[RTC List] National Broadband Policy discussion

[Sean McLaughlin]

Aloha Folks -

Don't hold your breath, but here's a report on the U.S. Senate hearing 
yesterday by Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship that 
offers some perspective for our State's Broadband Task Force efforts.

____________________________________________
 
Where is Our National Broadband, Senate Asks
ARTICLE DATE:  09.26.07 PCMAG.com
By  Chloe Albanesius

Two Democratic FCC commissioners on Wednesday called for a national  
broadband summit to discuss the U.S. high-speed Internet penetration  
rate, blaming its slow rollout on a lack of cohesive data and a  
reliance on marketplace conditions rather than government-sponsored  
initiatives.

"The mindset that we have ... to work under [at the FCC] is 'don't  
worry about it, the marketplace will take care of this,'" said FCC  
Commissioner Michael Copps. "While we all revere the marketplace,  
there are some things that cannot get done by themselves."

"We have consolidation, lack of competition, ... prices are shooting  
up, there are no alternatives for small businesses," said  
Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein. "One way to start is a summit on  
broadband" that would include the public and private sectors,  
Congress, the executive branch, agencies like the FCC, he said.

Copps and Adelstein appeared before the Senate Small Business  
Committee to discuss how improved Internet access would help small  
businesses. It was convened by Committee Chairman John Kerry, D- 
Mass., who slammed the White House for not following through on its  
2004 pledge to have universal broadband by the end of 2007. "You need  
tax credits, you need grants, you need the universal service fund,"  
Adelstein said. "You need the FCC to promote incentive policies and  
opportunities to invest."

President Bush "has yet to put policies in place that will realize  
this goal," Kerry said.

White House support is of utmost importance, Copps said. "I think a  
speech from on high saying that this is the infrastructure challenge  
of the 21st century," he said. "A goal is always welcome, but it has  
to be accompanied by a strategy and informed tactics."

One of those tactics should be a different regulatory strategy,  
according to the commissioners. The current regulatory structure is  
written for a telecom industry ruled by competing Bell telephone  
companies, a scenario that no longer exists, Copps said.

A major roadblock to a comprehensive overhaul is lack of usable data.  
"Our current efforts are woefully out-of-date and out-of-whack,"  
Copps said. "We need a more credible definition of speed [than the  
current 200 kilobits per second for broadband] and more granular  
measures of deployment, as well as to start gathering data on price  
and the experience of other nations."

Current FCC broadband maps are "a disgrace," Adelstein said.

He pointed to a small business owner in Chicago who recently mapped  
the city's broadband coverage using publicly available data providers  
have on their Web sites. If he can create these maps, "why can't the  
federal government do it?" Adelstein asked.

Adelstein said FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, who was not present, "is  
committed to ensuring we get better data."

Data collection and broadband rollout has had some success at the  
state level with programs like ConnectKentucky and ConnectMaine.  
Copps acknowledged that the government has probably "federalized too  
much" in the telecom industry and "taken away authority from the  
states."

Nonetheless, the federal government should be able to handle data  
collection, he said. "Getting nationwide data on broadband is a  
perfectly legitimate exercise for the FCC," Copps said. "It's  
something we should have done a long time ago."

Adelstein praised cities like Fort Wayne, Ind. for their broadband  
efforts, "but what does that mean for Gary or South Bend?" he asked.  
"Can't we have ConnectAmerica?"

Sen. Kerry and the committee's ranking Republican, Olympia Snowe of  
Maine, voiced support for the broadband summit.

"Each branch of government has to understand exactly what it's going  
to require through timelines and benchmarks," Snowe said. "There  
should be a national broadband strategy."

Kerry echoed that sentiment in a recent blog post (http:// 
www.savetheinternet.com/blog/?p=218 <http://www.savetheinternet.com/blog/?p=218>) on FreePress.org.

Kerry also expressed an interest in calling the two Republican FCC  
commissioners and Chairman Martin before his panel to discuss the  
topic. An inquiry to Kerry's press office as to whether they had not  
been invited or simply could not attend Wednesday's hearing was not  
answered by press time. 

____________________________________________



Sean McLaughlin
Executive Director
Access Humboldt
P.O. Box 157, Eureka, CA 95502
tel: 707-476-1798
dir: 707-476-2873
fax: 707-476-1702
cel: 707-616-2381
e: seanm at accesshumboldt.net <mailto:seanm at accesshumboldt.net>
web:  accesshumboldt.net

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