It's about time

The FCC has finally agreed to look into the state of broadband deployment in the U.S. Now the first step needs to be a redefinition of what broadband really is.

For too long, the FCC has clung to its archaic definition of broadband as any service that exceeds 200 kb/s in one direction. So, in addition to being 15th in the world in broadband deployment, the U.S. is accepting as its benchmark a level of service that would be laughable in Asia and many parts of Europe.

The good news about the latest FCC moves — issuing a notice of inquiry and a notice of proposed rulemaking — is that the agency is addressing something its critics harped on for years, and that is the flawed way data about broadband penetration is collected and analyzed. The FCC will now evaluate different tiers or speeds of broadband service and their availability to determine if the current services meet the needs of customers everywhere — not just in densely populated areas or pockets of affluence.

But the fact that the FCC collects data on broadband deployment and determines the real extent of the problem in the U.S. is only half the battle. If, as many suspect, more accurate data collection, using more realistic benchmarks, shows there are large sections of the U.S. where broadband isn't available or reasonably priced, the FCC must be willing to act on that information.

It's been said by more than one pundit that it's sometimes easier to get a high-quality connection to India or China than to smaller towns and cities in the U.S., particularly if those towns and cities are being served by large incumbents with other priorities.

And although complaints about the use of the Universal Service Fund probably rank up there with complaints about the lack of broadband deployment, the only way to determine how to effectively spend federal dollars on making broadband widely available is to know what's needed and what's lacking.

If the process the FCC initiated last week proves that there is a major broadband deployment problem in the U.S., as many think it will, there needs to be enough of a hue and cry made to finally get telecom issues pushed higher up the national agenda.

Other nations of the world are addressing their telecom infrastructure issues, recognizing the benefit to economic development of making broadband networks ubiquitous. Here in the U.S., major politicians pay lip service to telecom once every election campaign, if that.

It's time broadband became a bigger part of the national agenda. Here's hoping the FCC took the first and biggest step in that direction.