This week’s release of the final version of the National Broadband Map is a milestone. Beginning with funding from the 2009 stimulus bill, NTIA – a part of the Commerce Department – has supervised the collection of state broadband data and published the results twice a year. NTIA deserves credit for successfully managing this first-of-its-kind project, which generally has proven to be a reliable source of data for companies, government agencies and the public.
NTIA is now turning over this important data collection effort to the FCC. We hope that the FCC will be able to pick up the mantle but we have some concerns. NTIA has significant expertise in data collection and reporting and its broadband reports have been issued in a timely manner using a consistent set of metrics to allow comparisons across time. Additionally, NTIA has not hesitated to acknowledge broadband success stories, while also identifying areas where there is room for improvement.
Conversely, the FCC has been fairly erratic in carrying out its existing broadband reporting responsibilities. For example, it issued its 8th Broadband Progress Report in 2012 using a 4/1 Mbps as the standard definition of broadband. It then failed to issue a 9th report (ignoring the Congressional requirement for the report to be issued annually), and the 10th report was issued in 2015 using a completely different 25/3 Mbps broadband speed standard. Inconsistent and spotty reporting using an ever-shifting set of metrics is hardly conducive to sound analysis. Moreover, under Section 706, the FCC has an interest in highlighting problems rather than successes because the statute gives the FCC authority to take immediate action if it reaches a negative finding in its annual report.
There is no better illustration of the differences between NTIA and the FCC than in the treatment of wireless broadband services. In its most recent release, NTIA trumpeted the fact that “the United States has met the President’s goal of ensuring 98 percent of the country has access to wireless broadband at a speed of at least 6 megabits per second (Mbps) down/1.5 Mbps up.” It also found that “[t]he latest data shows that 99 percent of the country has access to advertised broadband speeds at 10 megabits per second (Mbps) through either wired or wireless service.”
Somehow the FCC did not get word that there was good news with respect to wireless deployment. The 10th Broadband Progress Report issued last month does not even consider wireless services in determining whether broadband is being deployed in a reasonable and timely fashion. While the Commission acknowledged that mobile wireless services have gone “from a luxury to a convenience to an absolutely essential part of Americans’ daily lives,” it nevertheless found that these services don’t have the speed or reliability to deliver high-quality voice, data, graphics, and video and therefore are not relevant to the section 706 analysis. Just three weeks later, in the Open Internet Order, the Commission did acknowledge the great success of wireless broadband, but it viewed this only as evidence that substantially more regulation was warranted, not that the marketplace is providing consumers with choices for broadband.
The FCC’s Open Internet Order and the President’s announcement this week of a multi-agency Broadband Opportunities Council mark a new level of government involvement in the operation of the broadband marketplace. With increased government oversight and participation comes an increased responsibility for government to be a resource for factual and impartial data. We can only hope that the FCC will step up its game to meet this challenge.