McDowell: Cable Industry Already Working to Achieve 100 Million High Speed Service

Commissioner sounds note of caution against potential disincentives

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 3/16/2010 1:33:23 PM

FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell said Tuesday (March 16) that the cable industry already had a broadband plan that was working to achieve the government's goal of high-speed service to 100 million households by 2020.

The FCC officially unveiled its national broadband plan Tuesday, but given that much of the plan had already been revealed piecemeal, the unveiling was primarily a chance for the commissioners to weigh in on it in public statements, including McDowell's suggestion that the cable industry was ahead of the game.

The plan itself was not a vote-able item, but the commissioners did unanimously vote to approve a statement about the importance of broadband.

The plan contains some 200 recommendations, about half to the FCC, the majority of the rest to various other government agencies, with a few action items for Congress.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said that the FCC will act on those items, which include proposed rulemaking, with the urgency that the broadband challenge demands.

While all the commissioners praised the broadband team for tireless efforts in assembling the plan, there were some notes of caution, particularly from Commissioner Robert McDowell.

Taking a page from the prescription tablet of the Hippocratic oath, he said the plan should "first and foremost do no harm."

He pointed out that cable modem service is already available to 92% of households. "Merely by upgrading cable systems with the DOCSIS 3.0 system, which is expected to happen over the next few years anyway," he said, over 104 million American homes will have access to speeds of up to 100 mbps. In other words, unless the government provides disincentives to investment, the plan's goal of reaching 100 million households with 100 mbps services should be attained well before 2020 if we allow current trends to continue in an unfettered manner."

The first among McDowell's his concerns is that he said the plan "opens the door" to reclassifying broadband as a voice service under Title II of the Communications Act.

Some groups suggested the FCC may need to do that if a D.C. court held that it did not have ancillary authority to adopt Internet regulations under its classification of broadband as an information service not subject to mandatory access regulations.

"Not only do I doubt that such a reclassification would survive appeal, I don't see how foisting a regulatory framework first devised in the 19th century would help a competitive 21st century marketplace continue to thrive," said McDowell.

He also took issue with proposals for a digital media fund, or suggestions for a national framework for Internet taxation. "Federal preemption of Internet taxation could be beneficial, but only if it results in more freedom," he said.

McDowell said he had been hopeful that the plan would contain a chapter on tax incentives to explore investment.