State Regulators Seek Broadband Collection Clarification

The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, in a request for clarification, is asking the Federal Communications Commission to clarify that nothing the agency has done limits states' authority to collect broadband data from infrastructure providers like cable operators. NARUC said that some states' efforts to collect data on areas served, unserved, or underserved by broadband "have been frustrated by reliance on voluntary responses." It pointed to various cases involving cable modem or DSL services in which the FCC concluded that combined data and Internet services "should exist in a minimally regulated environment." NARUC said, "There is no question that Congress wants states to have this data. A declaratory ruling -- specifying only that no FCC order or regulation currently limits state authority to collect any data from any broadband infrastructure or service provider -- will clear up any remaining ambiguity over the scope of existing state authority and facilitate state mapping, and other deployment initiatives."