Senate Committee Approves Measure Seeking Data on Broadband Deployments

The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation unanimously approved a bill that directs the FCC to reconsider and update its definition of a broadband service -- currently 200 kbps, as it first defined in 1999. The bill would also direct the FCC to revise existing broadband reporting obligations to require providers to report the actual numbers of broadband connections either within a census tract, 9-digit postal zip code, or 5-digit postal zip code. Under the current system, if there is a single subscriber in a 5-digit zip code, it is assumed there is broadband availability to all within the 5-digit zip code.

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