Rep. Stearns ‘perplexed’ by FCC’s broadband report

Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), ranking member of the House Communications Subcommittee, raised concerns about a pending report from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that is expected to argue that broadband is not being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely way.

“I am perplexed by the FCC report’s conclusion,” Stearns said in a statement on Tuesday. “According to the FCC’s own analysis in the broadband plan, approximately 95 percent of the country has access to broadband and two-thirds subscribe. Almost 200 million people have signed up in the last 10 years.”

He said these numbers show that “the private sector has made extraordinary progress, particularly in light of our country’s size, geographic diversity, and variations in population density.”

The FCC’s “706” report to Congress, expected this week, would be the first since 1999 to come to the conclusion that broadband is not being deployed to all in a timely and reasonable way. Broadband service providers worry that the FCC could use the negative report as evidence that Internet service providers must be further regulated.

But those who support the FCC’s conclusion point out that broadband data has become more granular and the FCC’s expectations for broadband speeds have risen. A senior FCC official told The Hill on Monday that the report is meant to address whether “all” Americans are getting broadband access in a timely way — a question the official said is an obvious “no” in light of the millions of Americans who remain without access.

Stearns acknowledged those Americans in his comment.

“It is true that a very small portion of the country may be uneconomic to serve, which is why I am willing to discuss reforming the Universal Service Fund to target subsidies to unserved areas,” he said. “That does not mean, however, that advanced telecommunications capability is not being deployed in a reasonably and timely fashion.”

Democrats and Republicans are often split over whether the state of American broadband access is satisfactory.

Republicans, including two commissioners at the FCC, routinely point to the figure of 95 percent, which is the share of the country that has access to broadband. The Republican commissioners are expected to dissent from the report’s findings.

But Democrats, who have three votes at the FCC, draw attention to the 14 million to 24 million Americans who remain without access.

U.S. Telecom, the association for broadband providers, also questioned the report, issuing a Monday statement from chief executive Walter McCormick. A poor broadband report would “strain credulity,” he said. “Clearly, our country is in the middle of a broadband explosion.”

Public Knowledge, a consumer activist group, came to the defense of the report on Monday. Gigi Sohn, PK’s president, said the FCC’s findings are “realistic.”

“Until now, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has issued reports finding the state of broadband was acceptable, even as other nations were passing us by,” she said.