Mediacom Files Google Complaint At FCC, Americans Support Broadband Investment, Broadband Mapping Underreporting

May 18, 2021 – Mediacom has filed this month what it says is the first ever complaint involving Section 253 of the Telecommunications Act, which stems from a deal the city of West Des Moines, Iowa, inked with Google to use its municipal network, according to Fierce Telecom.

The deal, signed in July 2020, gives Google exclusive access to the city-built network, which Mediacom alleges violates the provision that prohibits local deals that stop other carriers from delivering service.

Mediacom is battling the case on two fronts: in court and at the FCC.

Mediacom is hoping the FCC will advise the city to stop construction of the conduit network and  “remove the preferential design, access, financial and permitting rights” afforded to it, it said, according to Fierce.

“If the Commission does not act to preempt the city’s actions, that inaction will encourage other municipalities to ignore their Section 253 obligations to the detriment of the public and facilities-based competition,” it added.

Majority of Americans and Republicans support more broadband investments

A New York Times survey released Monday found the vast majority of American adults support more broadband investments, and a majority of Republicans lean that way, too.

The survey found 78 percent of adults and 62 percent of Republicans support more of those investments.

President Joe Biden’s new infrastructure plan includes $100 billion toward broadband access, with the stated aim of providing high-speed internet access to all Americans by 2030.

Many businesses and industry groups have supported this investment to close the “digital divide.” However, a sticking point is what type of speed should define high-speed broadband. The Federal Communications Commission’s current minimum standard is 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload, but Democratic bills in the House hope to drive those thresholds up.

Over 42 million Americans are currently living in areas without broadband internet access. Adie Tomie, a fellow at the Brookings Institution, explained the issue of rural broadband access requires the federal government to step in to provide high-speed, reliable internet access.

FCC data over-reports broadband availability by 6.5% of the U.S. population

BroadbandNow is criticizing newly-released FCC data showing a lower number of Americans are without broadband availability.

The organization said in a post last week that the FCC’s 14.5 million reported Americans that are without high-speed broadband is actually 42 million, by their estimate. The group said this kind of problem will make policy decisions harder.

BroadbandNow reports that the flaw in their research is due to its use of the Form 477. This form is mandated by the FCC to estimate using a self-reporting process that fails to acknowledge that if an ISP offers service to at least one household in a census block, then the FCC counts the entire census block as covered by that provider.

The process is currently undergoing reform, as the FCC seeks a new “fabric” model to collect such data.