- FCC Issues Rural Broadband Strategy Report: “Building Block” for National Broadband Plan
- Stimulus Program Lobbying Restrictions Expanded
These two recent developments will have a substantial affect on broadband providers as they work within the guidelines of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (“Stimulus Act”) to maximize broadband deployment nationwide.
FCC Issues Rural Broadband Strategy Report: “Building Block” for National Broadband Plan
Last week, Acting Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Michael Copps submitted to Congress a “Report on a Rural Broadband Strategy: Bringing Broadband to Rural America." Chairman Copps lauded the Report (which was required under the 2008 Farm Bill) as a “building block” and “a critical step in the Commission’s efforts to develop an effective, efficient and achievable National Broadband Plan” in accordance with the Stimulus Act, which requires the FCC to submit the long-term plan to Congress by February 2010. The FCC has issued a separate Notice of Inquiry on the matter, with initial comments due next Monday, June 8.
The Report may offer a preview of the FCC’s upcoming National Broadband Plan, as well as insight into other pending FCC rulemaking proceedings. Echoing the views of Obama administration officials, the Report calls broadband “the interstate highway of the 21st century for small towns and rural communities, the vital connection to the broader nation and, increasingly, the global economy.”
The FCC’s Report hails the $7.2 billion in federal broadband deployment project funding to be dispensed by agencies of the Departments of Commerce and Agriculture over the next 18 months under the Stimulus Act; yet it cautions that “this funding initiative, though substantial, [is] still just a down payment on the broadband needs of the country.” The Report finds that “relying on market forces alone will not bring robust and affordable broadband services to all parts of rural America,” and suggests an array of steps to advance broadband development, including reform of the federal Universal Service Fund (USF) to include continuing financial support for rural broadband services.
Insight into proceedings and expectations
The Report also provides candid insight concerning several open rulemaking proceedings and how the Administration’s overarching goal to deliver broadband to rural areas should inform those proceedings. For example, the Report states that “[t]imely and reasonably priced access to poles and rights of way is critical to the build out of broadband infrastructure in rural areas,” and thus the FCC should consider this “in analyzing the record in the Pole Attachments NPRM [Notice of Proposed Rulemaking] proceeding.” Similarly, it also notes that “there are several open Commission proceedings that may affect the pace or cost of tower construction” necessary for wireless broadband development in rural areas.
Other open proceedings cited by the Report include the November 2008 Further Notice concerning intercarrier compensation, the Special Access Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (which directly affects the rates that price-cap carriers may charge for access to middle-mile and other dedicated facilities), the Notice of Inquiry concerning unlicensed operation in the television broadcast bands, and the FCC’s ongoing proceedings concerning program access and program carriage requirements, which the Report concludes could impact broadband deployment.
The Commission’s Report stresses the need for interagency coordination including the possible coordination of key terminology, such as the definition of “rural,” to ensure “federal programs work consistently and in concert with one another.” It also acknowledges the need to streamline existing federal programs in order to realize a more efficient use of government funds and resources.
Assessing rural broadband needs
In assessing the need for broadband in rural areas, the Report touches on some of the specific hurdles to providing service to remote areas (high deployment costs, rugged terrain, lower profit potential and the inherent limitations of the various technologies, including wire line, wireless and satellite) as well as the attributes and limitations of the available technologies and how they impact the ability to deliver “affordable broadband in rural areas.”
High on this list is the issue of latency, which the FCC notes can degrade the performance of interactive Internet applications technologies, which require very quick send-response times (low latency) to function effectively. The FCC gives examples of emerging interactive Internet technologies that, while still in their infancy, have the potential to generate “tremendous economic activity” and thus should be considered of heightened value (including educational applications, teleworking applications, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and Video Relay Service, commercial virtual reality or “telepresence,” telemedicine applications, and online gaming).
Additional technological elements considered key to rural broadband include scalability (how quickly and easily bandwidth can be expanded with network upgrades), network resiliency (ability to withstand weather, damage outages and attacks), and congestion management (keeping network performance high during times of peak usage).
Significantly, the Report does not express a preference for any one delivery technology and instead states that rural broadband networks may need to combine a variety of wireline and wireless elements. The Report also acknowledges the lack of comprehensive and reliable data necessary to make informed decisions, including information about the extent to which broadband already is available in rural areas, the data transfer speeds available to rural subscribers, and the price of and demand for broadband.
Stimulating and sustaining broadband adoption and demand
Recognizing that a critical component of rural broadband deployment is ensuring that broadband networks generate enough revenue to cover their costs, the Report encourages the creation of “demand-side programs” to promote broadband adoption and use among underserved and rural populations.
The Report cites surveys that show that approximately 35 million U.S. households that have access to broadband service (representing almost 50 percent of all broadband accessible homes) choose not to subscribe for a variety of reasons such as: lack of training, lack of knowledge of the benefits of broadband use, affordability (of costs of service or computer equipment), perceived difficulty of use and perceived lack of need. In rural areas in particular, the Report cites a claim that approximately 42 percent of rural residents without broadband fail to subscribe because they don’t feel as if they need broadband.
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