Telcos to FCC: 706 Report Should Conclude Reasonable/Timely Broadband Rollout

Phone companies told the Federal Communications Commission that they thought broadband was being deployed in a reasonable and timely manner, and said the FCC should think so, too.

That came in comments on the FCC's upcoming eighth annual 706 report on broadband deployment. Last spring, the FCC released its seventh 706 report on broadband deployment, saying for the second time in a row that it was not being deployed in a reasonable and timely manner and pointing to its figures that over 20 million people did not have access to high-speed broadband and over 100 million did not subscribe, saying both were signs of failure to meet the deployment standard. The report did say progress had been made, but not enough. A failing grade allows the FCC to take steps to advance that deployment, which it is pushing as key to public participation in the digital future. In comments phone companies argue that the results of that collection should be different from the previous report.