Mobile data could soon be included in federal analyses of high-speed Internet deployment

When the Federal Communications Commission decided in January to raise the minimum official speed for "broadband" by more than 500 percent, it did so on the rationale that it would help promote the rollout of high-speed Internet. But the analysis that produced that decision only covered providers of fixed or wired Internet connections, such as Comcast or Time Warner Cable. Now the agency will consider whether to account for mobile Internet providers too, when it studies whether broadband is being adequately deployed in the United States.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has circulated a proposal to his fellow commissioners that would, if approved, kick off a process to add cellular carriers to an annual review of the US broadband market, according to an FCC official. If the agency agrees to look into the issue, it could allow the FCC to pressure those companies more strongly to upgrade their networks -- making them faster and more robust. It may also prompt the FCC to set a minimum benchmark for what is considered "mobile broadband," much in the way that the FCC has set the threshold for wired broadband at 25 megabits per second. But bandwidth is only one part of the equation. Your Internet experience is also determined by latency, or how much time it takes for signals to bounce from one device to another. Wheeler's proposal includes coverage of these so-called quality-of-service factors, the official said. A separate part of the proposal deals with satellite Internet -- which, if approved, could someday mean the FCC will regulate the likes of SpaceX and OneWeb, which are working to develop satellite-based Internet access.