Analysis of broadband affordability deemed “extraneous” by FCC chair.

The Federal Communications Commission is ditching Biden-era standards for measuring progress toward the goal of universal broadband deployment.

The changes will make it easier for the FCC to give the broadband industry a passing grade in an annual progress report. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s proposal would give the industry a thumbs-up even if it falls short of 100 percent deployment, eliminate a long-term goal of gigabit broadband speeds, and abandon a new effort to track the affordability of broadband.

Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act requires the FCC to determine whether broadband is being deployed “on a reasonable and timely basis” to all Americans. If the answer is no, the US law says the FCC must “take immediate action to accelerate deployment of such capability by removing barriers to infrastructure investment and by promoting competition in the telecommunications market.”

      • skisnow@lemmy.ca
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        3 days ago

        I don’t think that was what they were saying. They were bemoaning the fact that “3rd world” has become a synonym for “developing” or “poor” when technically it means countries that weren’t part of the cold war, although I think they might be tilting at windmills given it’s a distinction that’s been lost for at least three decades already.

        Apart from anything else, even if you keep its original meaning, it still works as a metaphor in the sense of a country losing superpower status.