Senate Panel Wants Better Broadband Data

Commerce Committee Challenges Accuracy of FCC Figures

By Ted Hearn -- Multichannel News, 7/19/2007 11:38:00 PM

The Senate Commerce Committee Thursday unanimously approved a bill that would overhaul the Federal Communications Commission's measurement of broadband use and availability around the country.

“The FCC has been claiming that more people have access to broadband service than actually do,” Sen. Bryon Dorgan (D-N.D.) said in a prepared statement. “We must improve the accuracy and quality of broadband-data collection in order to address the shortfalls in access and make better-informed decisions about broadband policy."

According to a committee press release, the bill (S. 1492), sponsored by Commerce chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), would:

• Order the FCC "to decide whether the current 200-kilobit standard for broadband -- which was adopted in 1999 -- should be revised."

• Order the FCC "to revise its broadband-reporting form to help identify which service tiers can be used by consumers to reliably receive high-definition video content."

• Require the FCC "to revise existing broadband-reporting obligations to require providers to report the actual numbers of broadband connections either within a census tract, nine-digit postal ZIP code, or five-digit postal ZIP code."

“Broadband communications are fast becoming the great economic engine of our time,” Inouye said in a prepared statement. “The first step toward securing broadband for all Americans is getting better broadband data.”