National Journal

By Juliana Gruenwald

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski's broadband policies are under renewed criticism. This time, concerns are being raised by a bipartisan group of House lawmakers who represent rural districts and worry the FCC's national broadband plan will jeopardize the current regulatory structure used to maintain and expand rural telecommunications services.

In a letter Friday, 40 House lawmakers from both parties expressed concern that provisions in the national broadband plan released in March by the FCC would exacerbate the digital divide between rural and urban America and also would upend the regulatory structure and support provided to rural carriers from the universal service fund, which subsidizes telecommunications services in rural areas.

"Our concern is that the [broadband plan] sets the United States on a course toward a greater digital divide between urban and rural areas by proposing 4 megabits per second rate (Mbps) as the goal for rural areas, while boasting about the benefits of 100 Mbps for more densely populated areas," according to the letter spearheaded by Reps. Sam Graves, R-Mo., the ranking member on the House Small Business Committee, and Betsy Markey, D-Colo. It also was signed by some senior members of the House including Transportation Chairman Jim Oberstar, D-Minn., Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson, D-Minn., and Judiciary ranking member Lamar Smith, R-Texas.

They added that implementing the broadband plan as written would not provide all Americans with adequate broadband service because "it puts at risk the regulatory structure and support that rural communications providers need to maintain and expand their networks. The lawmakers called on the FCC to make changes to the plan to address such concerns.

The broadband plan calls for overhauling the universal service fund to expand its support to include broadband service.

Concerns over the plan's impact on rural communities is just the latest criticism of the FCC's broadband policies. Genachowski's proposal to reclassify broadband as a more heavily regulated telecommunications service has come under fire by a majority of Congress.

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