III. What State and Federal Governments are doing about
Broadband and Broadband Access.
In this chapter, several
of the government initiatives and relevant legal proceedings are examined
to provide and understanding of the legal authority and policy positions
regarding broadband access and deployment.
The first section
examines the involvement of the Federal Communications Commission including
the text of its pertinent orders. The next section touches on current
legislative initiatives pending in the Congress. The third section summarizes
key court decisions on the issue of cable access. The last section provides
a summary of a recent FCC survey on the status of the Broadband marketplace.
First Report(1999.1.28)
The FCC issued the
First Report to Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and
it's focus on the actual deployment of advanced telecommunications capability
in this nascent market. The Commission further noted that there is a significant
initial consumer demand for broadband capability and stated its expectation
that demand will grow substantially in the near future, so they take the
approaches of stimulating investment, innovation and deployment of advanced
telecommunication services to all people. The document of First
Report (Word Perfect file)
The goal of the Federal-State
Joint Conference is to promote advanced telecom service. In order to ensure
that advanced telecommunications service will be rapidly available everywhere,
the FCC adopted an Order convening a Federal-State Joint Conference on
advanced telecommunications services. The Joint Conference will provide
a forum for an ongoing dialogue between the Commission, state regulators,
and local and regional entities regarding the deployment of advanced telecommunications
capabilities.
The conference mission is:
Determine who is deploying advanced services?
What are the barriers to deployment?
Where is broadband available?
How can we get better data?
How can we present this data to policy makers?
FCC issued a report on the availability of high-speed and advanced telecommunications
service and further identified the lack of services in certain areas.
The Commission noted the efforts of encouraging competition, promoting
infrastructure investment and addressing the affordability of advanced
services. The document of Second
Report.(Word file)
"Open Access"Notice of Inquiry(2000. 9. 28)
FCC issued the "Open Access" Notice of Inquiry to ask for public
comments on regulatory treatment accorded to cable modem services. This
proceeding is to ascertain whether the hands-off policy for cable modem
service remains the correct approach and how the commission might introduce
a national policy for regulating high-speed services. Specifically, they
seek comments on the classification of cable modem service, various issues
related to open access and whether the Commission should purse any further
course of action. The document of Notice
of Inquiry.(Word file)
Comments were filed
on December 1, 2000 and reply comments were filed on January 10, 2001.
Reporting
Reporting Requirements for Local Competition & Broadband Services.
The document of Report&Order.
(Word file)
Determine who is deploying advanced services?