<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">I'm forwarding this week's excellent posting from the Benton Foundation,<div>laying out the current federal government programs and initiatives</div><div>for nationwide broadband development.</div><div>RL</div><div><br><div><br><div>Begin forwarded message:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1);"><b>From: </b></span><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;">"Benton Foundation" <<a href="mailto:headlines@benton.org">headlines@benton.org</a>><br></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1);"><b>Date: </b></span><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;">February 13, 2015 10:46:30 AM MST<br></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1);"><b>To: </b></span><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;"><a href="mailto:rl@1st-mile.com">rl@1st-mile.com</a><br></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1);"><b>Subject: </b></span><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;"><b>[Weekly Round-up] What Section 706 Means for Net Neutrality, Municipal Networks, and Universal Broadband</b><br></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1);"><b>Reply-To: </b></span><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;"><a href="mailto:headlines@benton.org">headlines@benton.org</a><br></span></div><br>
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<a href="http://benton.org/?utm_campaign=Newsletters&utm_source=sendgrid&utm_medium=email"><img src="http://benton.org/sites/benton.org/files/images/benton_small_icon.gif" width="16" height="16" alt="Benton icon" border="0"></a><br><span class="submitted">Submitted by Benton Foundation on behalf of Kevin
Taglang on February 13, 2015 - 10:12am</span><p><strong><span class="center">What Section 706 Means for<br>
Net Neutrality, Municipal Networks, and Universal
Broadband</span></strong></p><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>
<div class="pull-quote pull-quote-right" style="width:200px;font-size:1.2em;padding:5px;margin:2px;font-family:Trebuchet MS,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;font-style:italic;border-top:1px solid black;border-bottom:1px solid black;">A powerful weapon with extremely
wide latitude to address threats to broadband deployment and the open
Internet.</div><p>In 2014, when the United States Court of Appeals for the District of
Columbia Circuit <a href="http://www.cadc.uscourts.gov/internet/opinions.nsf/3AF8B4D938CDEEA685257C6000532062/$file/11-1355-1474943.pdf?utm_campaign=Newsletters&utm_source=sendgrid&utm_medium=email">struck
down key elements of the Federal Communications Commission’s Open Internet
rules</a>, the court actually sided with the Commission’s arguments that
Section 706 of the Communications Act (<a href="x-msg://30/#note-1">1</a>), titled
'Advanced Telecommunications Incentives', gives the FCC authority to regulate
broadband networks, including imposing net neutrality rules on Internet
service providers. The court ruled that the law “vests [the FCC] with
affirmative authority to enact measures encouraging the deployment of
broadband infrastructure.” As <a href="https://www.benton.org/node/174118?utm_campaign=Newsletters&utm_source=sendgrid&utm_medium=email" title="Did Congress Empower the FCC to Regulate the Internet? Appeals Court
Says ‘Yes’">Andrew Jay Schwartzman wrote in Benton’s Digital Beat
blog</a> a year ago, the court gave the FCC a “powerful weapon” with
“extremely wide latitude to address threats to broadband deployment and the
open Internet.” Since Section 706 authority only kicks in when the FCC
finds that “advanced telecommunications capability” is not being deployed
to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion, we focus today on the
Commission’s latest findings on broadband deployment in the U.S. These
findings will have a huge impact on major, controversial decisions before the
FCC this month -- and the months ahead.</p><p>The connection between Section 706 and the FCC’s agenda was highlighted
this week when FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler traveled to Boulder, Colorado, to <a href="http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2015/db0209/DOC-331943A1.pdf?utm_campaign=Newsletters&utm_source=sendgrid&utm_medium=email">deliver
a speech</a> to the <a href="http://www.siliconflatirons.com/index.php?utm_campaign=Newsletters&utm_source=sendgrid&utm_medium=email">Silicon Flatirons
Center’s</a> conference on <a href="http://siliconflatirons.com/events.php?id=1495&utm_campaign=Newsletters&utm_source=sendgrid&utm_medium=email">Digital Broadband
Migration: First Principles for a Twenty First Century Innovation Policy</a>.
In his remarks, Chairman Wheeler said the FCC is in the midst of three
historic decisions aimed at reaching two equally important goals: 1) economic
return as an incentive for investment in broadband infrastructure; and 2)
networks that are fast, fair and open for all Americans.</p><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>
<div class="pull-quote pull-quote-left" style="width:200px;font-size:1.2em;padding:5px;margin:2px;font-family:Trebuchet MS,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;font-style:italic;border-top:1px solid black;border-bottom:1px solid black;">Three historic decisions aimed at
bringing fast, fair and open networks to all Americans.</div>
<br>
Two of these three historic decisions will be reached by the FCC at its
February 26 open meeting when it votes on new Open Internet/network
neutrality rules and the petitions of Chattanooga (TN) and Wilson (NC)
seeking relief on their states’ laws restricting municipal broadband
networks. Wheeler identifies these two issues as Act Two and Act Three in the
overall effort. Both <a href="https://www.benton.org/taxonomy/term/57?utm_campaign=Newsletters&utm_source=sendgrid&utm_medium=email">net
neutrality</a> and <a href="https://www.benton.org/taxonomy/term/29?utm_campaign=Newsletters&utm_source=sendgrid&utm_medium=email">municipal broadband</a> are
controversial and garnering lots of press (<a href="https://www.benton.org/blog/death-resurrection-377-days?utm_campaign=Newsletters&utm_source=sendgrid&utm_medium=email" title="From
Death to Resurrection in 377 Days">as we noted just last week</a>) . Both
decisions will rely, at least in part, on the authority granted to the FCC by
Congress in Section 706.
<p><strong>I. The FCC Considers U.S. Broadband and Finds It
Lacking</strong><br></p>
<div class="content-image-right-wrapper">
<img src="https://www.benton.org/sites/default/files/imagecache/content_image/images/content/2015dbmconf.gif" alt="FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler at Silicon Flatirons Center for Law,
Technology, and En" title="FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler at The Digital Broadband
Migration: First Principles fo" class="content-image content-image-right" width="250" height="200" style="margin:3px;"><div class="content-image-description" style="font-style:italic;margin-bottom:3px;">FCC
Chairman Tom Wheeler at Silicon Flatirons</div>
</div>
<br>
Wheeler’s Act One is what he called the “issue of fast networks” and it
has garnered much less attention than Acts Two and Three. Back on January 29,
the <a href="http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2015/db0129/DOC-331760A1.pdf?utm_campaign=Newsletters&utm_source=sendgrid&utm_medium=email" title="Press release">FCC adopted</a> the <a href="https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-15-10A1.pdf?utm_campaign=Newsletters&utm_source=sendgrid&utm_medium=email">Broadband
Progress Report</a> for 2015, the annual report mandated by Section 706.(<a href="x-msg://30/#note-2">2</a>) In its latest Broadband Progress Report, the FCC
tackled two interrelated questions: 1) what now (and for the next couple of
years) is advanced telecommunications capability? and 2) are all Americans
able to access that capacity?
<p>Concerning question 1, the FCC, since 2010, has considered broadband
speeds of 4 megabits per second (Mbps) download and 1 Mbps upload (4 Mbps/1
Mbps) to be “advanced.” But in looking at current deployment and adoption
trends, the FCC came to understand that a new benchmark is needed for 2015.
</p>
<ul>
<li>First, the FCC noticed that ISPs are asserting in their marketing
campaigns that a minimum of 25 Mbps downstream is required to take advantage
of the services widely offered and used today. </li>
<li>Then the FCC considered that many U.S. households are running multiple,
simultaneous broadband-enabled applications. Although broadband is often
measured in speed, Chairman Wheeler noted this week that the issue is really
about “the capacity to have simultaneous connectivity sufficient for the
application to perform its task.” </li>
<li>Finally, the FCC looked at current broadband adoption and noticed what
broadband speeds consumers are currently choosing when offered choice: nearly
one-third of consumers are choosing 25 Mbps download/3 Mbps upload (25
Mbps/3Mbps) when available.</li>
</ul><p><strong>Given all these factors, the FCC adopted 25 Mbps download/3 Mbps
upload as the new benchmark for advanced telecommunications capacity for
residential service. Relying on the FCC’s own E-rate Modernization docket
and order, the Commission also pegged advanced telecommunications capacity
for schools and libraries at, for now, 100 Mbps per 1,000 students and staff
and, in the long-term, 1 Gigabit per second per 1,000 students and
staff.</strong></p><p>“With our vote two weeks ago,” Chairman Wheeler said in Boulder, “we
established a standard that anticipates and -- as the Telecommunications Act
mandates -- encourages a world in which megabits per second isn’t just
about whether a video buffers, but is about the world in which increasing
numbers of devices will be making simultaneous demands on the network; a
world in which innovation isn’t held back by network capacity.”</p><p>Given this new standard, the FCC then considered question 2 and looked to
see who has access to advanced telecommunications capacity. The good news:
service of at least 25 Mbps/3 Mbps or higher is already available to 83
percent of Americans. The bad news: as of December 31, 2013, approximately 55
million -- 1 in 6 -- Americans lack access to 25 Mbps/3 Mbps or higher fixed
broadband service. And approximately 35 percent of schools lack access to
fiber, and thus likely lack access to broadband at the FCC’s shorter term
benchmark of 100 Mbps per 1,000 users, and even fewer have access at the long
term goal of 1 Gbps per 1,000 users.</p><p>Moreover, a significant digital divide remains between urban and rural
America even though Americans living in rural and urban areas adopt broadband
at similar rates when it is available: </p>
<ul>
<li>
<strong><em>Over half of all rural Americans lack access to 25 Mbps/3
Mbps service</em></strong> while just 8 percent of urban Americans lack
access to 25 Mbps/3 Mbps broadband. </li>
<li>
<strong><em>Rural America continues to be underserved at all
speeds</em></strong>: 20 percent lack access even to service at 4 Mbps/1
Mbps, down only 1 percent from 2011, and 31 percent lack access to 10 Mbps/1
Mbps, down only 4 percent from 2011.</li>
<li>
<strong><em>63 percent of Americans living on Tribal lands (2.5 million
people) lack access to 25 Mbps/3 Mbps broadband</em></strong>. 85 percent
living in rural areas of Tribal lands (1.7 million people) lack access.</li>
</ul><p>n/a<br><span class="center">National Map of Fixed 25 Mbps/3 Mbps Broadband Service
from 2015 Broadband Progress Report</span></p><p><strong>Given these gaps in availability, the FCC concluded that advanced
telecommunications capability is <em>not </em>being deployed to all Americans
in a reasonable and timely fashion. And, in light of this finding, the FCC
must “take immediate action to accelerate deployment of such capability by
removing barriers to infrastructure investment and by promoting competition
in the telecommunications market.”</strong></p><p><strong>II. Major Federal Efforts to Expand the Reach of
Broadband</strong></p><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>
<div class="pull-quote pull-quote-right" style="width:200px;font-size:1.2em;padding:5px;margin:2px;font-family:Trebuchet MS,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;font-style:italic;border-top:1px solid black;border-bottom:1px solid black;">A sustained, multifaceted
universal broadband agenda.</div>
<br>
The FCC highlights the many efforts the government has already taken to help
ensure that broadband -- both wireline and wireless -- reaches all Americans.
Chairman Wheeler noted this week that the FCC will disburse $11 billion
through its Connect America Fund to support infrastructure build-out in rural
areas. And the FCC modernized its E-rate program in 2014 to support fiber
deployment to and Wi-Fi within the nation’s schools and libraries. In
addition, there are a number federal efforts to improve broadband deployment
and adoption:
<p><em>At the White House</em></p>
<ul>
<li>
<strong>Wireless Broadband Memorandum</strong>: On June 28, 2010,
President Barack Obama sent all the heads of Executive departments and
agencies a memorandum entitled <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/presidential-memorandum-unleashing-wireless-broadband-revolution?utm_campaign=Newsletters&utm_source=sendgrid&utm_medium=email">Unleashing
the Wireless Broadband Revolution</a>. The memorandum called on the
Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information
Administration and the Federal Communications Commission to collaborate to
make available a total of 500 MHz of Federal and non-Federal spectrum over
the next 10 years, suitable for both mobile and fixed wireless broadband use.
In early 2015, the FCC completed, in <a href="http://energycommerce.house.gov/icymi/opinion-walden-and-wheeler-hill-spectrum-auction-bipartisanship-action?utm_campaign=Newsletters&utm_source=sendgrid&utm_medium=email" title="Spectrum Auction is Bipartisanship in Action">a bipartisan success
story</a>, the AWS-3 auction which brought 65 Megahertz of spectrum to market
and raised nearly $45 billion dollars. </li>
<li>
<strong>National Wireless Initiative</strong>: Building on the Wireless
Broadband Memorandum, in early 2011 <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/02/10/president-obama-details-plan-win-future-through-expanded-wireless-access?utm_campaign=Newsletters&utm_source=sendgrid&utm_medium=email" title="President Obama Details Plan to Win the Future through Expanded
Wireless Access">President Obama set the goal</a> of enabling businesses to
provide high-speed wireless services to at least 98 percent of all Americans
within five years. The President’s initiative supported a large, one-time
investment in and reform of the FCC’s Universal Service Fund. </li>
<li>
<strong>Accelerating Broadband Infrastructure Deployment
</strong>(Executive Order 13616): On June 14, 2012, <a href="http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-06-20/pdf/2012-15183.pdf?utm_campaign=Newsletters&utm_source=sendgrid&utm_medium=email" title="Accelerating Broadband Infrastructure Deployment ">President Barack
Obama signed Executive Order 13616</a> which promotes broadband deployment in
Federal buildings and rights-of-way. The EO established and charged the
Broadband Deployment on Federal Property Working Group with ensuring a
coordinated approach in implementing agency procedures, requirements, and
policies related to these topics. The Working Group is composed of
representatives from 14 Federal agencies and offices that have either
significant Federal land ownership or management responsibilities or
expertise relevant to broadband infrastructure deployment on Federal lands
and buildings.(<a href="x-msg://30/#note-3">3</a>) The <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/broadband_eo_implementation.pdf?utm_campaign=Newsletters&utm_source=sendgrid&utm_medium=email" title="Implementing Executive Order 13616: Progress on Accelerating Broadband
Infrastructure Deployment">key accomplishments of the Working Group</a>
include: 1) Aggregating Data Sets on Federal Asset Locations, 2) Developing
General Services Administration (GSA) Common Forms and Templates, 3)
Developing an Online Platform for Common Applications and Forms, 4) Ensuring
Increased Accessibility and Usability of Federal Broadband Documentation, 5)
Establishing Dig Once Best Practices, 6) Improving Section 106 and National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Efficiency Measures, and 7) Increasing
Coordination with Tribal Nations for Permitting and Environmental Reviews.
</li>
<li>
<strong>ConnectED</strong>: In June 2013, <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/education/k-12/connected?utm_campaign=Newsletters&utm_source=sendgrid&utm_medium=email" title="ConnectED">President Obama called on the FCC to reform and modernize
its E-rate program</a> with the aim of bringing high-capacity broadband and
wireless connections to 99% of American by 2018. The <a href="https://www.benton.org/blog/year-review-bringing-big-broadband-better-education?utm_campaign=Newsletters&utm_source=sendgrid&utm_medium=email" title="A Year in Review: Bringing Big Broadband to Better Education">FCC
completed these reforms in 2014</a>.</li>
<li>
<strong>Net Neutrality</strong>: On November 10, 2014, <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/11/10/statement-president-net-neutrality?utm_campaign=Newsletters&utm_source=sendgrid&utm_medium=email" title="Statement by the President on Net Neutrality">President Obama asked
the FCC to “implement the strongest possible rules to protect net
neutrality.”</a> The President asked for “bright-line rules” that
include: 1) No blocking, 2) No throttling, 3) Increased transparency, and 4)
No paid prioritization. </li>
<li>
<strong>Calling to End Laws that Harm Broadband Service
Competition</strong>: On January 13, the President <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/01/13/fact-sheet-broadband-works-promoting-competition-local-choice-next-gener?utm_campaign=Newsletters&utm_source=sendgrid&utm_medium=email" title="Broadband That Works: Promoting Competition & Local Choice In
Next-Generation Connectivity">announced his opposition to measures that limit
the range of options available to communities to spur expanded local
broadband infrastructure, including ownership of networks</a>. As a first
step, the <a href="http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=60001013458&utm_campaign=Newsletters&utm_source=sendgrid&utm_medium=email" title="read the letter">Administration filed a letter</a> with the FCC urging
it to join this effort by addressing barriers inhibiting local communities
from responding to the broadband needs of their citizens. The President also
announced a June 2015 Community Broadband Summit of mayors and county
commissioners from around the nation who are joining this movement for
broadband solutions and economic revitalization.</li>
<li>
<strong>Removing Regulatory Barriers and Improving Investment
Incentives</strong>: Earlier this year, <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/01/13/fact-sheet-broadband-works-promoting-competition-local-choice-next-gener?utm_campaign=Newsletters&utm_source=sendgrid&utm_medium=email" title="Broadband That Works: Promoting Competition & Local Choice In
Next-Generation Connectivity">President Obama called for the Federal
Government to remove all unnecessary regulatory and policy barriers to
broadband build-out and competition, and established the Broadband
Opportunity Council</a> which includes over a dozen government agencies with
the singular goal of speeding up broadband deployment and promoting adoption
for our citizens. The Council will solicit public comment on unnecessary
regulatory barriers and opportunities to promote greater coordination with
the aim of addressing those within its scope. </li>
</ul><p><em>At the FCC</em></p>
<ul>
<li>
<strong>The <a href="http://transition.fcc.gov/national-broadband-plan/national-broadband-plan.pdf?utm_campaign=Newsletters&utm_source=sendgrid&utm_medium=email" title="read the plan">National Broadband Plan</a></strong>, released by the
FCC on March 17, 2010, sets out a roadmap for initiatives to stimulate
economic growth, spur job creation and boost America's capabilities in
education, health care, homeland security and more. The plan includes
sections focusing on economic opportunity, education, health care, energy and
the environment, government performance, civic engagement and public safety.
</li>
<li>
<strong>The FCC’s Connect America Fund</strong> has dispersed more
than $438 million which will bring new broadband service to rural areas in
the next several years. Phase II of the Connect America Fund will provide
nearly $9 billion to expand broadband to five million Americans living in
rural areas within the next five years.</li>
<li>
<strong>The Mobility Fund</strong> has made more than $300 million
available for one-time support to provide 3G or better mobile voice and
broadband services to areas where those services did not exist.</li>
<li>
<strong>E-rate Modernization</strong>: On December 11, 2014 the <a href="https://www.benton.org/blog/year-review-bringing-big-broadband-better-education?utm_campaign=Newsletters&utm_source=sendgrid&utm_medium=email" title="A Year in Review: Bringing Big Broadband to Better Education">FCC
approved additional E-rate funding for libraries and schools</a> to purchase
broadband connectivity capable of delivering gigabit service over the next
five years. The newest FCC rules raise the spending cap on the E-rate program
from the current $2.4 billion to $3.9 billion. </li>
<li>
<strong>Rural Broadband Experiments</strong> are testing how tailored
economic incentives can advance the deployment of next generation networks,
both wireline and wireless, in rural, high-cost areas, including Tribal
lands. The FCC has allocated $75 million for the construction of networks
capable of delivering 100 Mbps/25 Mbps, while requiring the funding
recipients offer at least one service plan that provides 25 Mbps/5 Mbps to
all locations within the selected census blocks. Another $25 million was
allocated for projects offering at least 10 Mbps/1 Mbps broadband service in
high-cost and extremely high-cost areas. </li>
<li>
<strong>Healthcare Connect Fund</strong>: Since July 13, 2013, healthcare
providers have been able to apply for funds from the Healthcare Connect Fund,
which supports the cost of broadband -- including new construction -- for
healthcare providers, with up to $400 million in support for the combined
rural healthcare universal service programs. As of November 30, 2014, a total
of $6,816,777 in funds were disbursed through the Healthcare Connect
Fund.</li>
<li>
<strong>Technology Transition Order</strong>: On January 14, 2014, the
FCC began the process for a diverse set of experiments and data collection
initiatives that will allow the Commission and the public to evaluate how
customers are affected by the historic technology transitions that are
transforming our nation’s voice communications services – from a network
based on TDM circuit-switched voice services running on copper loops to an
all-IP network using copper, co-axial cable, wireless, and fiber as physical
infrastructure. The Commission explained that “the type of experiments
described in this Order will accelerate broadband deployment and therefore
advances the goals of section 706.”</li>
<li>
<strong>Emerging Wireline Networks and Services Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking</strong> (NPRM): On November 21, 2014, the FCC adopted an NPRM to
strengthen its public safety, pro-consumer, and pro-competition policies and
protections as the nation transitions to an all-IP network using fiber and
other forms of physical infrastructure. The NPRM proposes and seeks comment
on steps to safeguard the public interest through these transitions. The
steps that the NPRM proposes would enhance consumer confidence in the safety
and reliability of IP-based technologies, thereby leading to increased demand
for -- and resulting deployment of -- advanced facilities and services.</li>
<li>
<strong>Lifeline Broadband Pilot Program</strong>: Throughout 2014, the
FCC has collected survey information from Lifeline subscribers under the
Lifeline Broadband Pilot Program. The survey results, which are expected in
2015, will assist the FCC in understanding the effects of varying subsidy
amounts, end-user charges, access to digital literacy training, usage
allowances, choices for broadband speed, access to equipment and other
important reasons consumers may not adopt broadband.</li>
<li>
<strong>Modernizing Form 477 Order</strong>: The FCC collects data about
broadband and voice connections from providers twice a year on Form 477. The
information is used to measure broadband deployment and telephone
competition. New Form 477 deployment data is being collected as required by
the Modernizing Form 477 Order, which revised the Form 477 data collection to
collect network broadband deployment data for both fixed and mobile
broadband. These reforms will improve future Broadband Progress Reports and
allow the FCC to “update … universal service policies and monitor whether
… statutory universal service goals are being achieved.” The FCC expects
that the revised data collection will improve its ability to identify
unserved areas and, in particular, may improve mobile and satellite
deployment estimates in the future.</li>
<li>
<strong>Open Internet</strong>: On February 26, the FCC will consider new
rules to protect and promote an open Internet. In 2014, the <a href="https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-327104A1.pdf?utm_campaign=Newsletters&utm_source=sendgrid&utm_medium=email" title="Press release">FCC proposed a series of rules</a> intended to preserve
and facilitate the virtuous cycle of innovation which drives demand for
Internet services and deployment of broadband infrastructure. The FCC stated
that absent such rules, broadband providers would have the incentive and
ability to interfere with the virtuous cycle, therefore inhibiting that
deployment.</li>
<li>
<strong>Municipal Broadband</strong>: Also on February 26, the FCC will
vote on a Memorandum Opinion and Order addressing petitions filed by two
municipal broadband providers asking that the Commission preempt provisions
of state laws in North Carolina and Tennessee that restrict the abilities of
communities to provide broadband service.</li>
</ul><p><em>At the Departments of Agriculture and Commerce</em></p>
<ul>
<li>
<strong>Broadband Initiatives Program</strong>: The American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act (also known as the stimulus) provided the U.S. Department of
Agriculture’s Rural Utility Service (RUS) with $2.5 billion to expand
access to broadband services in rural America. RUS leveraged its budget
authority appropriated by the Recovery Act to make grants, loans and
loan/grant combination awards. In <a href="http://www.rd.usda.gov/files/reports/RUS%20BIPStatus%20Report_Q4%202014.pdf?utm_campaign=Newsletters&utm_source=sendgrid&utm_medium=email" title="Broadband Initiatives Program Quarterly Report">total for the
broadband program</a>, over $2.33 billion in grants and $1.19 billion in
loans were made to 320 projects, totaling over $3.5 billion. Of those
original 320 projects, 297 were for infrastructure, 4 for satellite broadband
service support, and 19 for technical assistance, the majority of which went
to tribal communities. These projects reported deploying over 63,576 miles
of fiber and delivering new or improved broadband connections for more than a
quarter of a million households, community institutions, and public safety
providers.</li>
<li>
<strong>Unveiling New Grant and Loan Opportunities for Rural
Providers</strong>: RUS is accepting applications to its Community Connect
broadband grant program and will reopen a revamped broadband loan program,
which offers financing to eligible rural carriers that invest in bringing
high-speed broadband to unserved and underserved rural areas.</li>
<li>
<strong>Broadband Technology Opportunities Program</strong>: The Recovery
Act provided the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and
Information Administration with approximately $4.7 billion to increase
broadband access and adoption, including at public safety agencies. In 2009
and 2010, NTIA invested approximately $4 billion in 233 BTOP projects and
$293 million in 56 State Broadband Initiative (SBI) projects benefiting every
state, as well as five territories and the District of Columbia. <a href="http://www2.ntia.doc.gov/files/asr_final_report.pdf?utm_campaign=Newsletters&utm_source=sendgrid&utm_medium=email">As of December 31,
2013</a>, BTOP grantees were responsible for 109,137 miles of fiber
infrastructure (including new, upgraded, and leased miles) and had directly
connected 21,240 community anchor institutions. </li>
<li>
<strong>Announcing a New Initiative to Support Community Broadband
Projects</strong>: NTIA launched <a href="http://www2.ntia.doc.gov/?utm_campaign=Newsletters&utm_source=sendgrid&utm_medium=email">BroadbandUSA</a> to promote broadband
deployment and adoption. Building on expertise gained from overseeing BTOP,
BroadbandUSA will offer online and in-person technical assistance to
communities; host a series of regional workshops around the country; and
publish guides and tools that provide communities with proven solutions to
address problems in broadband infrastructure planning, financing,
construction, and operations across many types of business models.</li>
</ul><p><strong>III. Notice of Inquiry on Immediate Action to Accelerate Broadband
Deployment</strong></p><p>Included with the FCC’s Broadband Progress Report is a new Notice of
Inquiry seeking ways to remove barriers to infrastructure investment and
promote competition. In the NOI, the FCC seeks public comment on actions that
will accelerate the rate at which 25 Mbps/3 Mbps service is deployed. In
particular, the NOI seeks comment on the following:</p>
<ul>
<li>Coordinating federal support with other funding opportunities that,
collectively, could increase the availability of services that offer at least
25 Mbps/3 Mbps.</li>
<li>Improving coordination among federal agencies (similar to the earlier
Executive Order 13616, designed to allow easier access to public lands).</li>
<li>Exploring whether federal, state, and local efforts to increase broadband
can be better coordinated.</li>
</ul><p>The FCC is asking a couple of specific questions:</p>
<ul>
<li>Are there restrictions on the use of government funding that discourage
providers from entering the market?</li>
<li>Are there ways in which governmental efforts to promote broadband can
more effectively complement and boost private actions?</li>
</ul><p>The FCC is also required to promote competition in the telecommunications
market to increase and enhance broadband service. The Broadband Progress
Report notes evidence that competition does encourage other providers to
build-out or upgrade broadband services. For example, where Google Fiber has
built-out in certain cities, Comcast and other providers have responded. The
Broadband Progress Report also includes estimates on the number of
competitive choices at various speeds: 45% of households have only a single
provider option for fixed 25 Mbps/3 Mbps broadband services, and an
additional 16% are in areas without a single provider option for these
services -- leaving the majority of households with no choice for
high-capacity broadband. Chairman Wheeler said this week, “Where there is
no choice, the market cannot work. American families need to be able to shop
for affordable prices and faster speeds. The Commission is committed to
removing barriers to broadband investment and competition.” The FCC’s NOI
asks for comment on additional actions it can take to increase competition,
remove barriers to market entry or stimulate the offering of innovative
services. For example, are there efforts in addition to those we have taken
that would encourage providers to enter the market or expand their reach to
unserved or underserved areas, including Tribal lands?</p><p>The FCC also seeks comment on how to address the disparity in broadband
availability between Americans living in urban areas with those living in
rural areas and Tribal lands. This gap, the FCC notes, is, by itself, the
basis for a determination that broadband is not being deployed to all
Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion.</p><p>Finally, the FCC asks if there are additional actions it could take to
reduce the number of schools that lack high-capacity broadband. </p><p><strong>IV. Conclusion: Getting Americans the Broadband Capacity They Need
in the Time They Deserve</strong></p><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>
<div class="pull-quote pull-quote-left" style="width:200px;font-size:1.2em;padding:5px;margin:2px;font-family:Trebuchet MS,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;font-style:italic;border-top:1px solid black;border-bottom:1px solid black;">"To achieve affordable, abundant
bandwidth, our work in the trenches remains in front of us.”</div>
<br>
Blair Levin, the architect of the FCC’s 2010 National Broadband Plan, wrote
an <a href="http://recode.net/2015/02/10/no-broadband-champagne-yet/?utm_campaign=Newsletters&utm_source=sendgrid&utm_medium=email" title="No Broadband Champagne Yet">op-ed for Recode</a> this week cautioning
on exuberance over the net neutrality and municipal broadband victories
expected this month. <strong><em>Although not downplaying the significance of
either an open Internet or community networks</em></strong>, Levin says “a
sober analysis reveals they will not broadly stimulate upgrades or new
deployments. To achieve affordable, abundant bandwidth, our work in the
trenches remains in front of us.”
<p>As <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/01/29/weekly-address-out-innovating-out-educating-out-building-our-competitors?utm_campaign=Newsletters&utm_source=sendgrid&utm_medium=email" title="Out-Innovating, Out-Educating & Out-Building Our
Competitors">President Obama has stressed for sometime</a>, if we are to win
the future, if we want to out-educate, out-innovate, and out-compete the
world in a technology we invented, it will take hard work, and tough choices.
There are no silver bullets or single efforts that can get us there on their
own. It will take pragmatic policy choices and sustained policy attention in
a variety of areas -- from new policies around lowering barriers to pole
attachments, deployment of fiber, improved access to programming, access to
spectrum, a vigorous competition policy agenda, and policies that continue to
enable innovation in the content and services that broadband can deliver and
that can transform the way we work, the way we live, and the way we learn.
Ultimately, that is the challenge that is before us. And the reason that
Congress gave us Section 706 in the first place. </p>
<hr>
<strong><em>Notes</em></strong><br><a name="note-1"></a>
<ol>
<li>Section 706 is a provision adopted in the Telecommunications Act of 1996
and, in 2008, Congress augmented Section 706 when it passed the Broadband
Data Improvement Act (BDIA). In that Act, Congress required the FCC to issue
its section 706(b) reports annually, rather than “regularly.” Congress
also amended Section 706(b) by requiring that the FCC provide demographic
information for unserved areas and an international comparison in its annual
Report. The revisions to the statutory directive were based on Congress’s
finding that the deployment and adoption of broadband “has resulted in
enhanced economic development and public safety for communities across the
Nation, improved health care and educational opportunities, and a better
quality of life for all Americans.” Congress also recognized that continued
efforts were necessary so that “our Nation remains competitive and
continues to create business and job growth.”</li><p><a name="note-2"></a></p>
<li>Section 706(b) requires the FCC to “initiate a notice of inquiry
concerning the availability of advanced telecommunications capability to all
Americans (including, in particular, elementary and secondary schools and
classrooms).” In conducting this inquiry, the FCC must “determine whether
advanced telecommunications capability is being deployed to all Americans in
a reasonable and timely fashion.” For a service to be considered advanced
(thanks for asking), it must enable Americans “to originate and receive
high-quality voice, data, graphics, and video telecommunications.”</li><p><a name="note-3"></a></p>
<li>The Working Group members include: Department of Defense, Department of
the Interior, United States Department of Agriculture, Department of
Commerce, Department of Transportation, Department of Veteran Affairs, United
States Postal Service, Federal Communications Commission, Council on
Environmental Quality, Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, National
Security Staff, General Services Administration, Department of Homeland
Security, and the Executive Office of the President. These members have
property management or transportation funding responsibilities and serve on
the Working Group because of their broadband or other related expertise.</li>
</ol>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><div>---------------------------------------------------------</div><div>Richard Lowenberg, Executive Director</div><div>1st-Mile Institute <a href="http://www.1st-mile.org">www.1st-mile.org</a> </div><div>P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504</div><div>505-603-5200 <a href="mailto:rl@1st-mile.org">rl@1st-mile.org</a></div><div>---------------------------------------------------------</div></div><div><br></div></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
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