FCC Kicks Off its Annual Broadband Deployment Review

On August 5, the Federal Communications Commission voted to kick off its annual review of the pace and cadence of broadband deployment. The FCC is required to annually assess whether broadband "is being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion" by section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, and the report from this proceeding will be another in a series of updates the Commission has provided over the years. However, in this iteration, the approach the FCC is taking will be "reoriented" to be "technology neutral and holistic" [by being less holistic, of course] in assessing the digital divide in the United States. The Notice of Inquiry provides insight into what exactly that means for Chairman Brendan Carr's FCC. In the 2024 broadband deployment report, the FCC, for the first time, considered broadband affordability, adoption, availability, and equitable access for its determination. In the 2025 proceeding, the FCC is proposing to return to previous approaches and only consider availability.