US Report Calls Broadband a 'Utility,' Calls for Policy Overhaul The Obama administration this week declared that broadband was a core utility in a new report (pdf) highlighting the steps the country is taking to improve broadband connectivity and competition. Back in March the President created something called the Broadband Opportunity Council, whose job it was to assess the market and ensure that the government is doing everything in its power to make US broadband better.

"Broadband has steadily shifted from an optional amenity to a core utility for households, businesses and community institutions,” notes the report. "Today, broadband is taking its place alongside water, sewer and electricity as essential infrastructure for communities." Most of the reports' recommendations are things the FCC is already engaged in in one form or another after decades of conversation and analysis, including better data collection, subsidies for low ROI rural markets, and things like taking aim at protectionist state laws that prohibit municipal broadband and hinder public/private broadband partnerships. This is before of course noting the government's biggest policy shift this year: reclassifying ISPs as common carriers under Title II of the Communications Act. While broadband may have shifted from "optional amenity" to a necessity, the report notes that "not all federal programs fully reflect" this shift. The government has paid fifteen years of lip service to these issues, best exemplified by our 2010 National Broadband Plan, a disjointed, politically-safe proposal that failed utterly to challenge the broadband duopoly status quo. Unlike government broadband reports of the past fifteen years, however, this one at least acknowledges the elephant in the room (the lack of competition). "Nearly 40 percent of American households either do not have the option of purchasing a wired 10 Mbps connection or they must buy it from a single provider," The report notes. "Three out of four Americans do not have a choice of providers for broadband at 25 Mbps, the speed increasingly recognized as a baseline for broadband access." The report fielded input from "248 diverse stakeholders" ranging from telecom companies to consumer advocacy groups, and tried to condense all of them into a policy analysis guideline for the government moving forward. Whether this results in actual progress is only something you, the end consumer will be able to determine years from now. The report fielded input from "248 diverse stakeholders" ranging from telecom companies to consumer advocacy groups, and tried to condense all of them into a policy analysis guideline for the government moving forward. Whether this results in actual progress is only something you, the end consumer will be able to determine years from now.







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Most recommended from 67 comments



Zenit

The system is the solution

Premium Member

join:2012-05-07

Purcellville, VA 27 recommendations Zenit Premium Member About time. The rest of the developed world has declared broadband a utility. It is the logical replacement for telephone service in the 21st century.

That map is disgusting and shows what a failure the industry is in the USA - most of the country is uncovered by 25mbps service.



This is what happens with a supposed free market controlled by a cabal of interests and regional monopolies



Just like rural electrification, rural broadbandification is going to be a huge challenge. I dare say that power companies may step up to the plate as there is opportunity. Not only do they improve the grids reliability and efficiency with better monitoring gear, they also create a new revenue source and massive goodwill with the communities they serve when deploying FTTP.

TechyDad

Premium Member

join:2001-07-13

USA 11 recommendations TechyDad Premium Member I don't technically have broadband Currently, I'm paying $35 a month for 15mbps (1mbps up). This doesn't qualify as broadband. I could buy broadband from only one provider - Time Warner Cable. It would be 30mbps for $55 (as a promotional price... who knows how high it'd go after the promotion period ends).



As far as other wired, high-speed Internet access providers goes, I have no other real choices. About my only other choice might be DSL. Not only is this slower, but Verizon has made it clear that they want to get rid of their DSL lines as quickly as possible.

Flyonthewall

@teksavvy.com 7 recommendations Flyonthewall Anon Expect a BIG fight This is going to be fought every step of the way. It will likely go along partisan lines, with talking heads spewing the common line regardless of how it sounds.



And I do agree, internet is pretty much a requirement now for modern living, and only vested interests will fight to protect the status quo. Probably while we don't see a lot of power shills at Capital Hill, because power is a necessity. Hopefully this spells the end of those bottom feeders. IluvMoney (banned)

join:2015-05-04

MiddleClass 6 recommendations IluvMoney (banned) Member Lumping stats together dishonest quote: "Nearly 40 percent of American households either do not have the option of purchasing a wired 10 Mbps connection or they must buy it from a single provider," I'd like to see the % that ONLY applies to "do not have the option of purchasing a wired 10 MBPS connection.



Obviously it is not 40%. So what is it? 5%? 2%?, etc.



What is the % for only being able to get 10Mbps from a single provider? That is the oligopoly question. Again they should break the %'s out so we know what we are talking about. I'd like to see the % that ONLY applies to "do not have the option of purchasing a wired 10 MBPS connection.Obviously it is not 40%. So what is it? 5%? 2%?, etc.What is the % for only being able to get 10Mbps from a single provider? That is the oligopoly question. Again they should break the %'s out so we know what we are talking about.

rahrahrah

@verizon.net 6 recommendations rahrahrah Anon but this is murica we are murica. the best country ever. just ask any murican. our broadband is the best. we are muricans. we are the best. we are. cause we say so. silbaco

Premium Member

join:2009-08-03

USA 5 recommendations silbaco Premium Member Availability "Nearly 40 percent of American households either do not have the option of purchasing a wired 10 Mbps connection or they must buy it from a single provider."



And what's the breakdown of American homes without access? This quote is intentionally very misleading. Not having more than one option is a problem urban areas. In rural areas, it is the fact of life. In many rural areas is it not financially viable to have more than one wired provider. Either there isn't enough potential subscribers to support more than one company or the cost of building out is unjustifiably high, baring a second provider from deploying.



The problem in rural areas is the lack of a single provider. This isn't a battle that can be fixed by adding competition. sonicmerlin

join:2009-05-24

Cleveland, OH 3 recommendations sonicmerlin Member Cable monopoly Cable is going to become a de facto monopoly in most of the country pretty soon, especially with DOCSIS 3.1 incoming. We really need to enforce line sharing for cable ISPs if we really think broadband is a utility. quisp65

join:2003-05-03

San Diego, CA ·webpass.net

·Charter

2 recommendations quisp65 Member A few Fiber companies > changing your pseudo-monopoly to municipal monopoly Due to we are not just shopping for price... we are also shopping for peering, latency, amount of bandwidth, how they treat DMCA requests. I would prefer having a choice in fiber coming to my home.



I think if a President had the ambition, he could get with the industry to work on sharing conduit and neighborhood node boxes, so fiber companies could easily deploy in a community without as much effort and costs. Tax incentives could be used to upgrade people's houses with fiber coming from the home to the curb.



I think this is the way cities should go, rather than going municipal broadband. Thinking in the short term municipal seems nice, but long term having a choice between two or three Google fiber like companies I think would be better for the health of the broadband industry.