Is Broadband Deployment Reasonable and Timely?

Is Broadband Deployment Reasonable and Timely?

CRS INSIGHT
Is Broadband Deployment Reasonable and Timely?
February 3, 2016 (IN10438)
|
Related Author
Lennard G. Kruger
|
Lennard G. Kruger, Specialist in Science and Technology Policy (lkruger@crs.loc.gov, 7-7070)
On January 28, 2016, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted its latest Broadband Progress Report
pursuant to Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. The act requires the FCC to regularly initiate an
inquiry concerning the availability of broadband to all Americans and to determine whether broadband is "being
deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion." If the determination is negative, the act directs the FCC
to "take immediate action to accelerate deployment of such capability by removing barriers to infrastructure investment
and by promoting competition in the telecommunications market."
The FCC's latest Section 706 report, the 2016 Broadband Progress Report, was released on January 29, 2016, and
determined that broadband deployment is not being deployed to all Americans in a timely and reasonable fashion.
According to the report, as of December 31, 2014, approximately 10% of all Americans (34 million) lacked access to
fixed broadband speeds of 25 megabits per second (Mbps) download and 3Mbps upload. The FCC also reported 39%
of rural Americans lacking access to 25 Mbps/3 Mbps broadband service, as compared to only 4% of Americans living
in urban areas.
The FCC argues that while significant progress has been made, "advances are not occurring broadly enough or quickly
enough to achieve our statutory objective," and that "many Americans still lack access to advanced telecommunications
capability, especially in rural areas and on Tribal lands." The FCC also finds that schools—particularly those in rural
areas—continue to lack access to adequate broadband. In light of its finding that broadband is not being deployed in a
reasonable and timely fashion, the FCC says that it will "continue working to remove barriers to infrastructure
investment, in part by direct subsidies, and in part by identifying and helping to reduce potential obstacles to
deployment, competition, and adoption."
Opponents of the FCC's negative finding, including an FCC dissenting Commissioner, state that contrary to the report's
conclusions, data show steady progress in connecting unserved Americans, and that broadband is being deployed in a
timely and reasonable manner due in large part to significant investments in broadband infrastructure made by the
private sector. In 2015 the FCC, citing changing broadband usage patterns and multiple devices using broadband within
single households, raised its minimum broadband benchmark speed from 4 Mbps/1 Mbps to 25 Mbps/3 Mbps. Critics
have asserted that the FCC excessively raised broadband benchmark speeds in order to produce a negative finding and
to justify the FCC's pursuit of policies addressing such regulatory issues as Universal Service Fund reform and net
neutrality.
The 2016 Broadband Progress Report is the tenth Section 706 report adopted and released by the FCC since the first
report in 1999. As Table 1 shows, except for the first two reports, there has not been agreement among FCC

commissioners as to whether broadband is being deployed in a timely and reasonable manner. During the George W.
Bush Administration, the finding that broadband deployment is reasonable and timely was associated with the FCC's
deregulatory policies, whereas during the Obama Administration, the finding that broadband deployment is not
reasonable and timely has been associated with FCC policies favoring a greater level of government intervention in the
marketplace. An important factor in the Section 706 determination has proven to be how the FCC chooses to define
broadband service in terms of minimum speed and capacity. As broadband technology evolves, speeds increase, but the
level at which broadband benchmark threshold speeds should be set has remained controversial. Similarly, the 706
determination is likely to remain contentious as long as it is seen by many as providing a justification for FCC
regulatory or deregulatory policies.
Table 1. Section 706 Reports, 1999-2016
Is Broadband
Deployed to All
Americans in
Broadband

Reasonable and
Definition
Vote of FCC
Date Adopted Timely Fashion? (threshold speed)
Commissioners
First Broadband
1/28/1999
Yes
200 kbps in both
5-0
Progress Report
directions
Second
8/3/2000
Yes
200 kbps in at
4-0
Broadband
least one
Progress Report
direction
Third Broadband
2/6/2002
Yes
200 kbps in at
3-1
Progress Report
least one
direction
Fourth Broadband
9/9/2004
Yes
200 kbps in at
3-2
Progress Report
least one
direction
Fifth Broadband
3/19/2008
Yes
200 kbps in at
3-2
Progress Report
least one
direction
Sixth Broadband
7/16/2010
No
4Mbps/1 Mbps
3-2
Progress Report
Seventh
5/20/2011
No
4Mbps/1 Mbps
3-1
Broadband
Progress Report
Eighth Broadband
8/14/2012
No
4Mbps/1 Mbps
3-2
Progress Report
2015 Broadband
1/29/2015
No
25 Mbps/3 Mbps
3-2
Progress Report
2016 Broadband
1/28/2016
No
25 Mbps/3 Mbps
4-1
Progress Report
Source: FCC, Archive of Released Broadband Progress Notices of Inquiry.