Broadband Adoption Trends Challenged

WASHINGTON--As Congress and the Federal Communications Commission tackle some serious issues regarding broadband regulation, some policymakers wonder whether they're working with accurate information.

The question came up after a report this week on the progress of broadband deployment. The FCC's Wireline Competition Bureau (WCB) shows steady broadband expansion. But the FCC may face a bigger job in promoting broadband access than it anticipates, suggests Commissioner Michael Copps, who questions some of the report's methodology.

Data Questioned

The WCB needs to tweak the way it calculates geographical development, Copps suggests. Currently, an ISP need only have one customer in a zip code to be regarded as servicing that zip code.

"Finding one high-speed subscriber in a zip code and counting it as service available throughout is not a credible way to proceed," Copps said. "We must dig deeper."

Copps also questions whether the WCB's definition of broadband as transactions of 200 kilobits per second in one direction is appropriate or too generous.

"I mentioned the 200-kilobit figure that we use to someone the other day, and the response I got was: 'How 1997,'" Copps said at the WCB's presentation before the FCC Wednesday.

Still, the WCB says broadband is being installed widely, especially in rural areas. It reports that 16 percent of homes in America had high-speed Internet connections at the end of 2002, compared with 2 percent in 1999. The growth was evenly distributed, according to the WCB. Many of the nation's most rural states--especially South Dakota, Kentucky, and North Carolina--maintain broadband rates at or above the national average.

The AEA (formerly the American Electronics Association) used some of the FCC's data in a broadband adoption status report this spring.

Category Uncertain

While agreeing that the report is incomplete, Copps's fellow commissioners say they feel the data can help the commission formulate regulatory policy. The other members are Michael Powell, who chairs the FCC, and Kevin Martin.

"Better data is needed," Powell said after Copps made his statement. "But the data we have is still valuable."

Congress hopes so. Lawmakers are waiting for the FCC to issue a pending Triennial Review Order that will dictate whether broadband is classified as an information service or as a telecommunications service. In turn, that designation will determine how the industry is regulated.

Legislators have been waiting since last February, when the FCC decided against broad general deregulation.

The tension between the two bodies may not slacken anytime soon. Copps believes that the FCC has a great deal of work ahead of it if it intends to meet its goal of quickening the spread of broadband--especially if the commission has reason to doubt its own research.

"I question how this commission can even consider far-reaching deregulatory action with respect to broadband without up-to-date data," Copps said.