The Federal Communications Commission is hamstringing its upcoming review of broadband availability by ignoring the prices consumers must pay for Internet service, FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez said in a statement yesterday.
"Some point to existing law to argue that availability is the only metric Congress allows to measure broadband deployment success. But the law does not require this agency to view broadband availability with one eye closed and the other one half-open," said Gomez, the only Democrat on the Republican-majority commission.
The FCC said on Tuesday that it voted to kick off the next annual review with a Notice of Inquiry (NOI) that "reorients the Commission's approach to the Section 706 Report by adhering more closely to the plain language of the statute and takes a fresh look at this question of whether broadband 'is being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion.'" That would remove affordability as a factor in the review.
In other federal broadband news this week, the Trump administration told states they will be shut out of the $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) grant program if they set the rates that Internet service providers receiving subsidies are allowed to charge people with low incomes.
ISPs participating in BEAD are required by law to offer a "low-cost" plan, but the Trump administration is making sure that ISPs get to choose the price of the low-cost plan themselves. The Trump administration also made it easier for satellite providers like Starlink to get BEAD funds, which will reduce the number of homes that get fiber Internet service through the program.
"As the Commerce Department seeks to redefine the goals of the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, one must wonder if this is a coordinated effort to roll out the 'Mission Accomplished' banner as millions remain without access to a fast, reliable, and affordable way to participate in the main aspects of modern life," Gomez said, referring to both the BEAD changes and the FCC broadband analysis.
Biden-era FCC planned to collect price data
The FCC Notice of Inquiry isn't yet on the docket, but a draft was released last month. The FCC will take public comment on the plan before finalizing it.
Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act requires the FCC to determine whether broadband is being deployed "on a reasonable and timely basis" to all Americans, and take regulatory action if deployment isn't good enough. The Biden-era FCC expanded the inquiry to cover not just deployment but also affordability and adoption, and was planning to collect more granular price information in future analyses.
The current chair, Republican Brendan Carr, opposed that change on the basis that the words "affordability" and "adoption" do not appear anywhere in Section 706. His proposal for the next Section 706 inquiry includes ditching what he calls "extraneous" criteria like affordability and eliminating a long-term goal of gigabit broadband speeds. The Carr plan would also focus on whether broadband "is being deployed" instead of whether it already has been deployed, meaning that the FCC can give the broadband industry a passing grade even if it falls short of 100 percent deployment.
Although Gomez opposes the Carr plan and could vote against it when it's finalized, she said she voted to support the Notice of Inquiry because it asks for input on the question of whether affordability should be included in the analysis. Gomez wrote:
While I have concerns over the potential change of direction this FCC may soon take in how we fulfill our obligation to provide a clear and accurate picture of broadband availability in this country, I am nevertheless supporting this Notice of Inquiry (NOI) so the public can weigh in on this issue... Under this NOI, the FCC questions whether recent changes that provided a more accurate picture of broadband availability, such as broadband affordability and broadband adoption, are even needed. This is after the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) lapsed, which forced many households to choose between continuing their broadband service or paying for food or medicine. For that reason, I am glad we were successful in seeking public input on whether broadband can truly be considered available if it isn't affordable, and I look forward to that record.
Gigabit goal to be ditched
The Biden-era FCC raised the commission's Internet speed benchmark to 100Mbps download speeds and 20Mbps upload speeds, up from 25Mbps downstream and 3Mbps upstream. It also set a "long-term speed goal" of 1Gbps download speeds with 500Mbps upload speeds, which would be abandoned in Carr's plan.
Carr's proposal to eliminate the gigabit goal alleged that it would "appear to violate our obligation to conduct our analysis in a technologically neutral manner," as it "may be unreasonably prejudicial to technologies such as satellite and fixed wireless that presently do not support such speeds."
Gomez disputed this reasoning. She said that satellite and fixed wireless technology "can both serve areas with immediate need," but "are capacity-limited, and are not the silver bullet to close the digital divide."
The gigabit goal "reflected this nation's history of striving to do big and bold things," Gomez said. "Nothing prevents us from continuing that tradition. Arguments that seek to paint that goal as an effort to 'pick winners and losers' are as nonsensical as having told President Kennedy's NASA to abandon the space race's goal of reaching the Moon out of fear of failure or because it cost too much."
Consumer advocacy group Public Knowledge said the FCC is laying a foundation "that will allow for self-congratulations while rural, Tribal, and low-income communities remain stranded on the wrong side of the digital divide." The scope of the FCC's analysis will directly affect policy interventions, said Alisa Valentin, the group's broadband policy director.
"By narrowing the scope of the Section 706 Notice of Inquiry, the Commission is taking steps to redefine success with incremental broadband deployment improvements while willfully ignoring the affordability and adoption challenges that keep millions of Americans from accessing broadband in a reasonable and timely manner," Valentin said.
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