Speed Matters: FCC Adopts New Broadband Rules

At the urging of CWA – reflecting the goals of CWA's Speed Matters campaign – the Federal Communications Commission unanimously adopted new rules for broadband data reporting to better measure how widely – and at what speeds – broadband is available across the United States.

"The Commission's action shows bipartisan support for the principles and work of Speed Matters. That's a big step forward in our effort to have a national policy for true high speed Internet access for all," said CWA President Larry Cohen.

In a letter to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, Cohen outlined CWA's case for the key changes that later were adopted by the Commission. "Improving the way data is measured and collected is a vital step toward extending affordable high-speed internet access to every household in the United States," he wrote.

Among the key changes:

• A new definition of basic broadband speed, now set at 768 kbps (kilobits per second). Until now, the FCC considered any service offering 200 kbps to be "high speed" for either uploading or downloading material.
• Companies must report the number of broadband subscribers by more detailed upload and download speed using census tracts to more accurately reflect the households served.

This is a big change from the previous rule, which allowed companies to report the total number of zip codes in which they had at least one subscriber.

The FCC delayed action on requiring ISPs to report the prices they charge.