Industry Calls for More Data in the FCC's 'Limited' Analysis of the State of Broadband

Proposed conclusions in the draft of the FCC's annual report to Congress about the state of broadband deployment and competition raised eyebrows among industry groups, with some calling for the commission to consider additional data. The FCC also defended proposing higher broadband speed goals in the draft report. Commissioners will consider the item, required by Section 706 of the Telecom Act, Thursday during their open meeting (see 2402220059).

The FCC received comments from industry in December asking the commission to avoid expanding the report to include nondeployment goals (see 2312190085). In its draft report, the FCC disagreed with several industry groups' argument that the commission ignored Section 706's directive to consider whether broadband is being deployed in a "reasonable and timely fashion. The language is a "statutory phrase" that "must be interpreted in the underlying factual context of the commission’s inquiry." It also disagreed with TechFreedom's claim that the FCC notice of inquiry regarding the report reversed the commission's finding in its Restoring Internet Freedom Order that Section 706 is "hortatory."

ACA Connects raised concerns about some of the commission's findings in the draft report, saying in a letter that the FCC's analysis of the state of broadband competition is "limited in important ways." The group noted that the report didn't use data from the most recent broadband data collection, "construct a time series that uses the first three rounds of BDC data" or use the "less-precise data submitted under Form 477." Including this data would show that "fixed broadband competition has increased substantially in the past year and is more robust than the draft report would suggest."

The FCC should add two more data points in its analysis of the state of fixed broadband and competition, ACA Connects said. There is "no longer any question that fixed wireless broadband service should be counted when measuring broadband competition," the group said, citing a rise in 5G fixed deployments and the "substantial increase in consumers subscribing to that service." The group also suggested the report reflect the "very large upfront" costs for fixed deployment, saying that if a provider "exits the business, in virtually all instances, the facilities would continue to be used." The "growth in fixed broadband competition is not only inexorable, it is irreversible in all but exceptional instances," ACA Connects said.

NCTA also raised concerns about data used in the commission's analysis and conclusions in the draft report, meeting separately with aides to all commissioners and with Wireline Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics staff. New deployments during 2023 "should reach well over 2 million previously unserved locations covering at least an additional 5 million people," the cable group estimated in a filing posted last week in docket 22-270. NCTA asked the FCC to include satellite broadband service in its analysis of extremely high-cost areas, noting the service may be "the most appropriate broadband technology and there is no basis for excluding it from the commission's analysis of availability."

Although it welcomed the draft's distinction between the terms "broadband" and "advanced telecommunications capability (ATC)," NCTA disagreed with the draft's conclusion that ATC "is not being deployed in a reasonable and timely fashion." It also opposed shifting away from a "progress-based framework."

The commission in the draft also disagreed with calls for broadband speed benchmarks to continue to be reviewed yearly and increased "when necessary" rather than setting a long-term goal. "While we understand the reservations of certain commenters citing the difficulty in predicting future needs, we believe it still important to set an aspirational goal against which the industry can strive to achieve," the draft report said: "This goal can be changed in the future should the progress of deployment slow down or speed up." WTA lobbied commission aides last month to proceed with increasing the definition of broadband to 100/20 Mbps for fixed broadband service and setting a higher long-term goal.