Before the
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
Washington, DC 20554
In the Matter of
Inquiry Concerning the Deployment of Advanced
Telecommunications Capability to All Americans
in a Reasonable and Timely Fashion, and Possible
Steps to Accelerate Such Deployment Pursuant to
Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of
1996, as Amended by the Broadband Data
Improvement Act

)
)
) GN Docket No. 15-191
)
)
)
)
)
)

COMMENTS OF VERIZON

Kathleen M. Grillo
Of Counsel

September 15, 2015

William H. Johnson
Ian J. Dillner
VERIZON
1320 North Courthouse Road
9th Floor
Arlington, VA 22201
(703) 351-3060

 TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. 

INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY ................................................................................1 

II. 

BROADBAND IS BEING DEPLOYED IN A REASONABLE AND TIMELY
FASHION ............................................................................................................................3 

III. 

THE COMMISSION SHOULD REFRAIN FROM MANDATING THAT BOTH
FIXED AND MOBILE SERVICES BE AVAILABLE TO SUPPORT A
POSITIVE FINDING IN ITS SECTION 706 INQUIRY ...................................................7 

IV. 

THE COMMISSION SHOULD NOT ADD CRITERIA THAT WILL
UNDERMINE A PROPER ASSESSMENT OF BROADBAND DEPLOYMENT ........10 

V. 

THE COMMISSION SHOULD FOCUS ON APPROPRIATELY TAILORED
POLICIES TO ACCELERATE BROADBAND DEPLOYMENT ..................................13 

VI. 

CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................15 

 Before the
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
Washington, DC 20554
In the Matter of
Inquiry Concerning the Deployment of Advanced
Telecommunications Capability to All Americans
in a Reasonable and Timely Fashion, and Possible
Steps to Accelerate Such Deployment Pursuant to
Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of
1996, as Amended by the Broadband Data
Improvement Act

)
)
) GN Docket No. 15-191
)
)
)
)
)
)

COMMENTS OF VERIZON1

I.

INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY
There should be no doubt that broadband is being deployed in a reasonable and timely

manner throughout the United States. Verizon and others have explained in detail, year after
year and in various dockets, that broadband providers’ substantial investments in next-generation
fixed and mobile broadband networks have provided U.S. consumers with access to an evergrowing array of innovative and high-quality services.2 The Commission historically had agreed
with that assessment, reversing course only in the past several years—ironically, at a time when
broadband deployment has expanded even further, particularly due to the widespread
deployment of mobile broadband services in general and 4G LTE services.

1

The Verizon companies participating in this filing (“Verizon”) are the regulated, wholly-owned
subsidiaries of Verizon Communications, Inc.
2

See generally, e.g., Comments of Verizon on the Tenth Broadband Progress Notice of Inquiry,
GN Docket No. 14-126, at 4-27 (filed Sept. 4, 2014) (“Verizon Tenth NOI Comments”); Reply
Comments of Verizon on the Tenth Broadband Progress Notice of Inquiry, GN Docket No. 14126, at 2-3 (filed Sept. 19, 2014) (“Verizon Tenth NOI Reply Comments”); Comments of
Verizon, WT Docket No. 15-125, at 5-23 (filed June 29, 2015) (“Verizon Wireless Competition
Comments”).

 As the Commission embarks on its latest broadband progress inquiry, it should not
manufacture new tests to justify a negative assessment of the status of broadband deployment in
the United States and instead provide a straightforward assessment of “whether advanced
telecommunications capability is being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely
fashion.”3 First and foremost, this requires the Commission to recognize and incorporate mobile
broadband service into its assessment. The failure of previous analyses to reflect all broadband
options that are available to and used by consumers was a persistent flaw in methodology, as it
ignored both marketplace trends and the technology-neutral language of the statute.4 The
Eleventh NOI signals a new approach that recognizes mobile broadband, and the Commission
should take this opportunity to make this correction.5 However, the Commission should reject
the notion that both fixed and mobile broadband options must be present in order to conclude
that advanced telecommunications capability has been deployed in a reasonable and timely
manner. In addition, the Commission should refrain from adding new criteria to its assessment
that are unnecessary or unreliable, such as latency and service quality.
Finally, as in all things, the Commission should act in a manner that promotes continued
broadband investment and innovation, including by foregoing unnecessary regulation of
broadband. In particular, the Commission should focus its regulatory efforts on initiatives that
would facilitate the continued growth of broadband networks and thus spur even more choice for

3

47 U.S.C. § 1302(b).

4

Id. § 1302(d)(1) (defining “advanced telecommunications capability” “without regard to any
transmission media or technology”).
5

Inquiry Concerning the Deployment of Advanced Telecommunications Capability to All
Americans in a Reasonable and Timely Fashion, and Possible Steps to Accelerate Such
Deployment Pursuant to Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, as Amended by the
Broadband Data Improvement Act, Eleventh Broadband Progress Notice of Inquiry, GN Docket
No. 15-191, at ¶ 5 (rel. Aug. 7, 2015) (“Eleventh NOI”).

–2–

 consumers. For example, to help further the United States’ lead in mobile broadband, the
Commission should take steps to make more spectrum resources available and to remove barriers
to rights of way and wireless tower siting.
II.

BROADBAND IS BEING DEPLOYED IN A REASONABLE AND TIMELY
FASHION
The broadband marketplace in the United States continues to thrive. As the Commission

already is well aware, broadband providers of all types and with all kinds of platforms—
traditional telephone companies, cable operators, wireless providers, and satellite providers—are
investing heavily to deploy new broadband technologies, such as fiber-to-the-premises, DOCSIS
3.0, 4G LTE wireless services, fixed wireless, and next-generation satellite broadband. The
results for broadband deployment are staggering. For instance, even under the restrictive
definition adopted by the Commission for the first time last year (a 25 Mbps/3 Mbps threshold),
NTIA’s National Broadband Map shows that 85.62 percent of household units and 86.73 percent
of the U.S. population have access to broadband services.6 These figures represent a steady
increase from the previous year.7 And data on lower speed thresholds that better reflect the
speeds that many customers choose today show that broadband is nearly ubiquitous throughout
the United States: 99.73 percent of household units and 99.82 percent of the U.S. population
have access to broadband service at any speed.8

6

Broadband Statistics Report: Access to Broadband Technology by Speed, at 4,
http://www.broadbandmap.gov/download/Technology%20by%20Speed.pdf (data as of June
2014, report published Mar. 2015) (“NBM Broadband Statistics Report”).
7

Broadband Statistics Report: Access to Broadband Technology by Speed, at 4,
http://www.broadbandmap.gov/download/TechnologyBySpeedDec2013_updated.pdf (data as of
December 2013, report published July 2014) (data as of December 2013, showing that 84.91
percent of household units and 85.66 percent of the U.S. population had access to broadband
service with downloads speeds in excess of 25 Mbps).
8

NBM Broadband Statistics Report at 3.

–3–

 Mobile broadband is just as ubiquitous as fixed broadband. As a result of U.S. wireless
providers’ substantial investments in their networks—more than $32 billion in 2014 alone, and
$430 billion since 19859—99.7 percent of the U.S. population lives in areas with mobile
broadband coverage (100 percent of the non-rural population, and 98.5 percent of the non-rural
population).10 Virtually all U.S. consumers not only enjoy mobile broadband access, but mobile
broadband competition: 98.8 percent of the population has access to two or more mobile
broadband providers, and 93.4 percent has three or more mobile broadband options.11
The Commission has historically—and misguidedly—excluded mobile broadband from
its Section 706 assessment of broadband deployment, citing concerns regarding the quality and
reliability of data about these services as well as perceived “limitations” on these services as they
were provided at the time.12 But as Verizon has explained, that approach rendered the
Commission’s findings over the last several years incomplete and inaccurate.13 The Eleventh

9

CTIA, Annual Year-End 2014 Top-Line Survey Results, at 11 http://www.ctia.org/
docs/default-source/Facts-Stats/ctia_survey_ye_2014_graphics.pdf?sfvrsn=2.
10

Annual Report and Analysis of Competitive Market Conditions With Respect to Mobile
Wireless, Including Commercial Mobile Services, Seventeenth Report, 29 FCC Rcd 15311
cht. III.A.5 (2014) (“Seventeenth Report”).
11

Id. cht. III.A.2.

12

Eleventh NOI ¶ 5 (citing Inquiry Concerning the Deployment of Advanced
Telecommunications Capability to All Americans in a Reasonable and Timely Fashion, and
Possible Steps to Accelerate Such Deployment Pursuant to Section 706 of the
Telecommunications Act of 1996, as Amended by the Broadband Data Improvement Act,
Broadband Progress Report and Notice of Inquiry on Immediate Action to Accelerate
Deployment, 30 FCC Rcd 1375 ¶ 1 n.1 (2015)).
13

Verizon Tenth NOI Comments at 19 (noting that the Commission’s Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth
Broadband Progress Reports all concluded that broadband was not being deployed in a
reasonable and timely fashion); id. at 20-21 (explaining the analytical significance of excluding
mobile broadband services).
–4–

 NOI’s recognition that mobile broadband should be incorporated into Section 706 broadband
progress inquiries going forward thus is an overdue course correction.14
Of note is the widespread deployment of 4G LTE services. As reported last year in the
Seventeenth Report on mobile wireless competition, as of January 2014, LTE is available to 98.5
percent of the U.S. population, a remarkable increase from coverage of 67.5 percent of the U.S.
population just two years earlier.15 That statistic offers a compelling statement in its own right
regarding the near-ubiquity of mobile broadband across the United States, but to put it in even
clearer perspective, LTE deployment in the U.S. far surpasses that in Europe, where only 63
percent of the population has access to LTE.16
For its part, Verizon has been a leader in 4G LTE deployment. Verizon’s 4G LTE
service is available to 98 percent of the U.S. population—nearly 308 million people.17 Further,
Verizon has worked to bring the benefits of LTE to rural areas through its LTE in Rural America
(LRA) program, which extended deployment to cover 2.6 million people in rural areas and
counts 21 rural wireless carriers as participants.18 All told, 54 operators—Verizon, AT&T,
Sprint, and T-Mobile, together with a large number of regional and smaller operators—currently

14

See, e.g., Eleventh NOI ¶¶ 5, 9.

15

Id. ¶ 59 & tbl.III.A.2.

16

GSMA, The Mobile Economy 2015, at 12, http://www.gsmamobileeconomy.com/
GSMA_Global_Mobile_Economy_Report_2015.pdf.
17

Verizon Wireless, The Verizon Wireless 4G LTE Network, http://www.verizonwireless.com/
news/LTE/Overview.html.
18

Verizon Wireless Competition Comments at 20 (citing Paul Macchia, Verizon’s LTE in Rural
America (LRA) Program Celebrates Five Years of Delivering Advanced Wireless Services to
Rural Customers, Verizon News Center (May 15, 2015), http://www.verizonwireless.com/
news/article/2015/05/verizons-lte-in-rural-america-lraprogram-celebrates-five-years-ofdelivering-advanced-wireless-services-to-rural-customers.html).

–5–

 offer commercial LTE across the country.19 This leadership continues as carriers like Verizon
set plans for ever-better 5G mobile broadband networks.20
Providers also continue to invest in next-generation fixed broadband networks. Verizon
began rolling out its all-fiber FiOS network in 2004 and continues to invest in and deploy this
network. Verizon’s FiOS network passes almost 20 million households,21 an increase since the
Commission’s last broadband progress inquiry.22 Verizon’s current FiOS Internet offerings
range from 25 Mbps to 500 Mbps symmetrical (upload and download) speeds,23 and 64 percent
of FiOS Internet customers subscribe to service plans with speeds of 50 Mbps or higher.24 And
Verizon continues to invest and innovate, recently testing next-generation 10 Gbps speeds over
its all-fiber network.25 To compete with fiber services like FiOS, cable firms have rolled out
advanced high-speed “DOCSIS 3.0” broadband technology over the past several years, now
19

4G Americas LTE Deployment Status Update, North America – USA/Canada, Sept. 1, 2015,
http://www.4gamericas.org/files/7214/4112/1452/North_America_9.1.15.pdf.
20

See Verizon News Release, Verizon sets roadmap to 5G technology in U.S.; Field trials to
start in 2016, Sept. 8, 2015, http://www.verizon.com/about/news/verizon-sets-roadmap-5gtechnology-us-field-trials-start-2016 (“The expected benefits of 5G, as described during
Verizon’s inaugural forum, include about 50 times the throughput of current 4G LTE, latency in
the single milliseconds, and the ability to handle exponentially more Internet-connected devices
to accommodate the expected explosion of the Internet of Everything”).

21

Thomson Reuters StreetEvents, Edited Transcript, Verizon Communications Inc. Q1 2015
Earnings Call, April 21, 2015, at 11, http://www.verizon.com/about/investors/quarterlyreports/1q-2015-quarter-earnings-conference-call-webcast.
22

Verizon Tenth NOI Comments at 7 (noting that the FiOS network passed more than 19 million
premises).
23

Verizon, FiOS – The Power You Need, http://www.verizon.com/home/fios/.

24

Thomson Reuters Street Events, Edited Transcript, Verizon Communications Inc. Q2 2015
Earnings Call, July 21, 2015, at 6, http://www.verizon.com/about/investors/quarterly-reports/2q2015-quarter-earnings-conference-call-webcast.
25

Verizon News Release, Verizon Tests Superfast 10 Gigabit Internet Service Using Newest
Optical Technology: Introduction of High-Powered Technology Will Open the Door for
Ultrafast Service of Up to 80 Gigabits per Second Over Fiber Optic Platform, Aug. 11, 2015,
http://www.verizon.com/about/news/verizon-tests-superfast-10-gigabit-internet-service-usingnewest-optical-technology.
–6–

 available to over 85 percent of homes in the United States.26 This upgraded infrastructure will
also facilitate increasing broadband speeds in the near future with next generation technology
(so-called DOCSIS 3.1), with speeds close to 1 Gbps.27 Cable companies also have begun
deploying fiber to the home (FTTH) to respond to competitive threats.28
In light of this data, there should be no doubt that broadband—whether supported by
fixed or mobile technologies—is being deployed in the United States in a reasonable and timely
fashion. Recognizing mobile offerings in the broadband progress inquiry will harmonize the
Commission’s approach with NTIA’s, which has incorporated mobile broadband into its analysis
of national broadband availability.29 And more fundamentally, doing so will ensure that the
Commission’s methodology takes proper account of current options available to consumers.
III.

THE COMMISSION SHOULD REFRAIN FROM MANDATING THAT BOTH
FIXED AND MOBILE SERVICES BE AVAILABLE TO SUPPORT A POSITIVE
FINDING IN ITS SECTION 706 INQUIRY
While the Commission should incorporate mobile broadband into its analysis, it should

reject the suggestion in the Eleventh NOI that consumers must have access to both fixed and
mobile options before broadband will be deemed to have been deployed in a reasonable and
26

See NCTA, Industry Data, https://www.ncta.com/industry-data.

27

See, e.g., Sean Buckley, Cable sees DOCSIS 3.1 as the competitive response to Google Fiber,
telcos' 1 Gbps drive, Fierce Telecom, Sept. 9, 2015, http://www.fiercetelecom.com/story/cablesees-docsis-31-competitive-response-google-fiber-telcos-1-gbps-drive/2015-09-09; Jeff
Baumgartner, Comcast Sets Table for DOCSIS 3.1 Trials, Multichannel News, July 24, 2015,
http://www.multichannel.com/blog/bauminator/comcast-sets-table-docsis-31-trials/392474
(describing plans for a market trial in the fourth quarter of 2015); Rich Nelson, DOCSIS 3.1
Enables Rapid Deployment of Gigabit Broadband, Light Reading, July 7, 2015,
http://www.lightreading.com/cable/docsis/docsis-31-enables-rapid-deployment-of-gigabitbroadband/a/d-id/716814.
28

See Sean Buckley, Cable sees DOCSIS 3.1 as the competitive response to Google Fiber,
telcos' 1 Gbps drive, Fierce Telecom, Sept. 9, 2015, http://www.fiercetelecom.com/story/cablesees-docsis-31-competitive-response-google-fiber-telcos-1-gbps-drive/2015-09-09.
29

See, e.g., NBM Broadband Statistics Report at 2 (graphic showing wireless broadband
availability by speed).

–7–

 timely fashion.30 There is no legal or policy basis for requiring the presence of multiple different
technologies to make an affirmative finding under Section 706.
First, this proposal is contrary to Section 706’s mandate.31 To meet its statutory
responsibilities, the Commission must determine simply “whether advanced telecommunications
capability is being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion,”32 not whether
such capability is being deployed using each of multiple technological platforms. Indeed,
Section 706 is technology-neutral: “[t]he term ‘advanced telecommunications capability’ is
defined, without regard to any transmission media or technology, as high-speed, switched,
broadband telecommunications capability that enables users to originate and receive high-quality
voice, data, graphics, and video telecommunications using any technology.”33 Congress thus
clearly intended that the Commission consider all types of broadband in its analysis. The
Eleventh NOI itself acknowledges as much, noting “the section 706 instruction to define
advanced telecommunications capability ‘without regard to any transmission media or
technology.’”34 That “instruction” plainly prohibits the Commission from carving up the
broadband marketplace based on technology.
Moreover, while the Eleventh NOI demonstrates an understanding that mobile broadband
must be considered “advanced telecommunications capability,” it continues to labor under
misperceptions about the capabilities and uses of mobile broadband services, positing that fixed

30

Eleventh NOI ¶¶ 7, 18.

31

See generally Verizon Tenth NOI Comments at 27-28.

32

47 U.S.C. § 1302(b).

33

Id. § 1302(d)(1) (emphasis added).

34

Eleventh NOI ¶ 28 (quoting 47 U.S.C. § 1302(d)(1)).

–8–

 terrestrial and mobile broadband options support “different communications needs.”35 Although
advanced fixed and mobile broadband options do not always meet the same needs, from the
consumer’s perspective, mobile broadband often provides the same functions as fixed services.
For instance, data-intensive mobile app usage grew by 76 percent in 2014,36 and there are now
more Google searches from mobile devices than PCs.37 While the Eleventh NOI focuses largely
on online video in distinguishing fixed and mobile options,38 it fails to recognize that video
accounted for 45 percent of mobile data traffic in 2014 (projected to be 60 percent by 2020)39—
consistent with the definition of “advanced telecommunications capability” as including the
ability “to originate and receive high-quality . . . video telecommunications using any
technology.”40 Thus, if the Commission were in fact to be guided by “customer purchasing and
usage patterns” and “service capabilities” as the Eleventh NOI suggests,41 it would inevitably be
forced to conclude that fixed and mobile often are interchangeable.
In short, the Commission must account for deployment overall, including the ways in
which mobile broadband supplements and substitutes for fixed broadband. To do so, it will need
to recognize that consumers use broadband for an immensely broad set of purposes. Inordinate
35

Id. ¶ 13.

36

Verizon Wireless Competition Comments at 14 (citing Simon Khalaf, Shopping, Productivity
and Messaging Give Mobile Another Stunning Growth Year, Flurry Insights (Jan. 6, 2015),
http://flurrymobile.tumblr.com/post/115194992530/shopping-productivity-and-messaginggivemobile).
37

Alexei Oreskovic, Mobile devices are now the main source of Google search traffic, Business
Insider (May 5, 2015), http://www.businessinsider.com/google-search-traffic-mobile-passesdesktop-2015-5.
38

Eleventh NOI ¶¶ 10-11.

39

Ericsson, Ericsson Mobility Report: On the Pulse of the Networked Society 14-15 (June 2015),
http://www.ericsson.com/res/docs/2015/ericsson-mobility-report-june-2015.pdf.

40

47 U.S.C. § 1302(d)(1).

41

Eleventh NOI ¶ 8.

–9–

 focus on one specific use would distort the agency’s analysis and fail to reflect consumers’
diverse needs.42 Moreover, even though today’s fixed and mobile broadband options may not
currently be perfect substitutes for all consumers and all purposes, the burdens resulting from
any increased regulation will prevent mobile broadband from ever reaching that level of parity.
The Commission should avoid additional regulation that will impede investment and innovation
in mobile broadband.
IV.

THE COMMISSION SHOULD NOT ADD CRITERIA THAT WILL
UNDERMINE A PROPER ASSESSMENT OF BROADBAND DEPLOYMENT
The Eleventh NOI posits that various other factors relating to broadband service may be

relevant to the Commission’s inquiry, and it seeks comment on how the Commission should
consider them. But as Verizon has explained previously, the Commission should not undermine
its assessment of broadband deployment through the addition of criteria that are unnecessary,
unreliable, or otherwise inappropriate.43 The statute directs the Commission to pursue one
inquiry: “whether advanced telecommunications capability is being deployed to all Americans in
a reasonable and timely fashion.”44 The Commission should refrain from stretching this specific
statutory inquiry into something it is not—a government assessment of quality of service.
The various additional criteria discussed in the Eleventh NOI do not assist the
Commission in fulfilling its statutory mission. First, the Commission should avoid becoming
distracted by the selection of specific speed thresholds and should instead focus its efforts on
evaluating the steady and continued deployment of ever-higher speed services, like the rapid

42

See, e.g., id. ¶¶ 10-11 (discussion about viewing the offerings of one OVD, Netflix).

43

Verizon Tenth NOI Comments at 27-32.

44

47 U.S.C. § 1302(b).

– 10 –

 migration from widely deployed 3G to similarly ubiquitous 4G LTE deployments.45 While
constantly evaluating and reevaluating a speed benchmark is less important than consistently
measuring progress over time, any threshold the Commission adopts for mobile broadband, at a
minimum, must capture the widely deployed—and widely adopted—4G wireless services
offered by Verizon and other providers. Verizon advertises these services as providing “typical”
download speeds of 5-12 Mbps and upload speeds of 2-5 Mbps—although customers may
experience speeds far greater than these levels.46 An assessment of broadband deployment that
ignores these broadly deployed, world-leading mobile broadband services would fail to meet the
goals of the statute.47
Second, as Verizon has explained previously, consideration of a latency threshold as part
of the Commission’s inquiry is unnecessary and should not be incorporated as a benchmark for
defining broadband services.48 Selecting a single latency benchmark that would apply in all
circumstances, for broadband in general or even mobile broadband in particular, is not a
straightforward exercise. The Eleventh NOI acknowledges this problem—correctly noting that
mobile latency can vary by mobile technology49—but it does not offer any solutions to these

45

Eleventh NOI ¶ 28 (seeking comment on the adoption of various speed benchmarks).

46

Verizon, 4G LTE Speeds vs. Your Home Network, http://www.verizonwireless.com/mobileliving/network-and-plans/4g-lte-speeds-compared-to-home-network/.
47

Eleventh NOI ¶ 28.

48

Id. ¶ 31.

49

Id. ¶ 40; see also Seventeenth Report ¶ 206 (regarding tests for mobile latency, “[i]t is possible
that consecutive tests in the same place, on the same provider, and at about the same time may
test to different servers”).

– 11 –

 methodological challenges. Further, not all data is of the same quality or equally suitable for all
purposes, and the Commission should be wary about advancing a latency benchmark.50
Third, the Commission should not develop and rely on a standard for “service
consistency” or “quality of service.”51 Section 706 is concerned with measuring deployment and
does not pursue Commission review of service quality or consistency, however those concepts
may be defined. As discussed above, there can be no question that broadband is widely
deployed,52 and there is no basis in the statute or elsewhere for the Commission to include only
some portion of that deployment based on an amorphous and arbitrary notion of what may
constitute “consistent” service.
Apart from this legal limitation, practical constraints preclude the use of any sort of
service consistency metric in assessing broadband availability. The Eleventh NOI itself
acknowledges that assessing quality of service for mobile services is particularly difficult, since
mobile broadband travels with the user and thus will vary depending on location.53 While these
common aspects of mobile broadband options do not prevent these services from being used for
many of the same purposes as fixed broadband services, they would greatly complicate the
development of a single, nationwide benchmark for consistency of service.

50

Eleventh NOI ¶ 40; see also id. ¶ 58 (seeking comment on changes to data sources, including
Form 477).
51

Id. ¶ 41.

52

See supra Section II.

53

Id. ¶ 45 (“[B]ecause mobile broadband travels with the user, service quality may vary at
different locations due to a variety of factors, including the particular network technology
deployed in a given area, network congestion, or physical interference.”); see also id. ¶ 41
(suggesting that the Commission “consider the effect of weather conditions and physical
obstacles on service quality”).

– 12 –

 Finally, the Commission should avoid any focus on criteria “beyond physical
deployment” that relate to broadband adoption.54 As Verizon has explained, the plain language
of Section 706’s mandate, which speaks only in terms of “deploy[ment],” requires that the
Commission distinguish broadband availability from broadband adoption.55 Thus, for example,
the statute does not allow for factors like pricing and data allowances to inform the mandated
inquiry.56 As Verizon has explained, carriers offer a range of plans, but the availability of those
plans does not mean broadband has not been deployed.57 In fact, the range of choices that
consumers enjoy merely underscores how robust broadband deployment has been.
V.

THE COMMISSION SHOULD FOCUS ON APPROPRIATELY TAILORED
POLICIES TO ACCELERATE BROADBAND DEPLOYMENT
Even though broadband has been reasonably and timely deployed throughout the United

States, the Commission still has a responsibility to ensure that its regulatory policies advance
continued deployment of next-generation wireless and wireline networks.
First, the Commission should continue to explore ways of increasing available spectrum
for mobile broadband services. Spectrum is essential to enabling network expansion and
technology upgrades. And while there are current opportunities for carriers to obtain the mix of
spectrum they want to serve their customers—including an active secondary market, as well as
unlicensed spectrum—more licensed and unlicensed spectrum is needed.58 The National
Broadband Plan found that “[t]he growth of wireless broadband will be constrained if

54

Id. ¶¶ 50-51.

55

Verizon Tenth NOI Comments at 26-27.

56

Eleventh NOI ¶ 50.

57

Verizon Tenth NOI Comments at 29-30; Verizon Tenth NOI Reply Comments at 4-7.

58

See, e.g., Verizon Wireless Competition Comments at 38-42 (describing current spectrum
opportunities but noting that this supply is not enough).

– 13 –

 government does not make spectrum available to enable network expansion and technology
upgrades.”59 The federal government thus should move quickly and aggressively to identify and
reallocate additional spectrum for mobile broadband use. For instance, completing its
rulemaking on the 3.5 GHz band and unleashing that band for both licensed and unlicensed use ,
and continuing to identify spectrum that can be reallocated from federal to commercial use will
help address the growing needs of wireless consumers. Through these steps, the Commission
will enable mobile wireless broadband to realize its full potential.
Second, the Commission should continue to explore ways to facilitate access to rights of
way and wireless tower siting. Less than a year ago, the Commission took a series of actions in
this regard,60 and it clearly remains attentive to problems posed by barriers to wireless
infrastructure deployment. For instance, the Commission recently solicited input on a new
program alterative to improve and facilitate the review process for deployments of small wireless
communications facilities, including Distributed Antenna Systems and small cell facilities, under
Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act.61 That public notice and the scoping
document underlying it properly recognize the need to “foster efficient deployment of
infrastructure and equipment that could deliver greater spectrum capacity in more locations and

59

FCC, Connecting America: The National Broadband Plan, at 77 (2010),
http://download.broadband.gov/plan/national-broadband-plan.pdf; see also Press Release,
Presidential Memorandum: Unleashing the Wireless Broadband Revolution (June 28, 2010),
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/presidential-memorandum-unleashingwirelessbroadband-revolution (“America’s future competitiveness and global technology
leadership depend, in part, upon the availability of additional spectrum.”).
60

Acceleration of Broadband Deployment by Improving Wireless Facilities Siting Policies,
Report and Order, 29 FCC Rcd 12865 (2014); Erratum, 30 FCC Rcd 31 (2015).
61

Public Notice, Wireless Telecommunications Bureau Seeks Comment on Revising the Historic
Preservation Review Process for Small Facility Deployments, DA 15-865, WT Docket No. 15180 (rel. July 28, 2015).

– 14 –

 fill in coverage gaps”—consistent with the core goals underlying Section 706.62 Verizon fully
supports such efforts and encourages the Commission to continue in this positive direction.
Finally, and more generally, the Commission should avoid over-regulation and focus
instead on allowing flexibility for broadband investment and innovation. As Verizon and others
have consistently emphasized, a flexible, consumer-driven approach will ensure the Internet’s
continued success while fostering the needed ongoing investments in broadband infrastructure.
VI.

CONCLUSION
For these reasons, the Commission should ensure that its methodology for assessing

broadband deployment reflects all broadband options available to and used by consumers,
including in particular mobile broadband options; avoid reliance on criteria or metrics that are
unnecessary or unreliable as it pursues its analysis of broadband deployment; and act in a manner
that promotes continued broadband investment and innovation.

Respectfully submitted,

___________________________
William H. Johnson
Ian J. Dillner
VERIZON
1320 North Courthouse Road
9th Floor
Arlington, VA 22201
(703) 351-3060

Kathleen M. Grillo
Of Counsel

September 15, 2015

62

Id. at 6.

– 15 –