Senate Committee Okays Broadband Bill Unanimously, Speed Matters Strategic Industry Fund Plays Major

CWA-supported legislation to raise the government's definition of high-speed Internet and develop a detailed "map" of broadband availability, speed, and cost across the United States won unanimous approval from the Senate Commerce Committee this week. The Broadband Data Improvement Act (S. 1492) now moves to the full Senate for action, where it is not expected to encounter much difficulty given the measure's bipartisan support.

A companion measure is expected to be introduced in the House shortly by Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) who chairs the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet.

CWA played a central role in the development of the measure through effective bipartisan lobbying and its widely publicized Speed Matters Strategic Industry Fund Campaign and website (www.SpeedMatters.org). This May, in testimony before the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, CWA President Larry Cohen urged Congress to adopt legislation, laying out the key principals behind the union's Speed Matters program: universality, speed, affordability, an open internet, and consumer and worker protections.

The legislation requires the Federal Communications Commission to revise its definition of broadband, currently an outdated 200 kilobits per second.  CWA recommends that "high speed" broadband be defined as 2 megabits per second (mbps) for downloads and 1 mbps for uploads. The FCC is also required to collect detailed information on the actual number of residential and business broadband customers.

The bill calls on other government agencies to play a role in improving the availability, speed and cost of broadband. The Census Bureau is instructed to collect data on household Internet connections and computer ownership, and the Government Accountability Office and Small Business Administration are required to study and make recommendations on collecting information and comparing U.S. high-speed availability and quality with other countries. More than $40 million in grants will be provided to the states for broadband mapping and local technology planning teams, and "telecommunications labor organizations" are given a key role as members of the local technology teams.