‘Opportunity for All Requires Broadband for All,’ Says FCC Chief

Access to broadband Internet is critical to “full and fair participation” in society and the economy, and not having access to it is comparable with not having had access to broadcast TV in the 1960s, said FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler in the United Church of Christ’s 32nd Annual Everett C. Parker Ethics in Telecommunications Lecture Tuesday. The lecture is named for the UCC Office of Communication founder, who successfully battled with the FCC to increase access to the broadcasting industry for African Americans.

Wheeler said the U.S. needs to step up broadband deployment, improve infrastructure through the IP transition and preserve a diversity of viewpoints through net neutrality rules to improve access to broadband. “In 2014, opportunity for all requires broadband for all,” Wheeler said.

U.S. communication networks should be improved to increase broadband access and speed, Wheeler said. “Table stakes for the 21st century is 25 Mbps.” Wheeler is likely focusing on that speed to establish it as a benchmark for broadband, said Free State Foundation President Randolph May. “That seems a bridge too far,” May said. “A lot of people don’t want or need a connection at that speed."

Wheeler also said broadband deployment needs to be improved to address those who had no access to broadband at home. “Where greater competition can exist, we will incent it. And where competition cannot exist, we will take on the responsibility of promoting broadband deployment,” he said. UCC Policy Adviser Cheryl Leanza praised Wheeler for acknowledging those who have no broadband access along with those who have slower Internet speeds.

On the IP transition, Wheeler said the principles companies abide by don’t change with technology. Wheeler also cited the IP transition in a recent speech at the Comptel convention (CD Oct 7 p4), and may be making an effort to bring attention back to it, said Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld. Though large deals, net neutrality and the incentive auction have recently overshadowed the IP transition, Wheeler is trying to “queue it up” and make it clear that the transition “won’t be a vehicle for deregulation,” Feld said. Wheeler’s speech also linked the “network compact” he has spoken of in connection with the IP transition to net neutrality, Feld said. TechFreedom President Berin Szoka said that a common thread between both issues is that FCC legal authority to regulate them “is becoming increasingly divorced from the issues it faces.” In both areas, the FCC “continues trying to cobble together an ersatz legal framework from outdated laws,” he said.

Open Internet rules need to protect free expression and economic opportunity, Wheeler said. “Networks have always been the backbone of economic expansion, but what is new this time is that an open Internet allows innovative economic activity to reach scope and scale at an unprecedented rate.” Leanza praised Wheeler for focusing on freedom of expression, but said rules “based on the strongest foundation possible” would be necessary to provide the guarantees he mentioned.

Although Wheeler compared the need for the open Internet with the struggle for diversity in broadcasting, he also said broadband has made it so “facilities ownership is less critical to diverse voices than ever before.” Though Wheeler said he would continue to push for broadcast ownership diversity, he said in the “Internet Age,” industry needs to “exploit our new networks for ownership diversity and content diversity.”