Need for Speed on Internet Emerges as Comcast Deal Test

The question of what counts as high-speed Internet service is emerging as a sticking point in Comcast’s bid to buy Time Warner Cable. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler has proposed a definition that would leave the company with as many as half of US broadband customers -- too much for some critics. Comcast wants to include homes with older, slower service, leaving its market share at little more than a third.

The argument matters because opponents say the $45.2 billion merger would result in a company with so large a market share it could squelch competition. Under the faster standard, “the cable guys have a stone-cold monopoly,” said Mark Cooper, director of research for the Consumer Federation of America. “The merger becomes intolerable if you understand that.”

Chairman Wheeler called for raising the bar for broadband to 25 megabits per second from the current level of 4 megabits per second -- a rate he said isn’t adequate for downloading a high-definition video. In August the FCC asked for public comments about increasing the standard. Comcast says the proper yardstick for broadband Internet includes slower speeds, under which its share of the online market would be 35.5 percent.