Broadband

Notes
Definitions

Related
Broadband
Network Neutrality

Telecom Carrier

Definition

The Commission has recognized that the terms "broadband" and "broadband services" are elusive concepts, as they have come to mean many different things to many different people.  See Inquiry Concerning the Deployment of Advanced Telecommunications Capability to All Americans in a Reasonable and Timely Fashion, and Possible Steps to Accelerate Such Deployment Pursuant to Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Third Report, CC Docket 98-146, FCC No. 02-33 at para. 11 and n.23 (rel. Feb. 6, 2002) (Third Section 706 Report); accord Inquiry Concerning the Deployment of Advanced Telecommunications Capability to All Americans in a Reasonable and Timely Fashion, and Possible Steps to Accelerate Such Deployment Pursuant to Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Second Report, 15 FCC Rcd 20913, 20920, para. 11 (2000) (Second Section 706 Report).  The Commission, therefore, has separately defined "advanced telecommunications capability and advanced services," for the purposes of section 706 Reports as having the capability to support both upstream and downstream speeds in excess of 200 Kbps in the last mile.   Third Section 706 Report, FCC No. 02-33 at para. 9 (internal quotations omitted); accord Second Section 706 Report, 15 FCC Rcd at 20919-20, para. 10.  The Commission has "denominate[d] as 'high-speed' those services with over 200 kbps capability in at least one direction."  Second Section 706 Report, 15 FCC Rcd at 20920;  accord Third Section 706 Report, FCC No. 02-33 at para. 9.
- In Re Appropriate Framework for Broadband Access to the Internet over Wireline Facilities, CC Docket No. 02-33, CC Dockets Nos. 95-20, 98-10, NPRM n. 2  (February 15, 2002) http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-02-42A1.doc

As Utility

A century ago, there were efforts to prevent local governments from offering electricity. Opponents argued that local governments didn’t have the expertise to offer something as complex as electricity. They also argued that businesses would suffer if they faced competition from cities and towns. But
local community leaders recognized that their economic survival depended on electrifying their communities. They knew that it would take both private investment and public investment to bring electricity to all Americans.
We face a similar situation today. Municipal networks can play an essential role in making broadband access universal and affordable. We must not put up barriers to this possibility of municipal involvement in broadband deployment. - Mr. Lautenberg, Congressional Record S7298 (June 23, 2005)

Despite the protests of for-profit companies, public Wi-Fi networks have popped up around the country as more municipalities decided that wireless Internet access, like trash collection and road construction, should be a public service. - Charleston is going wirelessFrom Charleston Post and Courier, September 30, 2005

Around the country, public officials and community advocates are identifying broadband communications as a public good, something too important to be entrusted to private enterprise alone. - Municipal Broadband: Sidestepping Information Roadblocks, Media Alliance nd

With regard to households, there is growing national evidence that broadband telecommunications services have (or, at least, will) become the “fourth utility.” -- The Residential and Commercial Benefits of Rural Broadband, Evidence from Central Appalachia, Final Report, p. 34, July 2005, Marshal University.

The county also plans to become the local high-speed provider for its residents, running the local broadband pipe as if it were a gas or water utility. -Kevin Fitchard, Bridging the Cumberland Gap, Telephony March 18, 2002