Technical Advisory Committee's Advice for the FCC

The Federal Communications Commission created its Technical Advisory Committee last fall and charged the committee with coming up with recommendations to enhance innovation, create jobs and increase competition that the FCC could put in place without requiring a rulemaking. On April 25, the committee released what it calls a “mid-term report” that includes eight recommendations aimed at streamlining broadband deployment by eliminating red tape and encouraging government entities to adopt modern communications technology.

1. Municipal Race-to-the-Top program: Recognize municipalities that have expedited broadband deployment, with the goal of encouraging other municipalities to adopt the same approach.
2. Broadband Infrastructure Executive Order: Ask the White House to issue an order to expedite the approval process for deploying infrastructure on federal land and in federal buildings.
3. Advocacy for Rapid Tower Siting: Use the FCC’s “leadership pulpit” to encourage states and municipalities to create a faster procedure for adding equipment to existing infrastructure, such as cell towers.
4. Best Practices/Technology Outreach to State and Local Governments: Go on the road with a series of workshops to help educate municipalities about new technologies for deploying broadband such as micro-trenching, distributed antennas on light poles and directional boring.
5. Model an Online Deployment Coordination System: Create a “white label” web site that would be freely available to any local government to use to disseminate information about planned telecom and utility company construction projects so that companies in other industries can consider deploying their own infrastructure in the same trenches to reduce construction costs and minimize disruptions.
6. New Metrics to Measure Broadband Network Quality: Establish new metrics to measure broadband network quality other than speed.
7. Highlight Stranded Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) Investments: Highlight concerns about devices designed to work with traditional phone networks such as alarm systems, automatic teller machines and point of sale terminals that could become stranded assets as networks increasingly shift toward IP.
8. Promote Small Cell Deployment: Work with federal agencies to encourage more efficient use of spectrum by, for example, installing small cell sites in and on commercial and government buildings.