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U.S. supreme court avoids ruling on limits of federal authority over state and local broadband rules, for now

20 January 2015 by Steve Blum
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When your name is Roswell, reality can be subjective.

The U.S. supreme court declined to wade any deeper into the question of how much leeway local governments have to block installation of cellular towers and equipment. In a decision last week regarding a dispute between T-Mobile and Roswell, Georgia, the court ruled very narrowly in T-Mobile’s favor, saying the city didn’t give its reasons for denying a tower permit soon enough.

Federal telecoms law requires local agencies to give a reason when a tower permit application is rejected, in order to provide a basis for the courts to review the decision if there’s an appeal.… More

Municipal broadband development is a local job, with or without presidential backing

15 January 2015 by Steve Blum
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Good words, but no new money.

Community-based broadband networks got a ringing endorsement from U.S. president Barack Obama yesterday. You can watch the speech here, or read the transcript prepared by the white house press office.

The question now is whether the speech kicked off a serious policy initiative or just served as the headline issue of the day. It’s very possible this speech or the upcoming state of the union address will be the last we’ll hear about community broadband from the president until he holds a promised summit meeting with mayors and county supervisors in June, which is 1 of the 5 action items that the white house published on Tuesday and Obama reiterated yesterday.… More

The FCC can't make 25 Mbps a genuine national broadband standard by itself

9 January 2015 by Steve Blum
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Click for the big version.

Raising the FCC’s definition of acceptable home broadband from the current 4 Mbps down/1 Mbps up level to 25 Mbps down/3 Mbps up would certainly be symbolic. The practical effect, though, depends on what the FCC and other agencies – state and local – do with it.

An article on Ars Technica says that FCC chairman Tom Wheeler has a draft report under review that would raise the bar to 25/3.… More

FCC considers raising broadband bar to 25 Mbps down and 3 Mbps up

8 January 2015 by Steve Blum
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The new national standard for acceptable home broadband speeds is on its way to being 25 Mbps down and 3 Mbps up. At CES yesterday, FCC chair Tom Wheeler endorsed raising it from the current 4 down/1up spec. According to Ars Technica, Wheeler is circulating a draft report – the annual broadband progress report required by congress but only sporadically produced by the FCC – that would declare 4/1 unacceptable and set 25/3 as the new minimum.

Wheeler's common carrier plan for broadband doesn't necessarily mean predictable rules

8 January 2015 by Steve Blum
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Honest, I meant to do this all along.

Common carrier regulation of broadband infrastructure and the Internet access services that ride on it appears all but certain at this point. Yesterday, FCC chairman Tom Wheeler told a CES audience that new network neutrality rules will be circulated privately at the FCC on 5 February 2015, and voted on by the full commission at its meeting on the 26th. You can bet it’ll be a party line vote in favor of his plan.… More

Be careful what kind of broadband regulation you wish for, because you're about to get it

8 January 2015 by Steve Blum
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“I think the devils going to be in the details”, FCC commissioner Ajit Pai told a CES audience yesterday. “Unfortunately, Title II is not going to be the panacea that some people think it will be, especially when we get to the massive discussion of forbearance, deciding which types of regulation we’re going to heed and which types we’re going to jettison”.

Short version: he’s not a fan.

Title II is the section of federal telecoms law that deals with common carrier rules, and it’s about to be applied to broadband infrastructure and services.… More

Looks like enough yes votes for common carrier broadband rules at the FCC

7 January 2015 by Steve Blum
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Immediately after FCC chair Tom Wheeler announced that common carrier broadband rules are on the way, the 4 other commissioners spoke at a panel session, also at CES. All were circumspect about Wheeler’s plan – they haven’t seen it yet, at least not officially.

Democrats Jessica Rosenworcel and Mignon Clyburn made generally positive comments. The two republicans – Ajit Pai and Michael O’Rielly – expressed concerns.

That’s all in line with past statements and positions.… More

FCC chair Wheeler says common carrier regulation of broadband is on the way

7 January 2015 by Steve Blum
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“There’s a way to do Title II right that says that many parts of Title II are inappropriate and would thwart investment” said FCC chairman Tom Wheeler today at CES. “A model has been set in the wireless business that’s had billions of dollars of investment”.

“We’re going to propose rules that say no blocking, no throttling…all that list of issues. And that there is a yardstick against which behavior should be measured, and that yardstick is just and reasonable”.… More

Broadband delayed is broadband denied

16 December 2014 by Steve Blum
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FCC commissioner Ajit Pai objected to part of the FCC order approved last week that raised the minimum download speed for subsidised broadband projects to 10 Mbps (the upload standard remains at 1 Mbps). His objection wasn’t to the faster standard, but rather to the slow pace of implementation and what he sees as the commission’s failure to put its money where its mouth is…

Three years ago, the FCC told rural Americans they could stop waiting.

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FCC crushes old limits on rural broadband speeds

15 December 2014 by Steve Blum
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The minimum download speed for FCC-subsidised broadband projects and services in rural areas is now 10 Mbps. The commission raised the standard on Thursday. Required upload speeds haven’t change, though…

The FCC will now require companies receiving Connect America funding for fixed broadband to serve consumers with speeds of at least 10 Mbps for downloads and 1 Mbps for uploads. That is an increase reflecting marketplace and technological changes that have occurred since the FCC set its previous requirement of 4 Mbps/1 Mbps speeds in 2011.

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