October 8, 2024 – Tens of billions of dollars invested annually by broadband providers in infrastructure development, as well as upcoming build-outs funded through private capital and federal grants to connect the hardest-to-serve areas, are ensuring that “reasonable and timely” progress is being made towards the universal deployment goal of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, ACA Connects said in a filing submitted to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
In response to the FCC’s annual assessment of the pace at which advanced telecommunications capability are being deployed to all Americans, the filing from ACA Connects states:
“If the Commission properly applies the statutory test that section 706(b) requires, based on the evidence, it should reach a finding that – yes – advanced telecommunications capability is being reasonably and timely deployed to all Americans. Today, the vast majority of Americans have access to high-speed broadband meeting the Commission’s benchmark of 100/20+ Mbps for fixed broadband, and the share of households lacking such access continues to dwindle. The number of unserved and underserved locations fell from 11.9 million to 8.8 million between December 2022 and December 2023. Year-over-year, that is a 26.2% decrease in unserved and underserved locations. This considerable progress is expected to continue, given (among other factors) the influx of Federal and State funding to bring high-speed broadband to unserved and underserved locations.”
In response to the Commission’s inquiry into barriers to the universal deployment of broadband, ACA Connects states:
“Even if the Commission finds that fixed broadband at the benchmark speed is being reasonably and timely deployed to all Americans, it should pursue measures within its authority to further accelerate that deployment. The Commission has long recognized that a major cost of broadband deployment is access to and use of poles and rights-of-way, and it has been diligent in seeking to remove barriers, including by ensuring access costs are reasonable. However, ACA Connects Members continue to confront such barriers. We thus urge the Commission to take additional measures to address these concerns.”
ACA Connects also agrees with the Commission’s conclusion that deployment data should include 5G fixed wireless service, as “[a]n examination of recent marketplace trends reveals that consumers view 5G fixed wireless as a relatively close substitute for ‘traditional’ fixed broadband services, and so the Commission should take it into account in examining deployment data for fixed broadband.”
However, the filing argues that it would be premature for the Commission to take low-earth orbit satellite technology into account in its evaluation because of capacity constraints that limit the number of subscribers that can be served without service degradation, among other factors.
About ACA Connects: America’s Communications Association –America’s Communications Association – ACA Connects is a trade organization representing more than 500 smaller and medium-sized, independent companies that provide broadband, video, and phone services covering 31.9 million households, 7.3 million of which are located in rural and smaller suburban markets across America. ACA Connects Members operate in every state, providing advanced communications to connect homes, companies, main street, schools, hospitals and more. America’s economic prosperity in smaller communities and rural areas depends on the growth and success of ACA Connects Members, who believe a connected nation is a prosperous nation.