WASHINGTON D.C. — Today, the Federal Communications Commission voted to remove barriers to broadband by closing two dockets and opening two more, all focused on broadband infrastructure deployment.
The Commission voted on two items. First, an Order on Reconsideration will allow providers to fully recover their investment in deploying broadband to high-cost rural areas from the Connect America Fund. Second, a Report and Order will remove certain legacy price regulation on business data services (BDS) (wholesale broadband for businesses) in areas with sufficient competition, while maintaining vital regulations in areas lacking competition in order to protect small businesses and other customers.
The Commission also voted to open two new dockets on infrastructure deployment that will inform the work of the FCC’s new Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee. The wireless infrastructure NPRM will take comment on barriers to deployment of wireless broadband, especially 5G, which requires hugely larger numbers of small cell antennas. The wireline infrastructure item proposes multiple steps to remove bureaucratic obstacles to new broadband infrastructure at all levels of government and assist in the transition from legacy copper networks to fiber, while inquiring about further steps the FCC can take to ease deployment.
“Barriers to broadband deployment exist at every level of government,” said TechFreedom President Berin Szoka. “Building next-gen networks requires access to poles, ducts, rights-of-way, and other government-owned assets, which means dealing with cumbersome local approval processes and paying often exorbitant fees. For the past eight years, the FCC lamented a lack of competition and deployment, but did little about the underlying problem of dealing with local governments. Wheeler and especially Commissioner Rosenworcel deserve credit for the 2014 wireless infrastructure order — one of few major items to earn bipartisan support — but the Wheeler FCC did not address fees at all or red tape for wireline deployment, and dragged its feet on the IP Transition. With today’s inquiries, Pai is finally following up on these and other deployment barriers identified by the 2010 National Broadband Plan.”
“Removing price controls on business data services will encourage investment in the broadband used by businesses large and small across America, from shopping malls to office parks, and mom-and-pops,” continued Szóka. “Pai is returning to the approach started under Democrat Bill Kennard, President Clinton’s second FCC Chairman: encouraging deployment of competing networks instead of imposing price controls on wholesalers under the assumption that more deployment won’t happen anyway. The cost of wiring every building might seem prohibitive in some business districts, but 5G service will make new competition possible by bypassing the internal wiring problem with multi-gigabit wireless. Today’s vote will accelerate deployment of both 5G technology and more fiber.”
“Pai has also begun fixing the FCC’s convoluted program for subsidizing broadband deployment,” concluded Szóka. “Wheeler’s reforms to the Connect America Fund had the unintended effect of leaving high-cost areas stranded without broadband access. Today’s bipartisan vote fixes that rule, ensuring that broadband carriers don’t get penalized for trying to deploy to the most remote, hard-to-connect parts of America.”
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We can be reached for comment at [email protected]. See our other work on broadband infrastructure:
Our statement on the previous FCC’s BDS price regulation proposal
Tech Policy Podcast #99: Controlling the Price of Business Broadband
Our letter in support of Dig Once and other broadband deployment policies
About TechFreedom:
TechFreedom is a non-profit, non-partisan technology policy think tank. We work to chart a path forward for policymakers towards a bright future where technology enhances freedom, and freedom enhances technology.
‘Dig Once’ & Rights of Way Key to 21st Century Broadband
WASHINGTON, DC — Today, TechFreedom led a coalition letter joined by ITIF, R Street, and the Niskanen Center in support of ‘Dig Once’ and other policies that would make it easier to deploy broadband along federally funded highways. The House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology held a hearing today on this topic, including draft legislation first proposed by Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Greg Walden (R-OR) in 2015 that would require installing a conduit during construction of a federally-funded highway or road in an area that needs more broadband.
From the letter:
“Dig Once” conduits are as basic and uncontroversial as tech-related legislation gets. There is no reason why governments should dig up roads without installing broadband conduit for a miniscule fraction of the total cost of the dig. Failure to implement Dig Once means more construction, more disruption, and much higher costs for private providers — who may simply decide not to deploy in an area where the economics don’t work. The tiny cost of installing conduit (about 1% in added costs) pales in comparison to the taxpayer burden of unnecessary digs, traffic congestion, and the opportunity cost of not having high-speed networks that both help support public services and grow the economy.
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“Dig Once” is only part of the solution. The overall goal should be to make better use of federal and state rights of way for broadband deployment. Dig Once should not be limited to conduits installed under hard surfaces (like asphalt); it may be more useful and cheaper to install conduits in the rights of way alongside highways in the course of a road project. The rationale underlying Dig Once — it makes sense to coordinate among multiple users, and accommodating potential future users in a single conduit — also applies to publicly owned rights of way: it also makes sense to coordinate multiple parties when they want to put up new poles, or use existing poles, or to use currently “dumb” infrastructure like highway lamps to support new antennas.
“There is no silver bullet for deployment challenges,” said Tom Struble, TechFreedom Policy Counsel. “Promoting deployment requires coordination at all levels of government, and rural Kansas will always pose different obstacles than the hilly streets of San Francisco. Nonetheless, bills like the draft put forward by Rep. Eshoo, and Sen. John Thune’s MOBILE NOW Act, seek to create the right framework for boosting deployment by making smarter use of public assets and requiring states to play an active role in coordinating broadband infrastructure deployment on government lands.”
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We can be reached for comment at [email protected]. See our other work on promoting broadband deployment, including:
Our blog post on FCC Chair Ajit Pai’s proposed “Gigabit Opportunity Zones”
Roadmap by which governments at all levels can promote broadband deployment
How Data Can Help Broadband Deployment, Bridge Digital Divide
Economic Analysis Is Crucial to Shaping an Effective Digital Empowerment Agenda
WASHINGTON — Yesterday, TechFreedom outlined a research agenda on the state of American broadband deployment and what government at all levels can do — and stop doing — to help bridge the digital divide in the most cost-effective way. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the National Science Foundation had asked for public input in shaping their National Broadband Research Agenda.
The comments filed to NTIA and NSF recommend that any broadband research teams supported by NTIA and NSF must include an economist, and that all research should be framed in economic terms. The filing includes this caution:
The problem is not data collection, but analysis. Simply collecting more or even significantly higher-quality data will do little to ensure that American broadband policy actually serves consumers. The FCC — under both Democratic and Republican Chairmen — has become so accustomed to manipulating data to suit a preconceived outcome that it will be difficult to break the agency of this habit. The NSF simply cannot assume that the research it supports will speak for itself or that the FCC can be relied upon to do additional research based on NTIA’s underlying research. Instead, any research funded under this grant should be framed in economic terms.
“NTIA and NSF have a golden opportunity to fill the analytical vacuum at the FCC,” said Berin Szóka, President of TechFreedom. “The agency has become so politicized over the last decade, shamelessly contorting data to justify its regulatory agenda. Even worse, the FCC has conjured a false choice between an imperfect (but, actually, always-improving) status quo and government-run fiber. Private providers are continually investing tens of billions of dollars in iterative upgrades, pushing fiber deeper into their network and squeezing more speeds out of the ever-shrinking loop between the home and the fiber network. Despite that, the FCC insists that only the costliest option — fiber-to-the-home service — is ‘future-proof,’ and taxpayers should foot the bill.”
“There are a range of things government can do to make upgrades cheaper and clear the way for new entrants,” continued Szóka. “Much of that is common sense: cutting red tape, lowering fees, and the like. It may also mean investing in fiber-ready infrastructure, like Dig Once conduits, as public-private partnerships. But before government starts throwing money at the problem, we need more careful analysis about what makes deployment expensive and how to get the biggest broadband bang for the taxpayer’s buck.”
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We can be reached for comment at [email protected]. See our other work on broadband deployment, including:
Comments on the FCC’s 2016 evaluation of broadband deployment
Our letter to the House Energy and Commerce Committee on how to best encourage broadband deployment.
Op-ed in Wired: “Don’t Blame Big Cable. It’s Local Governments that Choke Broadband Competition
Our statement on the FCC’s plan to remove barriers to the deployment of new wireless infrastructure
Tech Policy Podcast #119: FCC Loses on Government Broadband
Other Reforms Would Ease Broadband Deployment, Bridge Digital Divide
WASHINGTON — Today, Ajit Pai, a Republican Commissioner for the Federal Communications Commission, laid out a broad “Digital Empowerment Agenda” — specific measures Congress, the FCC, and state and local governments could take to help bridge the digital divide.
Pai proposed suggesting “Gigabit Opportunity Zones” in low-income communities willing to make broadband deployment easy, where Congress would offer tax incentives and credits to support private fiber deployment. Pai invoked the concept of Enterprise Zones first championed by Congressman Jack Kemp (R-NY) in 1980, and later when he was Housing and Urban Development Secretary, to drive investment in America’s inner cities.
Pai also highlighted the challenges of deploying broadband in rural areas, urging (i) the FCC to take an active role in preempting local and state barriers to deployment, while also developing recommended best practices; (ii) Congress to give the FCC authority over the rates charged by state and local governments for access to rights of way, and (iii) Congress to make it easier to deploy broadband infrastructure on Federal land and along interstate highways.
“This speech is a breath of fresh air,” said Berin Szóka, President of TechFreedom. “For the last six years, the FCC has cynically invoked inadequate broadband deployment as a pretext for pushing its preconceived regulatory agenda — while doing next to nothing to make broadband deployment easier. The right question has never been whether the FCC should act, but whether it’s focused on the right goals and is acting within its legal authority. At last, Commissioner Pai has set forth a bold vision for what an active FCC can do with its existing legal authority — and why it needs additional, narrow authority from Congress — to ensure that all Americans can join in the Digital Revolution. Under a better FCC, this kind of speech wouldn’t be so extraordinary — it would be routine.”
“We’re delighted that Commissioner Pai has embraced TechFreedom’s proposal for a Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee,” said Tom Struble, Policy Counsel at TechFreedom. “We’ve urged the FCC to convene technical experts, broadband providers, state and local government officials with direct responsibility for infrastructure, and other stakeholders to study barriers to broadband deployment and propose best practices to remove them. We’re thrilled that Commissioner Pai has taken up this call. Developing a model code for how to ease broadband deployment is one of the most valuable things the FCC could do, and the agency doesn’t need to wait for Congress to do it. Of course, we would’ve preferred that the Commission start this work years ago — particularly once Google Fiber started bringing these questions to the fore — but, having failed to do so, its effort now is commendable. There’s no time like the present to ensure a better broadband future for all.”
“Perhaps most refreshing of all is that Pai didn’t just focus on gigabit, fiber-to-the-home service,” concluded Szóka. “Gigabit Opportunity Zones are absolutely worth trying in cities dense enough to make fiber-to-the-home deployment worth subsidizing. But there will never be a single, technological solution for connecting the entire country. In some low-income areas, subsidies would be better directed at pushing fiber closer to the home, and relying on evolving technologies like VDSL2 (25–75 Mbps), G.Fast (150–1,000 Mbps) or high-speed wireless to close the divide. That’s especially true in rural and tribal America, where low population density makes last-mile upgrades prohibitively expensive. Many low-income people live in small towns too remote to have a fiber connection between the town and the rest of the Internet. For them, the problem is the ‘middle mile,’ and bridging that divide means easing deployment across real-world bridges and highways. Chairman Wheeler’s fixation on gigabit service has distracted from these very real problems.”
Read Pai’s speech, delivered today in Cincinnati, and a summary of his Digital Empowerment Agenda.
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We can be reached for comment at [email protected]. See our other work on broadband deployment, including:
Comments on the FCC’s 2016 evaluation of broadband deployment
Comments on the FCC’s 2015 evaluation of broadband deployment
Our letter to the House Energy and Commerce Committee on how to best encourage broadband deployment.
Op-ed in Wired: “Don’t Blame Big Cable. It’s Local Governments that Choke Broadband Competition
Our statement on the FCC’s plan to remove barriers to the deployment of new wireless infrastructure
Tech Policy Podcast #119: FCC Loses on Government Broadband
Current Process Creates Vicious Cycle of Regulation
WASHINGTON — Yesterday, TechFreedom filed comments in the Federal Communications Commission’s annual “broadband assessment.” The outcome is all but predetermined, as the agency will, as per its routine, issue a negative finding on the state of broadband in America in order to justify more regulation. The comments urge the FCC to rethink the methodology behind its annual assessment of the state of broadband deployment and focus on advocating policies at the federal, state and local levels that will actually make deployment easier.
The filing states:
We know how this story will end. The FCC is simply using the annual 706(b) proceeding as a self-fulfilling prophecy: a way of justifying its relentless drive to increase regulation of the Internet, which in turn depresses investment, thereby justifying yet more regulation — the perfect vicious cycle. With this year’s proceeding, the outcome is a foregone conclusion. Once again, the FCC will assess the state of U.S. broadband deployment, find it lacking, and use this finding to justify yet more broadband regulations. ….
The FCC has thoroughly embarrassed itself in the way it has conducted these inquiries since 2010 — or at least, it would have, if the agency had any shame left. We seriously doubt that. The FCC has wrapped itself in the mantle of better broadband and higher speeds — as if merely raising speed thresholds in the FCC’s definitions actually raised speeds for users. It’s “Let them eat cake!” meets broadband meets blatant statistical manipulation.
“The annual 706 inquiry has become a complete farce,” lamented TechFreedom President Berin Szóka. “Last year, the FCC inflated its definition of broadband from 10 Mbps downstream to 25 Mbps — claiming consumers needed that to engage in two simultaneous HD streams of movies, television or online education. Assuming those streams actually required 5 Mbps, as the FCC claimed, that might justify a 12 Mbps definition. But the agency itself elsewhere recommends 4 Mbps, and even on Google Fiber, Netflix streams at an average of just 3.6 Mbps. Strip away the FCC’s childishly poor math and inflated speed estimates, and all that’s left is the agency’s preposterous claim that we should measure the adequacy of broadband deployment today by Americans’ ability to stream 4K video… whenever that becomes a thing. But a mere 15% of American households even own a 4K television, and precious little content is available for streaming — less than 0.5% of Netflix’s catalog.”
“And now, with breath-taking gall, the FCC asks if it should raise its 25 Mbps threshold again or supplement it with a ‘forward-looking’ measure,” continued Szóka. “Even the FCC seems to know its speed threshold doesn’t seem like a plausible metric of success, which is why it’s now shifting to other technical aspects of service — so it can continue making negative findings forever, and use those to justify still more regulation.”
“The FCC has been so blindly fixated on gigabit fiber-to-the-home that it has willfully ignored the deployment of next-generation VDSL2 service across most of America,” concluded Szóka. “Telcos have invested billions to push fiber deeper into their networks. But instead of going all the way to the home, they’ve squeezed 25+ Mbps speeds out of twisted copper pairs in the last mile using VDSL2 technology. That iterative upgrade path means huge cost savings — and thus more affordable service. But the FCC just isn’t interested in such real-world tradeoffs. If it were, it would be doing what Congress expected: using its expertise to study how deployment of telcos, cable, fiber and wireless could be made easier at all levels of government.”
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We can be reached for comment at [email protected]. See our other work on broadband deployment, including:
Our statement on the FCC’s recent court loss on muni broadband
Our statement on the FCC’s plan to remove barriers to the deployment of new wireless infrastructure
An infographic explaining the benefits of Dig Once policies in aiding broadband deployment
WASHINGTON D.C. — Today, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the FCC’s 2015 order preempting state laws and dictating how municipalities make decisions with regard to government-run broadband networks. TechFreedom filed an amicus brief in the case.
“It took enormous chutzpah for the FCC to try to preempt state broadband laws, so this is a well-deserved rebuke for an agency run amuck,” said Berin Szóka, President of TechFreedom. “It should have been obvious that the FCC would lose, since the Supreme Court rejected the idea that the FCC could preempt such laws over a decade ago — under far clearer statutory language. The court shredded the FCC’s claim that, while it could not require states to allow muni broadband, it could regulate the conditions under which they governed the networks that cities were allowed to build. This was Federalism 101: the FCC was unconstitutionally interfering with the division of power between state legislatures and municipalities by doing so without a ‘clear statement’ of authorization from Congress.”
“This litigation has been a costly distraction from the real issue: how to make broadband deployment easier across the board,” continued Szóka. “The FCC talks a big game about broadband competition, but has been playing political games for years. The agency is less interested in actual progress than in making headlines and stoking a small fringe of activists who prefer government-run networks over private provision of broadband for ideological reasons. The greatest irony here is that the real barriers to deployment come from local governments themselves. And this is where the FCC could actually help: identifying and suggesting ways to cut red tape, lower fees, and build smarter infrastructure that can facilitate deployment. Such reforms would encourage both upgrades from incumbents and new entry from companies like Google Fiber. But in the end, government-run broadband should be a last resort, not a go-to solution.”
“Unfortunately, the court did not need to reach the $966 billion question: Is Section 706 really a grant of authority?,” concluded Szóka, who led an amicus brief in the case focused on this question. “If it is, the FCC has carte blanche to regulate not just broadband but any form of communications—the entire Internet economy—in any way that the FCC can claim, however tenuously, somehow promotes broadband and that isn’t prohibited by law. That’s an absurd claim, yet one that two other appeals courts have accepted under the blindly deferential standard of Chevron review. It’s not surprising that the Sixth Circuit didn’t address this, since the Federalism argument here was so easy and courts aren’t supposed to address questions not necessary to their holding. But that leaves the Internet in grave danger of even greater FCC overreach in the future. It could be years before the courts finally address this question, so Congress must act to rein in the agency.”
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We can be reached for comment at [email protected]. See more of our work on municipal broadband, including:
Amicus brief filed by TechFreedom, the International Center for Law & Economics, the Competitive Enterprise Institute and law and economics scholars
Berin’s post on why the FCC should lose on muni broadband preemption
Berin’s blog post on likely outcomes of the case
Tech Policy Podcast #21: Broadband Deployment in America with FCC Comm’r Ajit Pai
Our statement on reply comments opposing any attempt by the FCC to preempt state restrictions on municipal broadband expansion
FCC Paves Way for 5G, Cutting Red Tape for Small Cells and DAS
WASHINGTON D.C. — Yesterday, the FCC announced that it would move forward with a plan to remove barriers to deployment of the new infrastructure needed to provide 5G wireless service, which requires more, smaller antennae than the large towers used to provide 4G and traditional mobile services. The FCC’s agreement with the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACPH) and National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers (NCSHPO) will eliminate the costly and time-consuming historic preservation review process for small cells, distributed antennae systems (DAS), and other small networking equipment that pose no adverse impact to historic sites and locations.
“Wireless providers already face a staggering backlog in getting permission from local governments for building and upgrading 4G towers. That process has to be simplified for Americans to enjoy faster 5G service,” said Tom Struble, Policy Counsel at TechFreedom. “The historic and environmental review processes for assessing the impact of proposed sitings are typically long and arduous. They make some sense for major projects, like siting a traditional cell tower. Small cells and DAS, by contrast, typically just attach a small antenna atop existing infrastructure, and thus are unlikely to pose any significant impact on historic sites. Historical review imposes a time-consuming, burdensome, and pointless approval process that is inappropriate for this situation, and would only hinder 5G deployment.”
Struble points to Positive Train Control (PTC) as an example. PTC overrides the controls of trains to stop a train if necessary to prevent an accident. This technology relies on small cells laid along train tracks having constant communication with the trains. Because each small cell was being installed along train tracks that have already been laid and in use for decades, they pose little if any impact to historic sites. However, each siting had to be separately analyzed and approved under the historic preservation review process. This led to massive multi-year delays in rollout and a preventable accident in the Northeast corridor.
“The FCC has been so busy trying to seize new regulatory powers, it’s not paid nearly enough attention to problems like this one,” Struble concluded. “But better late than never. Consumers all over America will benefit from this deal — a crucial step towards ensuring that the U.S. retains its position as a global leader in mobile infrastructure and the apps and services built for high-speed wireless. Although we often criticize the agency for much of its work, even we must salute the FCC here!”
TechFreedom Joins Engage Cuba Coalition, Urges End to Embargo
WASHINGTON D.C. — TechFreedom has joined Engage Cuba, a coalition of companies, trade associations and civil society organizations working to end the travel and trade embargo on Cuba.
Engage Cuba works at both the state and national level to encourage support for policies that open up U.S. relations with Cuba. A policy of engagement would speed up current developments in Cuba, particularly increases in Internet access. The number of both mobile phones and Wi-Fi hotspots in Cuba has grown considerably over the last few years, providing Cubans with new economic opportunities and more communication with the outside world, despite longstanding limitations and censorship.
“Normalizing relations with Cuba is a win-win, especially for technology,” said Tom Struble, Policy Counsel at TechFreedom. “Lifting the embargo opens a new market for American companies, and Cubans will gain access to online services that provide jobs, foster free speech, and enable more cultural diffusion. On-demand platforms like AirBnB are already helping Cubans earn extra income and capitalize on the increase in visitors. Travel is essential to the Cuban tech sector, as U.S. companies and experts need the freedom to help spur startups and accelerate broadband deployment on the Island. Ending the embargo means further exposing Cubans to the freedoms that allowed technology to flourish in the U.S. We look forward to working with Engage Cuba to ensure that Cubans enjoy similar opportunities going forward.”
“We’re thrilled to have TechFreedom as part of our coalition,” said President of Engage Cuba, James Williams. “Improving technology on the island is one of the best ways to stimulate economic growth. Almost 40% of the Cuban workforce is now employed by the private sector, and those emerging entrepreneurs need access to the internet, mobile phones, and other digital devices. With partners like TechFreedom who see the benefits of working with Cuba, we can demonstrate to Congress that there is growing interest across sectors in ending 50 years of failed, isolationist policies.”
TechFreedom is a non-profit, non-partisan technology policy think tank. We work to chart a path forward for policymakers towards a bright future where technology enhances freedom, and freedom enhances technology.
About Engage Cuba:
Engage Cuba is a 501(c)(4) public policy organization dedicated to coalescing and mobilizing American businesses, non-profit groups and citizens, for the purpose of supporting the ongoing U.S.-Cuba normalization process and enacting legislation to reform U.S.-Cuba relations, especially current restrictions on travel and trade.
