Broadband Data Collection

Description

On February 8, 2011, the Federal Communications Commission adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking comment on whether and how to reform collection of data regarding broadband and local telephone service.

Established in 2000, FCC’s Form 477 program requires broadband service providers to report the number of subscribers they have in each census tract they serve, and local and mobile telephone service providers to report subscribers at the state level. The NPRM seeks comment on whether modifications are now needed to better serve the FCC, consumers, and other stakeholders after more than a decade of rapid innovation in the marketplace for these services, while streamlining the data collection where possible.

See Public Register notice

Issues

The FCC believes there are five categories of data that may be necessary to meet the Congressional mandates described in the prior section:
1) deployment, 2) pricing, and 3) service quality and customer satisfaction data, which provide measures of supply;
4) subscription data, which provides a measure of consumer demand; and
5) ownership and contact information, which serves multiple statutory purposes.

While collecting other categories of data, such as the location of last- and middle-mile infrastructure, could prove useful to the FCC, Form 477 may not be the most appropriate tool for collecting such data. The FCC seeks comment on whether there are other types of data necessary for the FCC to complete its mandates that should be collected using Form 477.

I. Revisions to Form 477 Data Program

A. General Considerations

1) Streamlining Collection

The FCC seeks comment on whether it would be less burdensome for providers to submit address-level data with respect to the deployment and availability of services. The FCC seeks comment on other ways that the FCC can ease the burden on small- and medium-sized providers.

2) Use of Third-Party and Publicly Available Data

The FCC seeks comment on whether and how it can obtain reliable data from third parties and publicly available sources.

3) Who Must Report

Four classes of entities currently file FCC Form 477: facilities-based providers of broadband connections to end user locations; providers of wired or fixed wireless local exchange telephone service; providers of interconnected VoIP service; and providers of mobile telephony services.

The FCC seeks comment on a) on whether there are classes of providers that should be exempted from reporting elements of any proposed data collection and b) on whether additional classes of entities should be required to file FCC Form 477.

4) Frequency of Reporting

Should Form 477 be filed more or less frequently?

B. Specific Categories of Data

Commenters have identified five categories of data that may help the FCC more effectively carry out its statutory obligations: deployment, price, subscription, service quality and customer satisfaction, and ownership and contact information. The FCC seeks comment on whether and how it should collect such data, and the its authority to do so.

1) Deployment
2) Price
3) Subscription
4) Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction
5) Ownership and Contact Information
6) Other Data

II. Legal issues

A. Authority

The FCC believes it authority to collect the proposed additional data derives from statutory obligations, as well as additional grants of authority in the Telecommunications Act of 1996, including those in sections 4(i), 4(k), 218 and 403. The Commission invites comment on this conclusion.

B. Disclosure

The FCC asks: "How can we best provide stakeholders with useful data while protecting filers' legitimate confidentiality interests? Should the Commission retain the simple check box on the FCC Form 477 that filers can use to request confidential treatment for all data submitted on that form? Are there classes of information that should always be considered public, and, therefore, not be granted confidential treatment? Are there circumstances where data submitted to the Commission should be held confidential, but aggregations of those data be made public, as is currently the case with subscription information? Once deemed confidential, should data always be confidential, or does the passage of time diminish the commercial sensitivity of certain types of data? When data are given confidential treatment, should the Commission establish a program to allow researchers access to those data under certain conditions? How would such a program be administered?"

C. Privacy

The FCC seeks comment on any privacy concerns that may arise from the reporting of address-level data. It also seeks comment on whether the Commission could establish a registry or database through which consumers could themselves share data with the Commission or choose to have their providers share data with the Commission. What would be the benefits and drawbacks of such a registry, and how could it be set up both to get useful data and to minimize the burden on consumers and reporting entities? Should consumers provide information directly to the Commission, or through reporting entities that must gain consumer consent? If the latter, what steps could the Commission take to ensure that consumers have provided consent? How could the Commission address any other privacy issues, and any other legal impediments to the creation and maintenance of such a registry?

III. OTHER ISSUES

A. Tribal Lands

The FCC seeks comment on:

• its analysis of broadband deployment and availability on federally recognized Tribal lands and how it could improve and refine this analysis;
• analysis of broadband deployment and availability on Native Hawaiian Home Lands; and
• whether there are other sources of data that would help the Commission better understand and analyze the nature of broadband deployment and availability on Tribal Lands and Native Hawaiian Home Lands.

B. International Data

Federal law requires the FCC to include an international comparison in its annual broadband deployment report. The FCC seeks comment on how and whether revisions to the Form 477 program would facilitate comparing the U.S. broadband market to other countries.

Comment due date: 03/30/2011

Comment reply due date: 04/14/2011

FCC Comment Form