Friday, August 6, 2010

(Still) Seeking more pervasive broadband

Read this editorial in today's New York Times, "The Broadband Gap." Although the Federal Communications Commission concluded two years ago that 99% of American households have access to broadband, a report released by the Commission last month indicates that between 5 and 8% of Americans are still without broadband in their homes. The report further suggests that the market is "unlikely to serve these relatively unprofitable households," which are mostly in "poorer rural areas."

The FCC's planned response is to change "rules to redeploy the Universal Service Fund, created to bring telephone to hard-to-reach places. And it proposes to reallocate telecommunications spectrum from broadcast TV to mobile broadband service."

The NYT thus calls on the House and Senate to "pass without delay bills that would allow the F.C.C. to auction spectrum to telecommunications carriers and use the proceeds to compensate broadcasters."

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