Commissioner Rosenworcel Statement on 2019 Broadband Deployment Report

It is simply not credible for the Federal Communications Commission to clap its hands and pronounce our broadband job done—and yet that is exactly what it does in this report today. By determining that under the law broadband deployment is reasonable and timely for all Americans, we not only fall short of our statutory responsibility, we show a cruel disregard for those who the digital age has left behind.... This report deserves a failing grade. It concludes that broadband deployment is reasonable and timely throughout the United States. This will come as news to millions and millions of Americans who lack access to high-speed service at home. It will come as news to communities across the country that are struggling to secure the broadband they need for economic revitalization and growth. It will come as news to rural households and tribal areas that fear without change they will forever be consigned to the wrong side of the digital divide. It will come as news to urban areas where redlining has led to broadband deserts. It also will come as news to millions of students who fall into the homework gap because they lack the internet access needed for nightly schoolwork. Moreover, it will come as news to governors, mayors, and legislators across the country working overtime to extend high-speed service to those outside its reach. It will come as news to members of Congress who in hearing after hearing have chided this agency for its inability to deliver the promise of broadband to communities they represent. Is it infrastructure week yet? Because there is no conversation in Washington regarding infrastructure that does not give prominent place to the work we have yet to do to reach everyone, everywhere with high-speed service. Instead of this report, we should be issuing a candid appraisal of the work we have to do to bring broadband everywhere. This requires three things:

1. We need to stop relying on data we know is wrong
2. We need high standards -- it is time for the FCC to adopt a 100 Megabits per second standard and set Gigabit speeds in our sight
3. We need to be honest about the state of what we have found. Moreover, we need to be thoughtful about how impediments to adoption, like affordability, are an important part of the digital equity equation and our national broadband challenge.