FCC Plans to Scrap Biden-era Gigabit Broadband Goal
The proposal is scheduled for a vote on August 7
WASHINGTON, July 25, 2025 – The Federal Communications Commission will vote in two weeks on whether to eliminate the 1000 * 500 Mbps broadband speed goal set in 2024 by then-Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel.
Under the Notice, set for a vote August 7, the FCC would discard several key standards established during the previous administration, including the long-term gigabit speed target and efforts to analyze broadband affordability and adoption.
“Assuming a long-term goal of 1,000 * 500 Mbps may be unreasonably prejudicial to technologies such as satellite and fixed wireless that presently do not support such speeds,” the Notice states. “Maintaining such a goal risks skewing the market by unnecessarily potentially picking technological winners and losers.”
The proposal was tucked within the FCC’s latest section 706 inquiry, which requires the FCC to assess “the availability of advanced telecommunications capability to all Americans” and whether it was being deployed to all Americans “in a reasonable and timely fashion.”
Chairman Brendan Carr issued the Notice on July 17, citing the desire to return to the plain statutory language of section 706 of the 1996 Telecommunications Act.
The Notice explicitly seeks to reverse the broader interpretation of section 706 adopted in the 2024 Report, which included goals like “equitable access, adoption, and affordability.”
The FCC “in the 2024 Report departed from the way that the section 706 inquiry had historically been conducted by for the first time reading several extraneous universal service criteria into the section 706 statutory inquiry based upon its interpretation of Congressional intent,” the Notice states.
“We propose to reorient the section 706 inquiry back to the plain language of the statute and eliminate this expansion,” it states.
Affordability, adoption on the chopping block
The proposal also ceases investigations into broadband affordability and adoption, labeling such inquiries as “extraneous” to the core statutory mandate of section 706.
The proposal would retain the 1 Gbps per 1,000 students and staff short-term school connectivity benchmark but avoid setting a long-term goal, again citing concerns about picking technological winners and lack of statutory basis.
The Notice cites the Supreme Court’s recent Loper Bright v. Raimondo ruling, the case that overturned Chevron deference, as a justification for returning to a strict reading of section 706.
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