February 2010

A coalition of public interest and consumer groups is urging the Federal Communications Commission to include a set of bold benchmarks and policies in the agency's upcoming National Broadband Plan.

The public interest and consumer coalition urged the Commission, at minimum, embrace the following five benchmarks:

1) The FCC should set a goal that U.S. broadband adoption of world- class networks shall equal to current rate of telephone adoption (over 90%) by 2020.

2) The FCC should set a goal of substantially improving the level of competition between providers of broadband Internet access to move the country out of a stagnant duopoly by the end of 2012.

3) The FCC should set a goal of establishing real consumer protections for broadband customers within 12-18 months.

4) The FCC should set a goal of implementing new broadband data collection standards and rules for utilizing that data in market analyses by the end of 2010.

5) The FCC should set a goal of establishing rules protecting open markets for speech and commerce on broadband networks as soon as feasible.

Benton Foundation CEO Charles Benton said, "In addition to promoting jobs and economic development, the ARRA's broadband stimulus programs should help develop community-based models for broadband deployment, adoption and meaningful use in unserved and underserved populations. The private sector alone has not gotten us to universal broadband, a requirement for everyone to be able to participate fully in our economy and civic life. What we learn from the successes and failures of BTOP and BIP funding will help shape the government's future role in broadband rollout and adoption for years to come."

Consumer Federation of America's Mark Cooper warned Wednesday that a Federal Communications Commission proposal to bring ultrafast broadband service to 100 million households over the next decade -- at the speed of 100 megabits per second -- would leave up to 30 million households without access to the technology.

Cooper is encouraged by the agency's goal, which he described as "bold," he worried that it falls short of the mark (all puns intended). Noting there will be 130 million US households by 2020, Cooper urged the FCC to set the goal to reach 120 million households with ultrafast broadband. He said it is a realistic figure consistent with the agency's push to raise the broadband adoption rate from 65 percent to 90 percent by 2020.

Cities and rural communities across the United States are lining up with requests for information (RFI) and dreams of being chosen.

With promises of Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than average American households (about one gigabit per second), the excitement of those vying to be part of the "experiment" is close to that of kids in a candy store. "There's a lot of enthusiasm out there from people who want better and faster broadband," Google spokesman Dan Martin said. "We've received responses from more than a dozen communities and several thousand responses from citizens." Cities and towns in states such as Virginia, Missouri, New York and others are gearing to apply. Google plans to offer such services at "a competitive price" to at least 50,000 and up to 500,000 people. Groups supporting the opportunity have already sprouted up on social networking sites such as Facebook.com, with Baton Rouge, La., attracting more than 1,500 people less than a week after the company's announcement, Martin said."We're excited [about] what people are going to do with these ultra-high speeds," Martin said, noting that Google isn't trying to compete with the broadband industry. "Our goal in doing this is to push the Internet forward and test and experiment in ways to make it faster for people." Just where and how far that push takes the virtual world is something no one can predict, Martin said.

Network Neutrality may get all the headlines, but the far bigger battle brewing is the conflict over access to spectrum.

As network-connected devices such as data cards, smartphones and network-connected gadgets from refrigerators to cars proliferate; the demand for spectrum could outstrip the supply. Most experts believe we will have to rely on both technologists and regulators to meet the demands that consumers are currently placing on the mobile broadband infrastructure operated by carriers, and we'll have to do these things sooner rather than later.

The demand for mobile broadband will surpass the spectrum available to meet it in mid-2013, according to Peter Rysavy, a wireless analyst. In a report on the looming spectrum crisis that was sponsored by Research in Motion for the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Rysavy explains how the demand for bandwidth-consuming services used by more and more people will lead to a crappy user experience, or heavy-handed pricing and limitations on mobile application from carriers absent new spectrum allocations. Rysavy estimates that even if the government allocates new spectrum for carriers, it wouldn't be available for five to seven more years thanks to a slow-moving political process.

At the current rate of mobile broadband usage growth we will run out of spectrum well before that time. There are plenty of alternatives before we declare an airwave Armageddon. The quest for spectral efficiency through technologies such as MIMO and moving from 3G to 4G will net big gains for operators. As engineers cram more bits into each hertz, policy makers like Genachowski and members of Congress evaluating our nation's current spectrum use, will be weighing the cost of taking spectrum away from existing users, such as the broadcast television business or the Department of Defense, and reallocating it to mobile broadband. That policy discussion will involve bitter fights over the right to use the airwaves, whether or not the spectrum allocations should be auctioned off to the existing carriers, AND whether it should be unlicensed or licensed. While some argue that Congress shouldn't get involved, policy issues will be an important piece of the solution as well.

Engineers are doing their part, and Congress will need to do so, as well. By giving out spectrum too soon, industry won't have the opportunity to learn to thrive within its means and let new technology and business innovation show the way to handle the increased data consumption.