	Introduction

Broadband—whether delivered via fiber, cable modem, copper wire, satellite, or mobile wireless—is increasingly the technology underlying telecommunications services such as voice, video, and data. Since the initial deployment of high-speed internet in the late 1990s, broadband technologies have been deployed throughout the United States primarily by the private sector. These providers include telephone, cable, wireless, and satellite companies as well as other entities that provide commercial telecommunications services to residential, business, and institutional customers. How broadband is defined and characterized in statute and in regulation can have a significant impact on federal broadband policies and how federal resources are allocated to promote broadband deployment in unserved and underserved areas. Another way broadband can be defined is by setting a minimum threshold speed for what constitutes "broadband service." Section 706 and the FCC's Definition of Minimum Broadband Speed

Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 requires the FCC to regularly initiate an inquiry concerning the availability of broadband to all Americans and to determine whether broadband is "being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion." If the determination is negative, the act directs the FCC to "take immediate action to accelerate deployment of such capability by removing barriers to infrastructure investment and by promoting competition in the telecommunications market." Starting in 1999, there have been 11 Section 706 reports, each providing a snapshot and assessment of broadband deployment. As part of this assessment, and to help determine whether broadband is being deployed in "a reasonable and timely fashion," the FCC has set a minimum broadband speed that essentially serves as the benchmark it uses to determine what constitutes broadband service for the purposes of its Section 706 determination. In 2015, the FCC, citing changing broadband usage patterns and multiple devices using broadband within single households, raised its minimum broadband benchmark speed from 4 Mbps/1 Mbps to 25 Mbps/3 Mbps. On February 2, 2018, the FCC adopted and released its latest 706 report, the 2018 Broadband Deployment Report . The FCC concluded that advanced telecommunications capability is being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion. Thirteenth Section 706 Report Notice of Inquiry

On August 8, 2017, the FCC adopted and released its T hirteenth Section 706 Notice of Inquiry ( NOI ). Among their arguments were that LTE 4G mobile broadband deployment and usage is ubiquitous, with private sector investment continuing to grow for future deployments such as 5G; that the FCC should consider whether progress in broadband deployment is reasonable and timely, as opposed to whether deployment already is complete and ubiquitous; that consumers increasingly use mobile devices in fixed locations for many voice, data, graphics, and video applications, and that mobile broadband need not be a perfect or complete economic substitute for fixed broadband for the FCC to determine that both meet the definition of "advanced telecommunications capability"; and that many consumers in fact do view mobile and fixed broadband as interchangeable substitutes and that the two services provide a competitive constraint on each other and should be considered to be in the same market. As broadband technology advances, commercially available download and upload speeds will likely increase, and the level at which broadband benchmark threshold speeds should be set is likely to remain controversial. Accordingly, the FCC's annual Section 706 determination is likely to remain contentious as long as it is seen by stakeholders as providing a justification for current or future FCC regulatory or deregulatory policies. Stakeholders who supported an FCC determination that broadband is not being deployed in a reasonable and timely fashion generally opposed lowering the broadband benchmark by considering the presence of either fixed (at 25 Mbps/3 Mbps) or mobile (at 10 Mbps/1 Mbps) broadband as an indication that an area has adequate broadband service. On the other hand, stakeholders who supported an FCC determination that broadband is being deployed in a reasonable and timely fashion generally supported changing the FCC's broadband benchmark methodology to include the presence of either fixed or mobile broadband as an indication that an area is receiving adequate broadband service.
Broadband—whether delivered via fiber, cable modem, copper wire, satellite, or mobile wireless—is increasingly the technology underlying telecommunications services such as voice, video, and data. Since the initial deployment of high-speed internet in the late 1990s, broadband technologies have been deployed throughout the United States primarily by the private sector. These providers include telephone, cable, wireless, and satellite companies as well as other entities that provide commercial telecommunications services to residential, business, and institutional customers.
How broadband is defined and characterized in statute and in regulation can have a significant impact on federal broadband policies and how federal resources are allocated to promote broadband deployment in unserved and underserved areas. One way broadband can be defined is by setting a minimum threshold speed for what constitutes "broadband service." Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 requires the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to regularly initiate an inquiry concerning the availability of broadband to all Americans and to determine whether broadband is "being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion." If the determination is negative, the act directs the FCC to "take immediate action to accelerate deployment of such capability by removing barriers to infrastructure investment and by promoting competition in the telecommunications market."
Starting in 1999, there have been 11 Section 706 reports, each providing a snapshot and assessment of broadband deployment. As part of this assessment, and to help determine whether broadband is being deployed in "a reasonable and timely fashion," the FCC has set a minimum broadband speed that essentially serves as the benchmark the FCC uses to determine what it considers broadband service for the purposes of its Section 706 determination. In 2015 the FCC, citing changing broadband usage patterns and multiple devices using broadband within single households, raised its minimum fixed broadband benchmark speed from 4 Mbps (download)/1 Mbps (upload) to 25 Mbps/3 Mbps.
On August 8, 2017, the FCC adopted and released its Thirteenth Section 706 Notice of Inquiry (NOI). One proposal under consideration was establishing a lower benchmark speed specifically for mobile broadband. Stakeholders who supported an FCC determination that broadband is not being deployed in a reasonable and timely fashion generally opposed lowering the broadband benchmark by considering the presence of either fixed (at 25 Mbps/3 Mbps) or mobile (at 10 Mbps/1 Mbps) broadband as an indication that an area has adequate broadband service. On the other hand, stakeholders who supported an FCC determination that broadband is being deployed in a reasonable and timely fashion generally supported changing the FCC's broadband benchmark methodology to include the presence of either fixed or mobile broadband as an indication that an area is receiving adequate broadband service.
On February 2, 2018, the FCC adopted and released its latest 706 report, the 2018 Broadband Deployment Report. While the FCC concluded that advanced telecommunications capability is being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion, it concluded that adoption of a single mobile benchmark is currently unworkable and that mobile broadband service is not a full substitute for fixed service at this time.
As broadband technology advances, commercially available download and upload speeds will likely increase, and the level at which broadband benchmark threshold speeds should be set is likely to remain controversial. Accordingly, the FCC's annual Section 706 determination is likely to be an issue in Congress as long as it is seen by stakeholders as providing a justification for current or future FCC regulatory or deregulatory policies.