Broadband universal service

Broadband universal service is the efforts to make sure all citizens have access to use broadband service. This term and "universal broadband service" are interchangeably. Broadband universal service has been in discussion for years in many countries, such as the United States, Finland, UK, Spain, Singapore and Taiwan. Should broadband be included in universal service scope? If so, with what time scale and who should pay?

Finland is the first country in the world to provide broadband universal service. The British government also planned to make broadband available in every house by 2012 . The United States also planned to make broadband available to all citizens.

Universal service mandate

The term universal service was introduced in the early twentieth century. In many countries, such as the UK, United States, and Taiwan, telephony services have been required to be a universal service.

In the United States, it was initially advocated by Theodore Vail, then vice president of AT&T, who proposed a policy based on “one system, one policy, universal service.” In recent years, universal service mainly refers to “Government policies to promote the affordability of telephone service and Access to the network” (Mueller, Jr., 1997, p. 411)

Universal service implies ubiquitous communications Infrastructures can enhance national unity and equality of opportunity. Therefore, it could be a way to express” liberal egalitarianism” (Mueller, Jr., 1997, p. 411) In Telecommunications Act of 1996, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is required to promote the expansion of telecommunication services to let all citizens be able to access advanced telecommunication services at a reasonable price. So far, these services mainly include the telephony services, both the fixed lines and wireless phones. Whether the government should add broadband in the universal service scope or not, is still under discussion.

According to the FCC, the goals of universal Service, as mandated by the 1996 Act, are to :

•Promote the availability of quality services at just, reasonable and affordable rates for all consumers

•Increase nationwide access to advanced telecommunications services

•Advance the availability of such services to all consumers, including those in low income, rural, insular, and high cost areas at rates that are reasonably comparable to those charged in urban areas

•Increase access to telecommunications and advanced services in schools, libraries and rural health care facilities

•Provide equitable and non-discriminatory contributions from all providers of telecommunications services to the fund supporting universal service programs FCC

FCC

Broadband

Broadband overview

Faster and more widely available broadband is seen as an important opportunity to improve education, communication, and public participation in civic affairs. As President Obamamentioned: “One key to strengthening education, entrepreneurship, and innovation in communities… is to harness the full power of the Internet, and that means faster and more widely available broadband.” (Obama, 2009) In addition, wide spread broadband access is critical for global competitiveness, economic development, national security, public safety, job creation, civic engagement, etc.(NTIA, 2010).

NTIA2010

NTIA2010

Broadband access & usage in the United States

Based on a survey conducted by the United States Census Bureau in 2009 (N=50,000, unit: household), people with high incomes, those who are younger, more highly-educated, Asians and Whites, and the employed, have higher rates of broadband use at home. People with low incomes, minorities, seniors, the less-educated, and the non-employed tend to have lower rates of broadband use at home. Besides, there are rural/urban differences as well. People in rural areas are less likely to adopt the Internet (NTIA, 2010).

According to NTIA (2011), almost one-third of American households still lack a broadband connection. “The rates for White (68%) and Asian non-Hispanics (69%) exceed those for Black non-Hispanics (50%) and Hispanics (45%) by 18 percentage points or more. Rural America lags behind urban areas by ten percentage points (60% versus 70%).”

Digital Divide

One of the main goals to have universal broadband service is to narrow the digital divide (or called "digital split"). Digital divide refers to “the differing amount of information between those who have access to the Internet (specially broadband access) and those who do not have access. The term became popular among concerned parties, such as scholars, policy makers, and advocacy groups, in the late 1990s” (Internet World Stats). Digital divide is not just about the access of the Internet, but also the quality of connection, and the related service availability. To improve the economic equality, democracy, and economic development are main reasons why we should try to shorten the digital divide.

Debates about broadband universal service - Pros & Cons

There has been much discussion regarding whether we still need universal service, and whether we need to widen the definition of universal service beyond the provision of telephony services to include broadband access.

Pros - why do we need broadband universal service?

The main argument to support broadband universal service is related to equality and public interest. According to the CFA & CA (2009), in order to “get people connected for basic communications that opens the door to economic and civic participation in cyberspace”, it is essential to provide basic broadband connectivity at an affordable prices.

President Obama also mentioned, this isn’t just about faster Internet or fewer dropped calls. It’s about connecting every part of America to the digital age. It’s about a rural community in Iowa or Alabama where farmers and small business owners will be able to sell their products all over the world. It’s about a firefighter who can download the design of a burning building onto a handheld device; a student who can take classes with a digital textbook; or a patient who can have face-to-face video chats with her doctor.” –President Obama, State of the Union Address, January 25, 2011

As NTIA (2010) pointed out, "Universal access to and adoption of 21st Century broadband for all citizens is a top priority for the Obama Administration. Widespread access is critical to America’s future as the world’s economic leader because of its impact on increasing our productivity, global competitiveness, and improving Americans’ quality of life – through economic growth and development, job creation, national security, telemedicine, distance learning, public safety, civic engagement, and telework." )).

Cons - some other arguments and questions

1. Do people who do not have broadband service at present really need it? According to NTIA (2010), the major reason for people not having high speed Internet use at home is “don’t need/not interested” (37.8%), and the second one is “too expensive” (26.3%). Therefore, one argument is: maybe people without broadband do not need it. Why do taxpayers need to pay for people who do not need broadband to have broadband?).

NTIA2010

2. If the goal is to increase broadband penetration, is the universal service the best way? If the regulator could increase the incentives to ensure operators offer such services through a market based power, instead of the mandate of universal service? Maybe there are other steps can be taken to design the service and tariff packages without subsidies to ensure broadband penetration. (Garnham, 1998)

3. If broadband universal service is necessary, over what time scale and who should pay? One of the biggest issues regarding universal broadband service is "how to use the universal service funding efficiently and effectively." How could the regulator make sure the cost proposed by the operators is true and reasonable?

"No regrets” projects

This is a proposal to “serve those without broadband available by using stimulus funding to deploy middle mile fiber and provision the first mile with cutting edge wireless broadband” (Copper, 2009). There are two types of projects:

1. Middle middle fiber – essentially fiber down the road

2. First mile wireless – mobile computing

Broadband universal service in Finland

In 2009, the Finish Ministry of Transport and Communications announced a decree which required the 1 Mbit Internet connection to be included in the universal service mandates in UK in 2010. Therefore, Finland becomes the first country in the world to have broadband universal service.

Broadband universal service in UK

Digital Britain

The British government announced to make broadband universal service available in 2012. According to the Digital Britain report published in 2009, "broadband connections should be available to all under a "Universal Service Commitment" similar to BT's obligation to make fixed-line telephone services available to everyone"

Broadband universal service in the United States

National Broadband Plan

In the States, the broadband universal service concept is rooted in the universal service mandate in Telecommunications Act of 1996. Arguments regarding the National Broadband Plan are also related to broadband universal service debates.

TheNational Broadband Plan was proposed by the FCC. The FCC started the process of creating this plan in April 2009. After holding thirty-six public workshops and streamed online, with more than 10,000 people and 700 parties participated, 23,000 comments have been generated. The FCC filed about 13,000 pages and held nine public hearings to refine and clarify some issues in the plan and proposed it in 2011(FCC, 2011).

In the National Broadband Plan, many important policies are mentioned. For example, the federal government intends to make 500 megahertz of spectrum available to promote wireless broadband. Furthermore, it will "create the Connect America Fund (CAF) to support the provision of affordable broadband and voice with at least 4 Mbps actual download speeds and shift up to $15.5 billion over the next decade from the existing Universal Service Fund (USF) program to support broadband" (FCC, 2011).

There are six long-term goals in the plan (FCC, 2011):

1: At least 100 million U.S. homes should have affordable access to actual download speeds of at least 100 megabits per second and actual upload speeds of at least 50 megabits per second.

2: The United States should lead the world in mobile innovation, with the fastest and most extensive wireless networks of any nation.

3: Every American should have affordable access to robust broadband service, and the means and skills to subscribe if they so choose.

4: Every American community should have affordable access to at least 1 gigabit per second broadband service to anchor institutions such as schools, hospitals and government buildings.

5: To ensure the safety of the American people, every first responder should have access to a nationwide, wireless, interoperable broadband public safety network.

6: To ensure that America leads in the clean energy economy, every American should be able to use broadband to track and manage their real-time energy consumption.

National Broadband Map

The National Broadband Map was created by the NTIA and FCC. It was launched on February 17, 2011. It is an unprecedented searchable database of information on high-speed Internet access. Although the map is in an early stage of development and continues to contain errors, by entering specific addresses, users can acquire information on how connected their communities are. On the website of the National Broadband Map, broadband providers are listed in order of their maximum speed advertised (Broadband. Gov).

See also

• universal service
• universal service fund
• Universal Service Directive
• Telecommunications Act of 1996
• Broadband
• Federal Communications Commission
• National Broadband Plan (United States)

External links & some other references

Atkinson, R. D. (2007). The Case for a national broadband policy.

Atkinson, R. D. (2009). Role of Competition in a National Broadband Policy.

Bauer, J. M. & Kim, J. H. (2003). Broadband uptake in OECD countries: Policy lessons from comparative statistical analysis.

Bauer, J.M., DeMaagd, K., Wildman, S., & Yook, S. Michigan’s Communication Infrastructure Needs: Assessment and Policy Options. East Lansing: Michigan State University, 2009.

Berkman Center (2009). Next generation connectivity: A review of broadband Internet transitions and policy from around the world.

Cava-Ferreruela (2006). Broadband policy assessment: A cross-national empirical analysis. Telecommunications Policy.

Cherry, B. A., Wildman, S. S., Hammond, A. S. (Ed.) (1999). Making universal service policy: Enhancing the process through multidisciplinary evaluation.

FCC, Universal Service Monitoring Report 2010, accessible at http://www.fcc.gov/wcb/iatd/monitor.html

Ford, G. S. (2007). The broadband performance index: a policy-relevant method of comparing broadband adoption among countries. http://www.phoenix-center.org/pcpp/PCPP29Final.doc

Gillett, S. The Connect America Fund and Intercarrier Compensation Reform Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, presentation at the Silicon Flatirons Conference, Boulder, CO, February 13, 2011.

Nuechterlein, J. E. & Weiser, P. J. (2005). Digital crossroads: American telecommunications policy in the Internet age. MIT: Cambridge.

President Obama, State of the Union Address, January 25, 2011 (Video) http://www.whitehouse.gov/state-of-the-union-2011

Wu, T. (2005). Broadband Debate, A User's Guide. http://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/jtelhtel3&div=9&g_sent=1&collection=journals