NTIA Ex Parte Letter Regarding the FCC’s Section 706 Notice of Inquiry

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) met virtually with Federal Communications Commission staff on December 21, 2023 to discuss the Section 706 Report Notice of Inquiry. NTIA expressed its strong support for the FCC’s important work to assess whether broadband is being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion, and offered its assistance as the FCC works to identify appropriate methodologies and data sources for use in conducting this assessment. NTIA emphasized the importance of ensuring that the Section 706 inquiry aligns with current efforts across the federal government to bring high-speed Internet service to all Americans, as well as the guidance offered by Congress in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). The NTIA supports the FCC’s proposal to raise the speed threshold for fixed broadband to 100 Mbps downstream and 20 Mbps upstream, both to reflect changes in current and anticipated user needs and to provide consistency with the standard established by Congress through IIJA for NTIA’s Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program. Moreover, NTIA supports the FCC incorporating aspects of service quality beyond speed, such as latency, and suggests considering the ways in which these concepts were incorporated into the BEAD Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO). NTIA also welcomes the FCC’s inclusion of factors beyond deployment of physical infrastructure in its inquiry, including adoption, affordability, and equitable access.