Rep Eshoo to FCC: Advanced Telecom Should Include Mobile

House Communications Subcommittee Ranking Member Anna Eshoo (D-CA) has told the Federal Communications Commission that it should include mobile broadband in its next Sec. 706 report on whether advanced telecommunications (broadband) is being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely manner. Ranking Member Eshoo was adding her voice to the comments the FCC solicited in August on how it should structure its next report.

Historically the FCC has not included mobile broadband, but said this time around it was probably time to change that. While Ranking Member Eshoo said, as the FCC has in explaining the exclusion of mobile, that it is not a substitute for high-speed wireless and is "technologically distinguishable," she said that both provide a "critical gateway" to the Internet "and should be viewed as such when examining the state of broadband deployment." Ranking Member Eshoo pointed out in a letter to the FCC that for many rural, tribal and minority communities, mobile is the primary means of accessing the Internet. "The FCC's definition of advanced telecommunications capability should fully reflect the deployment of both fixed and mobile broadband services."