connected Nation model at: http://www.connectednation.com/