FCC Promises Change on Data Reporting
Since implementing the Telecom Act in 1996, the FCC has traditionally made Broadband policy decisions based on flawed, incomplete data.
The Telecom Act required the agency release quarterly reports on the status of broadband deployment. The information in those reports have been useless with the FCC declaring any zip code that has just one served customer in it to be wired for service.
The FCC has reported this as evidence of a healthy broadband infrastructure to support their position on deregulation policies which have been lobbied for by this nations largest carriers for years now. These carriers would prefer the government allow them the freedom to ‘govern’ themselves with no questions asked.
With Julius Genachowski now leading the FCC as Chairman, promises for better decision making based on complete and accurate data are being made. The FCC will use more accurate census-level data for broadband penetration measurement. The agency will employ Harvard’s independent and objective Berkman Center to confirm the accuracy of the new data coming in.
In a press release the FCC stated, “The FCC and others have recognized these requirements as insufficiently granular or precise to inform necessary policy making”. This awareness came after a decade of policy changes that resulted in consumer’s paying more money for less bandwidth than more than a dozen developed countries.
The FCC shares in the blame for the flaws in bad policy making and lack of oversight. Incumbent lobbyist control of the government is the primary source responsible for the data dysfunction.
A decade of anti-regulatory policies have resulted in higher revenues with greater growth and expansion for carriers while consumers are left with limited choices, fewer consumer protections and greater costs.
With the changes promised by the FCC consumer fleecing should be a thing of the past. The largest carrier’s will be heald to stricter standards and be required to provide more to their customers .
Comments
Leave a Reply
