The FCC has released a Notice of Inquiry urging individual consumers, broadband providers, consumer advocates, policy institutes, governmental entities, and other interested parties to provide comment on “whether advanced telecommunications capability is being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion,” as required by Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, as amended. In its 2016 Broadband Progress Report, released under former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, the Commission reached the conclusion that broadband services were not getting deployed in a timely fashion to all Americans. However, in the most recent report, the 2018 Broadband Deployment Report released earlier this year under current FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, the Commission found “that advanced telecommunications capability was being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion.” Due to a March 2018 change in federal law, the information solicited by the FCC in even-numbered years, such as what is requested under this current Notice of Inquiry , will be included in a comprehensive “Communications Marketplace Report” and not a stand-alone report dedicated to just broadband deployment. Comments are due on or before Monday, September 10, 2018 and reply comments are due on or before Monday, September 24, 2018.
