Industry Scrutinizing Maine's Broadband Definition

The Telecommunications Association of Maine challenged criteria and assumptions used by a state agency to support defining broadband as 100 Mbps symmetrical. The ConnectMaine Authority held a Zoom virtual hearing Monday and seeks comment by Oct. 14 on changes to state broadband rules, including also defining unserved as an area lacking 50/10 Mbps. Maine previously used 25/3 Mbps for unserved and for broadband. Zoom requires 4 Mbps symmetrical for a meeting of about 50 people, so if everyone in a five-person family was doing that simultaneously it would require 20/20 Mbps, said TAM Executive Director Ben Sanborn. “How do we get to that 100/100 from that point?” he asked: TAM wants “a little more transparency as to how you got there, as opposed to [you] just kind of picked a number, because that is arbitrary and capricious.” The authority adopted the definition in June, said ConnectMaine Director Peggy Schaffer. Sanborn replied, “Yes, without rationale.”