Outgoing FCC chair Ajit Pai released the Commission’s annual broadband deployment report just a day before his departure. Pai’s report says, “We conclude that fixed services with speeds of 25/3Mbps continue to meet the statutory definition of advanced telecommunications capability.”
What? The FCC has been using 25/3 (25Mbps download speed and 3Mbps upload speed) as a benchmark for the past six years. 25/3 may meet some engineering definition of high-speed broadband, but when you can easily get 1Gbps symmetrical service in most major metros, you can’t call 25/3 an “appropriate measure” of success.
Let’s take the politics out of it. (I know that’s hard to do.) We need competitively-priced, real (as in, 300Mbps to 500Mbps) high-speed broadband for every American, no matter where they live or where they work. It will increase productivity and help harness the creative potential of every American. Hopefully, the next FCC chair will have the vision to set better goals.
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