Rep. Stearns ‘perplexed’ by FCC’s broadband report

Democrats and Republicans are
often split over whether the state of American broadband access is
satisfactory.

Republicans, including two
commissioners at the FCC, routinely point to the figure of 95 percent, which is
the share of the country that has access to broadband. The Republican
commissioners are expected to dissent from the report’s findings.

But Democrats, who have three
votes at the FCC, draw attention to the 14 million to 24 million Americans who
remain without access.

U.S. Telecom, the association
for broadband providers, also questioned the report, issuing a Monday statement
from chief executive Walter McCormick. A poor broadband report would “strain
credulity,” he said. “Clearly, our country is in the middle of a broadband
explosion.”

Public Knowledge, a consumer
activist group, came to the defense of the report on Monday. Gigi Sohn, PK’s
president, said the FCC’s findings are “realistic.”

“Until now, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has
issued reports finding the state of broadband was acceptable, even as other
nations were passing us by,” she said.