The FCC recently proposed rules that would require mobile service providers to provide usage alerts and information to assist consumers in avoiding unexpected charges on their bills.
By Craig D. Dingwall
Last month the FCC modified the E-rate program to bring fast, affordable Internet access to schools and libraries through the National Broadband Plan. Formerly called the Schools and Libraries Universal Service program, the E-rate program, which provides up to $2.25 billion annually to support schools and libraries telephone and Internet connections, was adopted 13 years ago to help ensure that almost every school and library across America has Internet access. The E-rate program has, however, not kept pace with technological advances or funding requirements in the broadband era. Accordingly, on September 28th the FCC upgraded the program by:
Perhaps the most significant and controversial part of the FCC’s Order from the service provider’s perspective is the FCC’s conclusion that “eligible schools and libraries should be free to meet their communications needs by leasing fiber from entities other than telecommunications carriers that are able to provide schools and libraries the same services that a traditional telecommunications carrier can provide a school or library over a fiber network.” This means that schools and libraries can now lease E-rate eligible fiber from any provider—including research and education networks, regional, state and local governments, non-profit and for-profit providers, and utility company—purportedly giving schools and libraries “more flexibility to select the most cost effective broadband solutions” and allow them to “pay less for the same or greater bandwidth . . ” While the FCC claims that the competitive bidding process will help protect against waste, fraud, and abuse of the E-rate program, non-public entities raise fairness concerns about competing with taxpayer-funded entities such as state and local governments.
Others raise concerns regarding … Read the rest
By Craig D. Dingwall
Last week the FCC adopted the Second Memorandum Opinion and Order (Second MO&O) to make vacant airwaves between TV channels—so called “white spaces”—available for unlicensed broadband wireless devices. Touted as the first significant block of “prime real estate” spectrum made available for unlicensed use in more than 20 years that will create jobs, investment, innovation and unleash a host of new technologies such as super Wi-Fi and other diverse applications, this spectrum is attractive because it allows signals to reach farther with better penetration of structures. According to the FCC, this spectrum could promote “super Wi-Fi hot spots” with extended range and speed while improving broadband access to schools, rural areas, and campus networks to promote streaming video and other applications. But will it live up to these promises and, if so, under what terms and conditions? The MO&O provides additional details and addresses several technical and legal issues. Specifically, among other things, the FCC through the MO&O:
This Bill was introduced on January 27, 2010, and was referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and the Committee on Energy and Commerce “for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker.” This Bill amends the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 to establish in the Department of Agriculture the Office of Rural Broadband Initiatives, to be headed by the Under Secretary for Rural Broadband Initiatives. If enacted, this Bill would give the Under Secretary the power to administer rural broadband-related grant and loan programs, conduct rural outreach, foster development of a comprehensive rural broadband strategic vision, assess technologies (including WiFi, WIMAX, DSL, cable, satellite, fiber, and broadband over power lines), serve as a single information source and provide technical assistance to develop broadband deployment strategies. The Bill also requires the Under Secretary to submit a comprehensive rural broadband strategy report to the President and to Congress, and it establishes a National Rural Broadband Innovation Fund of $20,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2008 through 2012. The Fund is to be used for experimental and pilot rural broadband projects and applications, including WiFI, WIMAX, DSL, cable, satellite, fiber, and broadband delivery over power lines.
One of the critical challenges to cybersecurity is lack of access to broadband services. For example, some Public Service Access Points (“PSAPs”) are located in areas where broadband communications are unavailable, and many PSAPs cannot afford broadband connectivity. Further, regulatory roadblocks have hindered next generation, so called NG911, which will enable the public to access 911 through text messaging (SMS) and other formats.
• permitting greater spectrum sharing;
• permitting Adaptive Modulation, which would allow temporary operations below the minimum capacity under certain circumstances to maintain critical communications; and
• permitting “Auxiliary” Fixed Stations, which may permit more efficient use of spectrum at a substantially reduced cost.
• modifying or lowering efficiency standards in rural to reduce backhauls costs;
• reviewing
• general review of the FCC’s rules to promote flexible, efficient and cost-effective provisions of wireless backhaul service.
The FCC recently concluded in its Sixth Broadband Deployment Report that between 14 and 24 million Americans still lack access to broadband or “advanced telecommunications capability” that enables users to originate and receive high-quality voice, data, graphics, and video telecommunications using any technology. The FCC, in its July 20th Report, estimates that 1,024 out of 3,230 counties in the United States and its territories are unserved by broadband and, on average, these unserved areas are home to 24 million Americans living in 8.9 million households with a population density of 138.3 people per square mile and a per capita income of $14,565 measured in 1999 dollars. The FCC’s estimates of broadband availability are based primarily on the Model that FCC staff created in conjunction with the development of the National Broadband Plan, and the broadband subscribership data the FCC collects on FCC Form 477.
The FCC applied a “de minimis threshold,” under which it found broadband to be available in a county only if at least 1 percent of the households in that county subscribe to broadband. Stated differently, broadband is deemed available in a county if it is unavailable to up to 99% of the households in that county! Given this relatively low threshold, the FCC data may tend to actually overstate broadband availability in the United States. These and other details are critical to understanding the full impact of the FCC’s data.
So how and when will broadband deployment improve in the United States? The Report proposes to meet the FCC’s goal of deployment to all Americans by implementing key recommendations from the FCC’s National Broadband Plan, including reforming the FCC’s universal service programs, unleashing spectrum for mobile broadband, reducing barriers to investment, collecting better broadband data, and upgrading the standard from 200 kilobits per second downstream, to 4 megabits per second (Mbps) downstream and 1 Mbps upstream.
As we noted last week in our Back to the Future article, other possible solutions involve changing the regulatory classification of broadband, and moving it from an information service to a more heavily regulated telecommunications service. Critics of this approach typically raise concerns of increased costs and regulatory delays, ultimately leading to reduced or stifled broadband availability. This debate is currently playing out in comments and reply comments filed with the FCC in response to the National Broadband Plan. Given enough spectrum, engineering solutions such as higher transmitter … Read the rest
In the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Congress codified the FCC’s distinction between “telecommunications services” used to transmit information and “information services” that run over the network. The FCC later eliminated the regulatory asymmetry between cable companies and other broadband Internet service providers by extending the information service classification to broadband Internet services offered over DSL and other wireline facilities, power lines, and wireless. Today broadband Internet service may be offered as an information service subject to consumer protection, network reliability, and national security laws, rules and regulations, but largely exempt from Title II telecommunications service regulation.
Expressing its resolve to further broadband deployment, Congress recently passed
1) the 2008 Farm Bill directing the FCC to submit to Congress “a comprehensive rural broadband strategy,
2) the Broadband Data Improvement Act to improve data collection and “promote the deployment of affordable broadband services to all parts of the Nation”, and
3) the Recovery Act, which appropriated up to $7.2 billion for broadband services deployment, and required the FCC to develop the National Broadband Plan.
As the United States recovers from the great recession, it is even more critical to focus on broadband deployment to ensure that Americans have the necessary tools to compete worldwide. This is the first of a series of articles that addresses broadband deployment, with recommendations for its improvement. This article focuses on rural broadband deployment.
Broadband allows users to reach the Internet at higher speeds than they could with traditional modems. Broadband uses data processing capabilities that compress voice, video, and data information into bits that become words, pictures, charts, graphs, or other images on computer, wireless phones, or screens. High-speed Internet access allows information downloads at significantly higher speeds than traditional modems. It also allows online access without tying up telephone lines, videoconferencing, and access to entertainment resources. Broadband access comes in several flavors, including Digital Subscriber Line (“DSL”), cable modem access, fixed and mobile wireless, satellite Internet, and Fiber to the Home (“FTTH”).
Wi-Fi, or wireless fidelity, allows Internet access by short-range signals, and it is available at thousands of hotspots around the country. WiMAX, or Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, is a standards-based wireless technology that provides high-throughput broadband connections over long distances. WiMAX is similar to Wi-Fi, but it permits usage over much greater distances.
Federal legislation clearly favors rural broadband deployment. Section 706 of the 1996 Telecommunications Act requires the FCC to “encourage the deployment on a reasonable and timely basis of advanced telecommunications capability to all Americans.” The Act also mandates that consumers in “rural, insular, and high‐cost areas” should have access to services and rates that are “reasonably comparable” to those in urban areas. On February 17, 2009, Congress passed the Recovery Act, which charged the FCC with developing a national broadband plan that seeks to ensure that all Americans have broadband access. In response to this Congressional mandate, the FCC recently delivered to Congress a national broadband plan for robust broadband capability for Americans with benchmarks for meeting that goal.
Broadband deployment in rural areas is critical for economic development, growth, jobs, education, tele-medicine and other data-centric services, and for the United States to remain competitive with other countries. But rural broadband deployment in the United States considerably lags broadband use in urban areas. In light of this need, Congress passed the 2008 Farm Bill, which recognized the critical need for broadband in rural areas. That law requires the FCC … Read the rest
