Feb 1 -- The Federal Communications Commission (Commission) proposes rules regarding affirmative obligations for broadband providers, through: annual reports that facilitate greater transparency regarding substantial broadband projects recently completed by providers, and internal compliance programs requiring periodic evaluation of the demographics of communities served—and not served—by such recently completed projects, as well as pending and planned substantial projects. The Commission also seeks comment on establishing am Office of Civil Rights. Comments are due on or before March 4, 2024, and reply comments are due on or before April 1, 2024.
In this Further Notice we take additional steps to fulfill our statutory mandate to facilitate equal access to broadband internet access service by preventing digital discrimination of access. We seek further, focused comments on affirmative obligations that might be undertaken by broadband service access providers (providers) to expand broadband access and address possible digital discrimination of access. Our digital discrimination of access rules apply to “covered entities” which is broader than broadband providers, but at this time our proposed annual report and compliance program are limited to broadband providers as defined in 47 CFR 54.1600(b).
The proposals in this Further Notice complement rules we adopt today by focusing on providers' day-to-day business practices that might, in some instances, differentially impact consumers' access to broadband on prohibited bases. Our proposals are intended to make fully transparent to the public what communities are served, and what communities are not served, by large-scale broadband deployment, upgrade, and maintenance projects completed or substantially completed by each provider over the preceding calendar year.
We propose to require the reporting of this information on a state-by-state or territory-by-territory basis in a yearly supplement to the Broadband Data Collection (BDC) so the public can see not only where broadband service is available, but where and how providers are currently investing in their broadband networks and what communities are benefiting from those investments. Our proposals would also require providers to establish formal compliance programs related to digital discrimination of access and to conduct regular, internal assessments of what communities are served (and not served) by recently completed, pending, and planned large-scale broadband projects and whether their relevant policies and practices might differentially impact consumers' access to broadband service. Such regular assessments, we believe, will help “smoke out” policies and practices that might impede equal access to broadband service without sufficient technical or economic justification as providers pressure test the asserted justifications for policies and practices producing such effects.
Affirmative obligations such as these are not foreign to the Commission. Most recently, for example, the Commission has adopted affirmative obligations for voice service providers to better police their own networks against illegal robocalls and protect consumers from widespread fraud, and we believe that targeted affirmative and effective measures can similarly combat discriminatory practices in the context of our duty under section 60506 to prevent and identify steps to eliminate digital discrimination of access.
In this Further Notice, we propose two sets of affirmative obligations for broadband providers in furtherance of our mandate to facilitate equal access to broadband internet access service, including by preventing digital discrimination of access. Under our proposal, each broadband provider would be required to: (1) submit an annual, publicly-available supplement to the BDC describing, on a state-by-state or territory-by-territory basis, any large-scale broadband deployment, upgrade, and maintenance projects that were completed or substantially completed during the preceding calendar year and the communities served by such projects; and (2) establish a mandatory internal compliance program requiring regular internal assessment of (a) what communities are served by recent, pending, and planned large-scale projects and (b) whether the provider's broadband-related policies and practices might differentially impact consumers' access to broadband based on a listed characteristic and without adequate technical or economic justification.
FRN:
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2024-01996 [11 pages]
