FCC’s Digital Divide Report: 19M Reasons but the Biggest is Philosophical
There are two different ways–plus another big one that is more philosophical in nature–to look at the announcement late Tuesday from the Federal Communications Commission that the agency’s chairman, Ajit Pai, is circulating to his fellow commissioners a draft report finding that the digital divide in America narrowed “substantially” during 2017, and that rollout of broadband service in the U.S. is happening in a “reasonable and timely” way.
The first two ways are reflected in the raw numbers.
On the success front: FCC stats–admittedly not very current ones–show that the number of Americans lacking access to a fixed broadband connection fell by 25% in 2017, to 19.4 million people. The draft report defines broadband service as 25 megabits per second (Mbps) download/3 Mbps upload speed – which in practice may not provide super-speedy service depending on the type of content accessed and how many devices rely upon the connection. And the report points out that most of the people gaining access to broadband service live in rural parts of the country, where deployment of broadband service has traditionally lagged.
“This report shows that our approach is working,” said Chairman Pai, a Republican, who said that narrowing the digital divide during his tenure as head of the agency has been the FCC’s “top priority.” He continued, “We’ve been tackling this problem by removing barriers to infrastructure investment, promoting competition, and providing efficient, effective support for rural broadband expansion through our Connect America Fund.”
On the other-hand front: The FCC’s report shows that as of January 2018, 19.1 million did not have access to broadband service. That’s still a pretty big number – and incidentally, does not reflect how many Americans actually purchase broadband service; rather it only counts households that have access to such service.
Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, one of two Democratic commissioners on the five-member FCC, said as much in a response to Chairman Pai’s announcement.
“Millions of households–in rural and urban communities–have no access to high-speed service. That’s a fact,” she said.
She pointed to the key political and regulatory issue underlying why the FCC counts things like how many people have access to broadband service – because Congress wants it to do so, and also wants it to take further action to spur broadband deployment if it finds providers are not rolling out service in a reasonable and timely way.
Tucked in at the bottom of the FCC’s announcement is the declaration, “Based on these and other data, the report concludes that advanced telecommunications services–broadband–is being deployed on a reasonable and timely basis.”
“I beg to differ,” Rosenworcel responded, pointing to the 19.1 million without-broadband-access figure.
Why the FCC’s conclusion on “reasonable and timely” is important has everything to do with the agency’s statutory obligations.
The agency’s annual report to Congress on broadband availability is known in telecom circles as the Section 706 report, referring to the section of the Communications Act that first required it.
Section 706 directs the FCC to “take immediate action to accelerate deployment of such capability by removing barriers to infrastructure investment and by promoting competition in the telecommunications market” if the FCC does not find that advanced telecommunications capability–ie, broadband–is being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion.
As recently as 2016, when the FCC was controlled by Democrats, the agency reported to Congress that broadband service was not being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion – thus opening the door for the commission to consider further regulatory actions to accomplish that purpose.
The then-minority Republican commissioners at the FCC–including Pai–loudly objected on a variety of grounds reflecting their generally less regulatory mindset.
The five current FCC commissioners–now three Republicans and two Democrats–will vote in the next several weeks on whether to approve the latest broadband report and send it to Congress. While nothing in life is ever guaranteed, a positive endorsement of the current report is close to a sure thing.
FCC says broadband deployment is going great despite 20 million lacking access
Flickr via Gage Skidmore. Click for original.
(Image: © Flickr via Gage Skidmore)
The Federal Communications Commission has drafted its 2019 Broadband Deployment Report, and in it the agency claims the digital divide between Americans with and without access to high-speed internet has "narrowed substantially."
"For the past two years, closing the digital divide has been the FCC’s top priority," said FCC chairman Ajit Pai (PDF). "We’ve been tackling this problem by removing barriers to infrastructure investment, promoting competition, and providing efficient, effective support for rural broadband expansion through our Connect America Fund."
Pai seems to be referencing the roll back of net neutrality regulations, which he spearheaded after being appointed chairman. However, that is not what some are taking issue with in the report. Instead, it's the numbers, and what they represent.
According to the draft report, access to a fixed broadband connection that meets the FCC's benchmark speed of 25Mbps down and 3Mbps up has dropped by over 25 percent, from 26.1 million Americans at the end of 2016 to 19.4 million at the end of 2017. In addition, the report points out that most of those who gained access to broadband connections—5.6 million Americans—live in rural areas.
"This report shows that our approach is working," Pai added.
As noticed by Engadget, Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel disagrees with Pai's assessment, and she let it be known on Twitter.
Interestingly, the draft report's data differs from a recent American Broadband Initiative (ABI) report, which indicated more than 24 million Americans lack access to 25Mbps/3Mbps speeds. That figure is higher than the entire populations of New York (20 million) or Florida (21 million).
Regardless of what the actual numbers are, Rosenworcel's contention is that millions of households lack access to high-speed service, and therefore broadband is not being "deployed on a reasonable and timely basis" as the draft report indicates.
The report also points to an increase of nearly 20 percent to 290.9 million Americans who have access to 100Mbps/10Mbps fixed broadband speeds. Out of those, 205.2 million have access to 250Mbs/50Mbps speeds, which is up 45 percent.
The FCC will vote on the draft report in the coming weeks.
FCC: A Smaller Gap In America’s Digital Divide
The digital divide between Americans with and without access to modern broadband networks has narrowed substantially, according to the draft 2019 Broadband Deployment Report, which was circulated by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to his fellow commissioners today.
“For the past two years, closing the digital divide has been the FCC’s top priority,” Chairman Pai said. “We’ve been tackling this problem by removing barriers to infrastructure investment, promoting competition, and providing efficient, effective support for rural broadband expansion through our Connect America Fund.
“This report shows that our approach is working. But we won’t rest until all Americans can have access to broadband and the 21st century opportunities it provides to communities everywhere.”
The Chairman’s draft of the annual FCC report to Congress shows that since last year’s report, the number of Americans lacking access to a fixed broadband connection meeting the FCC’s benchmark speed of 25 Mbps/3 Mbps has dropped by over 25%, from 26.1 million Americans at the end of 2016 to 19.4 million at the end of 2017. Moreover, the majority of those gaining access to such high-speed connections, approximately 5.6 million, live in rural America, where broadband deployment has traditionally lagged.
The private sector has responded to FCC reforms by deploying fiber to 5.9 million new homes in 2018, the largest number ever recorded. And overall, capital expenditures by broadband providers increased in 2017, reversing declines that occurred in both 2015 and 2016.
Other key findings of the report include the following, based on data through the end of 2017:
Based on these and other data, the report concludes that advanced telecommunications services – broadband – is being deployed on a reasonable and timely basis.
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