FCC Commissioners Divided on Broadband Deployment Report

Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks criticized the FCC releasing its annual broadband deployment report Tuesday, the day before a new administration entered the White House. Rosenworcel said that it "confounds logic" to say that broadband is being deployed to "all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion," citing the continued disparity for students participating in remote learning. The Telecom Act Section 706 report concluded that using a long-term goal for broadband connectivity of 1 Gbps per 1,000 students and staff was no longer a meaningful measure of progress because 99% of school districts met its short-term goal of 100 Mbps per 1,000 people. Starks said "patting ourselves on the back is particularly unseemly" and Chairman Ajit Pai's refusal to withdraw the document based on its not having legal significance is "plainly inconsistent" with the Telecom Act. Starks said the determination should have been left to the Biden administration. The agency found 3-2 that advanced telecom capability is being deployed on a reasonable and timely basis "based on compelling evidence." The gap between urban and rural Americans with access to 25/3 Mbps fixed broadband service fell to 16 percentage points at the end of 2019, and mobile providers offered 5G to nearly 60% of the population. The commission found a decrease of more than 20% in Americans without access to 25/3 Mbps. "These successes resulted from forward-thinking policies that removed barriers to infrastructure investment and promoted competition and innovation," Pai said in his last full day as FCC chief. Commissioner Brendan Carr said that the report "confirms that our efforts have enabled the private sector to build out high-speed internet infrastructure at an unprecedented pace." Commissioner Nathan Simington didn't issue a statement.