FCC to define broadband as minimum 25Mbps

The United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is proposing to raise the minimum speeds allowed for broadband from 4Mbps down, 1Mbps up to 25Mbps down, 3Mbps up.

The FCC is responsible for reporting to Congress on the state of broadband in the United States, and in the next Annual Broadband Progress Report, FCC chairman Tom Wheeler has indicated that he is likely to raise the defined minimum benchmark for services to be able to be described as "broadband".

According to a circulated fact sheet, the FCC is considering raising the definition to "reflect current consumer demands, deployment trends, and technological advances".

As a result, the draft report found that the broadband being deployed in rural areas, tribal land, and US territories is not being done so in a reasonable and timely fashion.

Source:

http://www.zdnet.com/article/fcc-to-define-broadband-as-minimum-25mbps/

Google to FCC: if the internet is a Title II utility, let us expand Fiber

Verizon famously said that if the FCC heeds President Obama's urging and declares the internet a Title II utility, it would cause "great harm to an open Internet, competition and innovation." But exactly the opposite of that may happen, according to a letter from Google to the FCC. Mountain View pointed out that if broadband internet access is declared to be a Title II service, then Google Fiber should be granted the same access as other utilities to poles and other essential infrastructure. It went on to say that doing so would actually "promote broadband deployment and competition."

Google is often forced to dig trenches for its Fiber internet, limiting the highly sought service to just a few communities so far. That's because access to poles, ducts and conduits (at a tenth the cost) is limited by federal law to traditional cable TV and telecom suppliers. Google doesn't legally fit that definition, even though it provides internet-based TV and telephone services. It has had pole access hassles in the past with carriers like AT&T, which said last year that that it would cooperate more with Google only when it "qualifies as a telecom or cable provider" under federal law.

Source:

http://www.engadget.com/2015/01/01/google-letter-fcc-title-ii/