Should LTE provide 5 Mbps speeds, 10 Mbps or something else? FCC to investigate

The Federal Communications Commission is opening a new proceeding to investigate the state of telecommunications in America, and as part of that effort the agency will seek comment on how mobile networks should perform across the country. Specifically, the FCC will investigate whether wireless carriers should provide 5 Mbps downloads/1 Mbps uploads, 10 Mbps downloads/3 Mbps uploads, or some other speed. The goal, the agency said, is to determine “whether advanced telecommunications capability is being deployed,” as required by the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

The FCC conducted a similar proceeding in 2017, and it released a report based on that proceeding earlier in 2018. The agency’s “2018 Broadband Deployment Report,” released in February, concluded that broadband deployment was proceeding at a “reasonable and timely” manner, at least based on the parameters laid out for that report. This year’s proceeding will determine the parameters for next year’s report. The FCC will also solicit comment on whether mobile networks can be considered a suitable alternative to wired networks; in its 2018 report, the commission determined that they were not a suitable alternative. The agency will also review comments on how fixed wireless networks should be treated. In addition, it will look at whether it should keep the 25 Mbps/3 Mbps requirement for fixed networks; FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said that the agency should raise that bar for wired networks to 100 Mbps downloads.