NCTA: FCC Should Stick To Existing Broadband Definition

National Cable & Telecommunications Association has told the Federal Communications Commission that a single definition of broadband is needed for policy and data-collection purposes, particularly if the FCC decides to expand the Universal Service Fund to include supporting broadband deployment. In comments filed today, NCTA argues that the FCC should not use defining broadband as a vehicle for new substantive speed, price, or openness conditions, or tied to characteristics like latency, symmetry or mobility. Instead, said NCTA, the commission should define it more broadly as "the opportunity to purchase services and equipment that enable them to access the Internet at any time and use the types of applications that are most commonly used today, such as e-mail and web browsing," and use the current speed definition if it has a need for speed as part of the definition. The FCC last year changed its definition of broadband to "services with download speeds of more than 768 kbps and upload speeds of more than 200 kbs."