GOP platform slams FCC as stuck in the 19th century

{mosads}”This is not a good fit,” the GOP writes. “Indeed, the development of telecommunications advances so rapidly that even the Telecom Act of 1996 is woefully out of date. An industry that invested $66 billion in 2011 alone needs, and deserves, a more modern relationship with the federal government for the benefit of consumers here and worldwide.”

The party accuses the Obama administration of being “frozen in the past.”

“It has conducted no auction of spectrum, has offered no incentives for investment, and, through the FCC’s net neutrality rule, is trying to micromanage telecom as if it were a railroad network,” the Republicans write.

The FCC’s net-neutrality rules, adopted in late 2010, bar Internet service providers from blocking or slowing down access to legitimate websites. Supporters argue the rules are critical to ensuring the openness and freedom of the Internet. But critics claim the rules unnecessarily restrict Internet providers.

Auctioning radio spectrum — the frequencies that all wireless devices use to transmit signals — is a popular idea in both parties as well as with the FCC’s leadership. There are a limited number of frequencies capable of carrying signals, and wireless providers have struggled in recent years to keep pace with the exploding demand placed on their networks by smartphones and tablet computers.

The FCC pushed Congress for the legal authority to incentivize television broadcasters to give up their spectrum for auction to wireless carriers. Congress included the spectrum auction provisions as part of tax-cut-extension legislation approved earlier this year.

The FCC is now beginning the long regulatory process of reclaiming the frequencies from broadcasters and setting the rules for the auctions.

Expanding broadband Internet access is a top priority for FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, but the GOP platform slams the FCC for not doing enough.

“It inherited from the previous Republican Administration 95 percent coverage of the nation with broadband,” the Republicans write. “It will leave office with no progress toward the goal of universal coverage — after spending $7.2 billion more. That hurts rural America, where farmers, ranchers, and small business manufacturers need connectivity to expand their customer base and operate in real time with the world’s producers.”

The $7.2 billion figure refers to stimulus funds that were distributed by the Commerce and Agriculture departments.

According to the FCC’s latest report on broadband deployment, 19 million Americans currently lack a high-speed connection, meaning that about 94 percent of the country now has broadband access. But the FCC has adopted tougher standards in recent years for how fast a connection must be to qualify as broadband. 

Under the stricter definition, 7 million Americans gained broadband access in 2011 alone.