As the Federal Communications Commission meets via teleconference today, the agency's former general counsel, Jonathan Sallet, asks the commission to step up and monitor how our critical communications networks are holding up.

Sallet says the FCC should issue a weekly broadband status report, updating America on what is working about our broadband networks and what, if anything, is not.

With millions of Americans sheltering in place and relying on broadband connections to work, learn, and stay connected to loved ones, the FCC should monitor and report on shifting usage patterns and on the strain these changes are putting on local networks. 

"This goes to the very reason the FCC exists," says Sallet. "Congress created the FCC to ensure that all the people of the United States have access to communications networks with adequate facilities for, among other things, the purpose of promoting safety of life and property.”

"We need the FCC to step up during this crisis," Sallet says.

Jonathan Sallet is Senior Fellow at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society. His work focuses on policies to support FCC actions to promote broadband access and deployment, to advance competition, including through antitrust, and to preserve and protect internet openness. Jon is the former-FCC General Counsel/Acting General Counsel (2013-2016), and Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Litigation, Antitrust Division, US Department of Justice (2016-2017). 

The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring that all people in the U.S. have access to competitive, High-Performance Broadband regardless of where they live or who they are. We believe communication policy - rooted in the values of access, equity, and diversity - has the power to deliver new opportunities and strengthen communities.

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