American Cable Association Recommends 16 Mb/s Broadband Target for USF

An association that represents small cable companies, including some owned by small rural telcos, advocates a minimum broadband speed of 16 Mb/s downstream and 4 Mb/s upstream for the proposed broadband Universal Service program.

The American Cable Association (ACA) made its recommendation in comments filed with the FCC this week about Universal Service reform. The ACA is not the only organization filing comments with the FCC that has said the 4 Mb/s downstream – 1 Mb/s upstream minimum speed recommended by the commission is too low. But others arguing against that target have not specified an alternative speed.
Other recommendations made by the ACA in its filing include:

• Funding for broadband should come from reductions in the high-cost Universal Service fund
• Eliminating high-cost support where competition exists
• Providing broadband support to unserved households on a competitively-neutral and objective basis
• Providing a reasonable but not unlimited transition period