Chairwoman Rosenworcel Proposes National Goal of 100 Percent Access to Affordable Broadband

Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel shared with her colleagues an updated Notice of Inquiry that would kick off the agency’s evaluation of the state of broadband across the country. Chairwoman Rosenworcel proposes that the FCC consider several crucial characteristics of broadband deployment, including affordability, adoption, availability, and equitable access, when determining whether broadband is being deployed in a reasonable and timely fashion to “all Americans." In addition to focusing on a universal service standard, the Chairwoman proposes to increase the national fixed broadband standard to 100 megabits per second (Mbps) for download and 20 Mbps for upload, and discusses a range of evidence supporting this standard, including the requirements for new networks funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). The FCC previously set the broadband standard at 25/3 Mbps in 2015 and has not updated it since. The Notice of Inquiry proposes to set a separate national goal of 1 Gbps/500 Mbps for the future.