Earlier this week,
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai delivered a speech
at the International Institute of Communications' International Regulators
Forum, where he discussed several initiatives and proceedings undertaken by the
Commission that will help spur broadband investment.
Specifically,
Chairman Pai stated:
The best way to make sure every American has better,
faster, cheaper Internet access is to set a market-based regulatory framework
that promotes competition and increases network investment. We need to make it
as appealing as possible for private companies to raise the capital and hire
the crews to deploy networks to unserved and underserved areas. That is why the
FCC has removed many regulatory barriers to lower the cost and speed the
process of building infrastructure. For example, the agency has adopted reforms
to make it easier and cheaper for broadband providers to access utility poles.
The FCC has also modernized rules that required carriers to maintain yesterday's
copper networks, which frees more money to build tomorrow's fiber networks.
Chairman Pai also gave
some specific examples of the rules and proposals adopted by the FCC that will cut
regulatory costs and streamline broadband deployment for wireline, mobile, and
satellite broadband services. In a March 2018 Perspectives from FSF Scholars titled "Reaching
Rural America: Free Market Solutions for Promoting Broadband Deployment,"
I explained how the increasing capabilities of emerging broadband technologies,
like satellite, fixed wireless, and mobile wireless, will provide unserved and rural consumers with a viable alternative for a broadband connection. I also
outlined what the FCC has done to accelerate the deployment of these services
and what still needs to be done at the federal, state, and local levels.
As you can see
from the graph above, rural broadband deployment improved dramatically from
2012 to 2016. If the FCC continues to adopt market-based rules and reduce the
regulatory costs of broadband deployment, providers of all broadband
technologies will be incentivized to invest in rural and underserved areas,
closing the gap of the digital divide.
Posts
