*Pages 1--60 from  FCC3992 Cover Congress Report*

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 Federal 
 Communications 
 Commission 


 Availability  of  Advanced  Telecommunications 
 Capability  in  the  United  States 
 FCC  04-  208,  GN  Docket  No.  04-  54 


 Fourth  Report  to  Congress 
 September  9,  2004 


 Chairman  Michael  K.  Powell 
 Commissioner  Kathleen  Q.  Abernathy 
 Commissioner  Michael  J.  Copps 
 Commissioner  Kevin  J.  Martin 
 Commissioner  Jonathan  S.  Adelstein 


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 3  Statement  of  Chairman  Michael  K.  Powell 
 4  Statement  of  Commissioner  Kathleen  Q.  Abernathy 
 5  Statement  of  Commissioner  Michael  J.  Copps,  Dissenting 
 6  Statement  of  Commissioner  Kevin  J.  Martin 
 7  Statement  of  Commissioner  Jonathan  S.  Adelstein,  Dissenting 


 8  Executive  Summary 
 12  What  is  Broadband? 
 14  Developments  in  Last-  Mile  Technologies  Since  the  Third  Report 
 Cable  Technologies  Copper  Technologies 


 Fiber  Technologies  Unlicensed  Wireless  Technologies 
 Licensed  Wireless  Technologies  Broadband  over  Power  Lines 
 Satellite  Technologies 
 24  New  Developments  in  Services  and  Applications 
 28  Is  Broadband  Being  Deployed  to  All  Americans? 
 Strides  Made  in  Advanced  Services  Deployment  in  Rural  Communities  Broadband  at  Home  and  Work 


 Children  are  Using  Broadband  in  their  Classrooms  Low-  Income  Populations  Have  Increased  Access  to  Advanced  Services  Since  the  Third  Report 
 Minority  Access  to  Broadband  is  on  the  Rise  The  Disabled  Community  is  Accessing  Broadband  Services  Despite  Barriers 


 38  Is  Broadband  Being  Deployed  in  a  Reasonable  and  Timely  Fashion? 
 40  Broadband  Deployment  in  Other  Countries 
 44  The  Future  of  Broadband 
 47  Conclusion 


 48  Appendix  A 
 List  of  Parties  Filing  Comments  and  Reply  Comments 


 49  Appendix  B 
 List  of  Sources 


 54  Appendix  C 
 List  of  Broadband-  Related  Proceedings  at  the  Commission 


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 Table  of  Contents  >>> 
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 roadband  empowers  people  over 
 centralized  institutions.  Consumers 
 are  increasingly  choosing  how  to 
 communicate  instead  of  having  that 
 choice  dictated  to  them  by  regula-tors 
 or  monopoly  providers. 
 Personalized  applications  are  riding 
 atop  the  robust  deployment  efforts 
 of  the  stakeholders  described  in  our  Fourth  706 
 Report.  It  is  in  that  context  that  I  am  very  pleased  to 
 support  the  Reports  finding  that  the  overall  goal  of 
 section  706  is  met,  and  that  first-  generation  advanced 
 telecommunications  capability  is  being  deployed  on  a 
 reasonable  and  timely  basis  to  all  Americans. 
 This  Report  will  serve  as  a  milestone  that  we 
 have  indeed  turned  the  corner  on  the  digital  migra-tion. 
 Innovative  entrepreneurs  are  replacing 
 yesterdays  single-  purpose  networks  with  different 
 types  of  high-  speed,  full-  service  digital  networks, 
 using  such  technologies  as  Wi-  Fi,  fiber-  to-  the-  home, 
 broadband  over  power  lines,  and  satellite.  By  making 
 licensed  and  unlicensed  spectrum  available  for  wire-less 
 broadband  uses,  we  have  seen  an  explosion  of 
 wireless  access  points  using  technologies  (such  as 
 EvDO  and  WiMax)  that  allow  unfettered  Internet 
 access  around  the  country. 
 Since  I  became  Chairman,  36  million  Americans 
 have  signed  up  for  high-  speed  service.  Across 
 America,  the  availability  of  ubiquitous,  reliable 
 broadband  access  is  changing  the  way  we  work  and 
 live.  Overall,  48  million  adults  use  high-  speed  con-nections 
 in  the  home,  representing  growth  of  60 
 percent  from  a  year  earlier.  And,  as  the  Report  cata-logues 
 and  USA  Today  recently  trumpeted, 
 Internet-  based  phone  services  are  taking  off  by  offer-ing 
 cut-  rate  prices  and  funky  features.  Disruptive 
 VoIP  services  are  acting  as  a  demand-  driver  for 
 broadband  connections,  lighting  the  industrys  fuse, 
 and  exciting  a  moribund  market. 


 The  Commission  has  taken  key  steps  to  promote 
 broadband  deployment.  We  removed  unbundling 
 requirements  on  newly  deployed  fiber-  to-  the-  home, 
 where  there  is  competition  from  cable,  which  clears 
 the  way  for  telephone  companies  to  deploy  infrastruc-ture 
 to  serve  the  broadband  and  video  needs  of  the 
 21st  century.  On  my  travels  across  the  country,  I  con-tinue 
 to  be  amazed  by  the  new  services  designed  for 
 rural  Americans.  Our  efforts  to  unlock  the  potential  of 
 the  rural  healthcare  program  by  expanding  the 
 Commissions  eligibility  criteria  are  generating  results. 
 In  the  past  year,  I  witnessed  the  transformative  poten-tial 
 of  telemedicine.  Since  the  issuance  of  our  last 
 Report,  the  Commission  has  adopted  a  variety  of 
 measures  to  introduce  regulatory  flexibility  for  rural 
 licenses  to  increase  wireless  access  to  consumers.  The 
 Commission  also  has  proposed  amendments  to  make 
 efficient  use  of  the  3650  MHz  band,  which  may  effec-tively 
 support  telemedicine  in  rural  or  underserved 
 areas  as  well  as  on  Native  American  Tribal  Lands.  We 
 will  continue  our  ongoing  program  of  on-  site  forums 
 for  exploring  how  best  to  make  affordable  broadband 
 access  available  to  rural  America. 
 Our  work,  however,  is  not  done.  Americans 
 deserve  information  at  the  speed  of  light  and  it  is 
 the  countrys  next  challenge  to  deploy  a  network  that 
 is  at  least  as  capable  as  any  other  nations.  The 
 Commissions  role  and  my  mission  is  to  continue 
 to  champion  and  facilitate  higher-  speed,  more  capa-ble 
 platforms  that  can  run  the  applications  of 
 tomorrow.  As  regulators,  we  must  embrace  the  reality 
 that  the  torrent  of  change  from  new  broadband  tech-nologies 
 has  arrived,  is  unstoppable,  and  will 
 accelerate  over  the  years  ahead.  We  have  a  clear  vision 
 for  this  migration  to  advanced  platforms:  stimulate 
 investment  in  next-  generation  architectures,  apply  a 
 light  hand  and  let  entrepreneurs  bring  the  future  to 
 the  people.  This  Report  shows  that  our  digital  migra-tion 
 vision  is  working  for  America. 


 3 


 Statement  of  Chairman  Michael  K.  Powell 
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 roadband  communications  net-works 
 and  the  innovative  services 
 they  support  hold  unlimited  prom-ise 
 for  American  consumers.  During 
 my  tenure  at  the  FCC,  I  have  been 
 privileged  to  see  first-  hand  how 
 broadband  is  changing  the  lives  of 
 Americans,  including  the  way  we 
 work,  learn,  receive  health  care,  and  play. 
 Broadband  networks  are  an  important  driver  of 
 economic  growth.  For  small  businesses,  a  broadband 
 connection  creates  a  link  to  millions  of  potential  cus-tomers 
 without  having  to  pay  rent  on  a  expensive 
 storefront,  and  it  facilitates  business-  to-  business  rela-tionships 
 that  lower  the  cost  of  obtaining  capital, 
 supplies,  or  other  necessities.  Broadband  also  fuels 
 job  creation  as  businesses  can  establish  call  centers 
 and  other  back-  office  operations  in  remote  locations, 
 far  from  their  headquarters,  because  the  high-  speed 
 connections  can  make  geographic  distance  irrelevant. 
 Broadband  also  is  a  boon  to  education.  As  a 
 result  of  broadband  networks  (which  have  been  heav-ily 
 financed  by  the  E-  Rate  program),  school  children 
 in  virtually  every  community  including  traditionally 
 underserved  rural  areas  and  inner  cities  can  gain 
 access  to  the  same  on-  line  resources  as  children  in  the 
 best-  funded  schools.  Broadband  also  makes  health 
 care  more  accessible  and  affordable.  Telemedicine 
 allows  patients  to  be  diagnosed  and  treated  by  spe-cialists 
 hundreds  of  miles  away,  often  avoiding  the 
 need  to  travel  long  distances,  be  separated  from  fami-ly 
 members,  or  take  days  off  from  work. 
 Given  these  and  many  other  benefits,  the  FCC 
 has  made  it  our  top  priority  to  encourage  the  deploy-ment 
 of  broadband  facilities  and  services.  With 
 respect  to  wireline  networks,  the  Commission  took 


 bold  action  to  boost  investment  incentives  by  strictly 
 curtailing  the  application  of  heavy-  handed  regulatory 
 requirements  to  next-  generation  fiber  facilities.  The 
 Commission  likewise  has  worked  to  maintain  an 
 investment-  friendly  environment  for  cable  modem 
 services.  On  the  wireless  front,  the  Commission  has 
 allocated  new  licensed  and  unlicensed  spectrum  for 
 broadband  services,  provided  increased  flexibility  in 
 existing  spectrum  bands,  and  established  secondary 
 markets  to  facilitate  more  efficient  use  of  spectrum. 
 Moreover,  the  Commission  has  taken  steps  to  foster 
 the  development  of  broadband  over  powerline  sys-tems 
 and  to  facilitate  the  deployment  of  new 
 broadband  satellite  services. 
 I  am  pleased  that  this  Report  to  Congress  shows 
 that  we  are  meeting  our  objectives.  The  vast  majority 
 of  Americans  now  have  access  to  broadband  services. 
 And  the  divide  between  urban  and  rural  areas,  and 
 between  high-  income  and  low-  income  populations,  is 
 shrinking  dramatically.  While  the  overall  rate  of  sub-scription 
 to  broadband  services  lags  far  behind  the 
 availability  of  such  services,  our  job  as  regulators  is  to 
 make  sure  consumers  have  the  opportunity  to  purchase 
 broadband  services.  As  with  any  new  technology,  the 
 penetration  rates  will  climb  as  content  and  price 
 become  more  attractive  to  consumers.  In  any  case, 
 subscription  rates  are  climbing  rapidly,  particularly  in 
 light  of  how  young  the  technology  is.  This  positive 
 trend  will  undoubtedly  continue:  more  and  more  net-works 
 are  expanding  their  reach  (cable,  DSL,  wireless, 
 powerline,  and  satellite),  and  competition  is  forcing 
 prices  down  and  service  quality  up,  thus  increasing 
 value  for  consumers.  We  must  continue  to  work  tire-lessly 
 to  bring  the  benefits  of  broadband  to  all 
 Americans,  and  this  report  demonstrates  that  we  are 
 well  on  the  path  toward  achieving  that  goal. 


 4 


 Statement  of  Commissioner  Kathleen  Q.  Abernathy 
 B 
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 mericas  competitors  around 
 the  world  are  implementing 
 comprehensive  broadband 
 plans.  Countries  like  Japan, 
 Korea,  and  Canada  have  left 
 us  far  behind.  This  is  unac-ceptable. 
 Broadband  is  our 
 central  infrastructure  chal-lenge. 
 High-  capacity  networks  are  to  the  Twenty-  first 
 century  what  roads,  canals  and  railroads  were  to  the 
 Nineteenth  and  highways  and  basic  telecommunica-tions 
 were  to  the  Twentieth.  Our  economy  and  our 
 future  will  be  driven  by  how  quickly  and  completely 
 we  deploy  broadband. 
 That  is  why  Congress  charged  the  FCC  with 
 promoting  broadband  deployment  for  all  Americans 
 whether  they  live  in  rural  areas,  inner  cities  or  tribal 
 lands;  whether  they  are  affluent  or  of  limited  income; 
 whether  they  live  with  or  without  disabilities. 
 Recently,  we  heard  an  announcement  from  the  very 
 top  of  our  government  that  our  goal  is  universal 
 broadband  access  by  2007.  But  we  are  not  making 
 acceptable  progress  toward  that  goal.  Yes,  there  are 
 good  stories  in  these  glossy  pages.  Schools  and 
 libraries  enjoy  broadband  access  like  never  before. 
 New  technologies  offer  new  promise.  Strides  are 
 being  made  in  some  rural  communities.  Companies 
 are  working  hard. 
 Still,  one  glaring  fact  stands  out:  the  United 
 States  is  ranked  eleventh  in  the  world  in  broadband 
 penetration!  This  Report  somehow  finds  that  this  is 
 acceptable,  and  that  our  efforts  are  resulting  in  timely 
 deployment.  I  think  our  efforts  are  insufficient  and 
 that  broadband  deployment  is  insufficient,  so  I  dis-sent 
 to  this  Report. 
 When  consumers  in  other  countries  get  so  much 
 more  bang  for  their  broadband  buck  than  we  do, 
 something  has  to  change.  Nothing  puts  our  challenge 


 into  more  vivid  relief  than  Chart  18  in  this  Report. 
 In  Japan,  for  as  little  as  $10,  consumers  get  broad-band 
 service  at  8,000  kbps.  In  Korea,  consumers  get 
 10,000  kbps  for  the  same  price  that  we  pay  for  1,500 
 kbps.  Consumers  elsewhere  get  great  prices  for  revo-lutionary 
 speeds.  Why,  then,  is  the  FCC  still 
 collecting  data  about  200  kbps  service  and  calling  it 
 broadband?  Our  dated  definition  of  broadband  speed 
 should  have  been  dropped  by  the  wayside  long  ago. 
 We  also  claim  that  broadband  is  available  to  everyone 
 in  a  zip  code  if  it  is  offered  to  only  one  person  in  that 
 zip  code.  This  half-  hearted  effort  at  analyzing  avail-ability 
 should  be  scrapped.  Correcting  these 
 approaches  for  the  next  Report  is  neither  reasonable 
 nor  timely. 
 We  should  also  study  in  exhaustive  detail  the 
 broadband  strategies  of  other  countries  to  discover 
 what  works  and  what  applicability  such  strategies 
 may  have  for  our  country.  We  should  study  why 
 numerous  municipalities  across  America  are  floating 
 bonds  to  develop  their  own  broadband  networks.  We 
 should  look  at  what  universal  service  means  in  the  IP 
 age.  We  need  a  better  handle  on  all  these  things  if 
 we  want  to  pull  ourselves  out  of  the  broadband  ditch 
 and  into  the  digital  stratosphere. 
 The  history  of  great  infrastructure  developments 
 in  this  country  is  a  tale  of  private  sector-  public  sector 
 partnership.  In  broadband,  business  will  lead  the 
 way  as  it  should.  But  there  is  a  role  for  government, 
 too  a  statutorily  mandated  role  totally  in  keeping 
 with  how  this  country  historically  built  its  infrastruc-ture. 
 When  we  find  ourselves  eleventh  in  the  world, 
 something  has  gone  dreadfully  wrong.  When 
 Congress  tells  us  to  take  immediate  action  to  acceler-ate 
 deployment,  we  have  an  obligation  to  do  it. 
 When  the  highest  reaches  of  government  aim  for  uni-versal 
 broadband  by  2007,  we  need  a  strategy  to  meet 
 that  goal.  I  see  none  here. 


 5 


 Statement  of  Commissioner  Michael  J.  Copps,  Dissenting 
 A 
7
 ncouraging  the  deployment  of 
 broadband  services  to  all  Americans 
 has  been  my  top  priority  during 
 my  tenure  at  the  Commission. 
 Broadband  services  are  essential  to 
 the  economy  of  the  21st  century, 
 dramatically  reducing  the  costs  of 
 exchanging  information  and 
 enabling  local  businesses  to  connect  to  world  mar-kets. 
 Access  to  broadband  services  is  especially 
 important  to  rural  America,  providing  business,  edu-cational 
 and  healthcare  opportunities  to  remote  parts 
 of  the  country. 
 Since  the  issuance  of  our  last  706  report,  the 
 Commission  has  taken  some  key  steps  to  promote 
 broadband  deployment.  For  example,  we  removed 
 unbundling  requirements  on  newly  deployed  fiber-to- 
 the-  home,  where  there  is  competition  from  cable, 
 which  makes  it  easier  for  telephone  companies  to 
 deploy  infrastructure  to  provide  the  broadband  and 
 video  services  of  the  21st  century.  The  Commission 
 also  provided  regulatory  relief  for  new  hybrid  fiber-copper 
 facilities,  deregulating  the  fiber  and  new 
 packet-  based  technologies  that  provide  broadband 
 services  today.  In  addition,  the  Commission  adjusted 
 the  TELRIC  or  wholesale  prices  for  all  new  invest-ment 
 in  equipment.  Companies  seeking  to  push  fiber 
 further  to  the  home  and  deploy  new  infrastructure 
 will  now  have  the  opportunity. 
 I  agree  with  the  Commissions  conclusion  that 
 advanced  telecommunications  capability  is  current-ly 
 being  deployed  on  a  reasonable  and  timely  basis. 
 The  availability  of  that  capability  is  increasing,  and  I 
 am  pleased  that  subscribers  to  services  the  Commission 
 characterizes  as  high-  speed  were  reported  in  93  per-cent 
 of  all  zip  codes  in  the  United  States.  While  more 


 consumers  are  now  able  to  enjoy  the  speed  and  appli-cations 
 that  a  true  broadband  connection  offers,  the 
 Commission  should  continue  its  efforts  to  eliminate 
 barriers  to  infrastructure  investment  and  to  accelerate 
 broadband  deployment. 
 I  am  particularly  pleased  with  the  progress  of 
 deployment  of  high-  speed  services  to  rural  and 
 other  underserved  areas.  1  Two  years  ago,  our  data 
 showed  that  fewer  than  40  percent  of  the  most 
 sparsely  populated  zip  codes  had  at  least  one  sub-scriber 
 to  high-  speed  services  while  more  than  90 
 percent  of  the  most  densely  populated  zip  codes  had 
 a  least  one  such  subscriber.  Today,  over  70  percent  of 
 the  sparsely  populated  zip  codes  have  a  subscriber 
 with  high-  speed  service.  While  I  am  pleased  by  the 
 rapid  progress  made  to  narrow  this  deployment  gap, 
 there  is  a  need  for  continued  efforts  to  ensure  compa-rable 
 access  for  consumers  in  rural  America. 
 I  am  also  pleased  that  todays  report  recognizes 
 that  the  200  kbps  standard  is  a  first-  generation  defi-nition 
 of  broadband  and  that  future  section  706 
 reports  will  collect  data  and  report  on  next-  generation 
 as  well  as  first-  generation  broadband.  This  proposal 
 should  enable  the  Commission  to  better  monitor  the 
 migration  to  next-  generation  networks  and  services 
 and  provide  us  with  a  better  understanding  of  the 
 deployment  of  advanced  services  in  the  marketplace. 
 Finally,  we  should  move  forward  on  several 
 pending  proceedings  to  help  spur  continued  broad-band 
 deployment.  Regulatory  uncertainty  and  delay 
 function  as  entry  barriers,  limiting  investment  and 
 impeding  deployment  of  new  services.  While  there  is 
 much  more  to  be  accomplished,  I  look  forward  to 
 working  on  these  issues  and  hope  to  ensure  that 
 advanced  telecommunications  capability  continues  to 
 be  deployed  on  a  reasonable  and  timely  basis. 


 6 


 Statement  of  Commissioner  Kevin  J.  Martin 
 E 


 1  See  Statement  of  Commissioner  Kevin  J.  Martin,  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,  CC  Docket  No.  98-  146,  Report,  17  FCC  Rcd  2844  (2002). 
8
 7 
 Statement  of  Commissioner  Jonathan  S.  Adelstein,  Dissenting 
 hile  there  is  good  rea-son 
 for  optimism 
 about  the  transforma-tive 
 power  of 
 broadband,  I  must 
 dissent  from  the  core 
 holding  of  this 
 Report.  Congress 
 directed  this  Commission  to  determine  whether 
 advanced  telecommunications  capability  is  being 
 deployed  to  all  Americans  in  a  reasonable  and  timely 
 fashion,  and  to  advise  if  more  action  is  needed. 
 Unfortunately,  there  are  serious  warning  signs  that  we 
 are  falling  behind.  Most  notably,  the  U.  S.  was  recently 
 ranked  11th  in  the  world  for  broadband  penetration, 
 and  other  sources  suggest  that  we  are  trailing  our  closest 
 competitors  among  the  industrialized  nations. 
 Broadband  providers  in  the  U.  S.  have  made  remarkable 
 strides,  but  a  country  of  our  ingenuity  and  historic 
 leadership  in  telecommunications  must  do  better. 
 Our  country  is  increasingly  reliant  on  the  power 
 of  instantaneous  telecommunications.  From  telecom-muting 
 to  distance  learning  to  telemedicine, 
 broadband  is  bridging  the  distances  between  us  and 
 transforming  communities.  As  these  powerful  commu-nications 
 tools  evolve,  the  deployment  of  broadband  is 
 ever  more  critical  to  the  health  of  our  economy  and 
 quality  of  life. 
 This  Report  highlights  encouraging  stories  of 
 broadband  deployment  that  can  serve  as  models  to 
 assist  other  communities  in  meeting  their  broadband 
 needs.  It  documents  the  remarkable  commitment  and 
 investment  of  service  providers  to  bring  broadband  to 
 their  customers.  Many  innovative  companies  are  stak-ing 
 their  futures  on  broadband.  These  providers  are 
 courageously  taking  risks  despite  uncertainty  about  the 
 regulatory  framework  they  will  face. 
 Given  our  increasing  reliance  on  high  speed  com-munications, 
 I  am  concerned  about  mounting 


 evidence  that  we  are  falling  behind  in  broadband 
 deployment.  Data  in  the  Report  show  that  the  global 
 leaders  not  only  have  higher  penetration,  but  offer 
 higher  speeds  at  lower  prices.  These  findings  seriously 
 suggest  that  our  current  definition  of  first-  generation 
 broadband  is  woefully  out  of  step  with  the  global  lead-ers, 
 and  that  we  should  already  be  tracking  the 
 deployment  of  next-  generation  broadband  services. 
 I  am  also  concerned  about  the  prospects  for  rapid 
 deployment  to  communities  traditionally  unserved  by 
 market  forces  alone.  If  we  are  soon  to  achieve  universal 
 access  to  broadband,  we  need  to  give  providers  serving 
 those  hardest-  to-  reach  consumers  more  tools,  and  we 
 must  protect  and  advance  programs  like  universal  serv-ice 
 that  have  facilitated  build-  out  to  so  many 
 communities. 
 I  have  seen  firsthand  how  important  broadband  is 
 to  rural  communities,  those  on  tribal  lands,  and  per-sons 
 with  disabilities.  Broadband  gives  businesses  in 
 Rural  America  the  tools  they  need  to  compete  across 
 the  globe.  Access  to  telemedicine  and  distance  learn-ing, 
 and  the  vast  array  of  resources  available  through 
 the  Internet,  gives  rural  Americans  the  same  opportu-nities 
 that  others  enjoy.  Broadband  services  also  play  an 
 increasing  role  in  giving  persons  with  disabilities  func-tional 
 equivalence.  For  these  reasons,  we  must 
 re-  double  our  efforts. 
 While  we  continue  to  improve  this  Report,  it  ulti-mately 
 remains  hindered  by  the  lack  of  critical  data 
 that  would  allow  us  to  gauge  more  accurately  and 
 comprehensively  broadband  availability.  Despite  long-standing 
 acknowledgement  of  the  limitations  of  the 
 overbroad  zip  code  data,  we  again  make  conclusions 
 about  critical  segments  of  our  population  without  all 
 the  facts.  Given  that  lack  of  information,  strong  indi-cations 
 that  we  are  trailing  in  the  global  marketplace, 
 and  the  importance  of  broadband  to  our  overall  eco-nomic 
 health,  I  cannot  conclude  that  broadband 
 deployment  is  reasonable  and  timely. 


 W 
9
 8 
 Executive 
 Summary 


 ection  706  of  the  1996 
 Telecommunications  Act 
 directs  both  the  Commission 
 and  the  states  to  encourage 
 deployment  of  advanced 
 telecommunications  capability 
 to  all  Americans  on  a  reason-able 
 and  timely  basis.  In 
 conjunction  with  this  objective, 
 Congress  directed  the 
 Commission  to  conduct  regular  inquiries  concerning 
 whether  advanced  telecommunications  capability  is 
 being  deployed  to  all  Americans  on  a  reasonable  and 
 timely  basis  and,  based  on  our  findings,  to  take 
 action  to  accelerate  deployment,  if  necessary. 
 This  report  concludes  the  Commissions  fourth 
 inquiry  into  the  availability  of  advanced  telecommu-nications 
 capability  in  the  United  States.  Like  the 
 previous  three  reports,  this  Fourth  Report  concludes 
 that  the  overall  goal  of  section  706  is  being  met,  and 
 that  advanced  telecommunications  capability  is 
 indeed  being  deployed  on  a  reasonable  and  timely 
 basis  to  all  Americans. 
 This  report  also  documents  the  significant  devel-opment 
 of  new  Internet-  based  services,  and  new 
 access  technologies,  that  has  taken  place  since  the 
 issuance  of  our  last  report.  The  best-  known  of  these 
 new  Internet-  based  services  is  the  commercial  deploy-ment 
 of  voice  communications  over  the  Internet 
 Protocol  network  or,  as  it  has  come  to  be  known, 
 VoIP.  The  remarkable  growth  in  Internet  access  is 


 highlighted  by  the  expansion  of  Wi-  Fi  Internet  access 
 and  the  explosive  growth  of  both  commercial  and 
 noncommercial  hotspots.  Wi-  Fi  joins  an  increasingly 
 lengthy  list  of  other  wired  and  wireless  methods  of 
 accessing  the  Internet,  a  list  that  also  includes 
 WiMax,  personal  area  networks,  satellite  technolo-gies, 
 fiber-  to-  the-  home,  and  broadband  over  power 
 lines,  in  addition  to  more  familiar  cable  modem  and 
 digital  subscriber  line  (DSL)  services. 
 Given  the  proliferation  of  new  advanced  telecom-munications 
 networks  and  services,  it  is  not  surprising 
 that  the  Fourth  Report  documents  that  subscribership 
 to  these  networks  and  services  has  increased  significant-ly 
 since  the  issuance  of  our  last  report.  Specifically, 
 subscribership  to  high-  speed  lines  defined  as  200 
 kilobits  per  second  (kbps)  or  greater  transmission  speed 
 in  at  least  one  direction  has  almost  tripled  from  9.6 
 million  in  June  2001  to  28.2  million  in  December 
 2003,  and  subscribership  to  advanced  services  (200 
 kbps  or  greater  transmission  speed  in  both  directions) 
 more  than  tripled  in  this  same  period,  from  5.9  million 
 lines  to  20.3  million  lines. 
 Perhaps  more  important  than  these  statistics, 
 however,  is  the  fact  that  the  Fourth  Report  also 
 documents  the  continuation  of  a  positive  trend  that 
 first  emerged  in  our  last  report:  namely,  the  increas-ing 
 availability  of  advanced  telecommunications 
 capability  to  certain  groups  of  consumers  those  in 
 rural  areas,  those  with  low  incomes,  and  those  with 
 disabilities  who  stand  in  particular  need  of 
 advanced  services.  Consumers  in  these  groups  are  of 


 >>> 
 S 
10
 special  concern  to  the  Commission  in  that  they  are 
 the  doubly  vulnerable:  that  is,  although  they  are  most 
 in  need  of  access  to  advanced  telecommunications 
 capability  to  overcome  economic,  educational,  and 
 other  limitations,  they  are  also  the  most  likely  to  lack 
 access  precisely  because  of  these  limitations.  The 
 Fourth  Report  demonstrates  that  we  are  making  sub-stantial 
 progress  in  closing  the  gaps  in  access  that 
 these  groups  traditionally  have  experienced. 
 With  respect  to  service  to  rural  areas,  the  Fourth 
 Report  substantiates  the  significant  efforts  made  by  rural 
 telephone  companies,  cable  television  providers,  and 
 wireless  providers  to  make  advanced  telecommunica-tions 
 facilities  available  in  rural  areas.  The  report  also 
 documents  advances  in  access  to  advanced  telecommu-nications 
 facilities  for  low-  income  populations. 
 Broadband-  based  Internet  services  have  also 
 become  a  critical  communications  tool  for  the  deaf 
 and  hard-  of-  hearing,  through  the  use  of  Internet 
 Protocol  Relay  (IP  Relay)  and  Video  Relay  Service 
 (VRS),  two  forms  of  telecommunications  relay  servic-es 
 (TRS)  that  rely  on  the  Internet.  This  report  shows 
 that  there  has  been  more  than  a  640  percent  increase 
 in  IP  Relay  usage  and  more  than  a  2,000  percent 
 increase  in  VRS  in  the  past  two  years. 
 These  statistics,  taken  as  a  whole,  do  not  simply 
 document  the  development  of  advanced  telecommu-nications 
 networks  and  services;  they  also 
 demonstrate  certain  truisms  about  future  trends  as 
 well.  They  show  us  that  having  multiple  advanced 
 broadband  networks  can  complement  one  another  in 


 bringing  advanced  telecommunications  capability  to 
 all  consumers.  For  example,  in  urban  and  suburban 
 areas,  wireless  broadband  services  may  fill  in  the 
 gaps  in  wireline  broadband  coverage,  while  wireless 
 and  satellite  services  may  bring  high-  speed  broadband 
 to  remote  areas  where  wireline  deployment  may  be 
 costly.  Having  multiple  advanced  networks  will  also 
 promote  competition  in  price,  features,  and  quality-of- 
 service  among  broadband-  access  providers.  This 
 price-  and-  service  competition,  in  turn,  will  have  a 
 symbiotic,  positive  effect  on  the  overall  adoption  of 
 broadband:  as  consumers  discover  new  uses  for 
 broadband  access  at  affordable  prices,  subscribership 
 will  grow;  and  as  subscribership  grows,  competition 
 will  constrain  prices  and  incent  the  further  deploy-ment 
 of  new  and  next-  generation  networks  and 
 ever-  more  innovative  services.  Minimal  regulation  of 
 advanced  telecommunications  networks  and  services 
 is  needed  to  ensure  that  this  happens.  In  sum,  the 
 Fourth  Report  begins  to  demonstrate  that  the  much-sought 
 killer  app  that  will  spur  subscribership  to 
 advanced  telecommunications  networks  actually  lies 
 in  those  networks  today.  The  Commission  will  con-tinue 
 to  monitor  the  development  and  deployment  of 
 these  networks  in  the  future  to  ensure  that  all 
 Americans  have  affordable  access  to  them  and  to  the 
 significant  advantages  they  can  offer. 
 These,  then,  are  the  salient  findings  of  the 
 Fourth  Report.  The  Fourth  Notice  of  Inquiry  framed 
 these  issues  in  the  form  of  several  specific  questions. 
 For  ease  of  reference,  the  following  sections  present 


 This  Fourth  Report  concludes  that  the  overall  goal 
 of  section  706  is  being  met,  and  that  advanced 
 telecommunications  capability  is  being  deployed 
 on  a  reasonable  and  timely  basis  to  all  Americans. 


 9 
11
 Dec  1999  Jun  2000  Dec  2000  Jun  2001  Dec  2001  Jun  2002  Dec  2002  Jun  2003  Dec  2003  0 
 5 
 10 
 15 
 20 
 25  (Millions) 
 Chart  1:  Advanced  Services  Lines 


 Source: 
 FCC 


 Executive  Summary 
 these  questions  and  correlate  the  answers  with  the 
 findings  in  the  report. 


 1.  What  is  broadband? 
 In  the  Fourth  Report,  we  use  the  terms 
 advanced  telecommunications  capability  and 
 advanced  services  to  mean  services  and 
 facilities  with  an  upstream  (customer-  to-  provider) 
 and  downstream  (provider-  to-  customer)  transmis-sion 
 speed  of  200  kbps  or  greater.  Such  facilities  and  services  are  referred  to  as  broadband 


 throughout  this  report,  and,  as  the  report  details, 
 they  include  both  wireline  (telephone  company  and 
 cable)  as  well  as  a  growing  list  of  wireless  facilities, 
 both  licensed  and  unlicensed.  This  report  focuses  on 
 services  and  facilities  that  provide  200  kbps 
 upstream  and  downstream  transmission  speeds.  In 
 contrast,  we  use  the  term  high-  speed  to  describe 
 services  with  more  than  200  kbps  capability  in  at 
 least  one  direction. 


 Our  existing  definitions  are  not  static.  Indeed,  the  success  of  first-  generation  broadband  at  speeds 
 of  approximately  200  kbps  has  prompted  demand 
 for  ever-  faster  broadband  networks  and  connections, 
 and  today  most  broadband  providers  are  offering 
 service  well  in  excess  of  the  minimum  200  kbps 
 speed.  The  Commission  currently  has  under  consid-eration 
 rule  changes  that  will  enable  us  to  gather 
 more  information  about  these  next-  generation 


 broadband  networks  and  services  for  purposes  of 
 future  reports. 


 2.  Is  advanced  telecommunications  capability  being  deployed  to  all 
 Americans? 
 The  deployment  of  advanced  services  has 
 steadily  increased  since  the  Third  Report.  As  noted  above,  subscribership  to  advanced  services  has 


 tripled  since  our  last  report.  The  number  of  residen-tial 
 and  small  business  subscribers  to  high-  speed 
 services  has  more  than  tripled  during  the  same  peri-od, 
 from  7.8  million  lines  in  June  2001  to  26 
 million  lines  in  December  2003. 


 Special  constituencies  are  benefiting  from 
 increased  availability  of  advanced  services.  As  noted  above,  rural  and  low-  income  areas  have  experi-enced 


 dramatic  gains  in  broadband  availability,  and 
 the  use  of  broadband-  based  TRS  services  by  the  hear-ing- 
 impaired  has  likewise  grown  exponentially.  In 
 addition,  more  than  95  percent  of  public  libraries 
 and  92  percent  of  public  school  classrooms  have 
 Internet  access.  Use  of  broadband  connections  in 
 schools  with  high  minority  enrollment  increased 
 from  81  percent  to  95  percent  between  2000  and 
 2002.  During  this  same  period,  schools  with  the 
 highest  poverty  concentration  using  broadband  con-nections 
 to  access  the  Internet  increased  from  75 
 percent  to  95  percent. 


 10 
12
 11 
 Executive  Summary 
 3.  Is  broadband  being  deployed  in  a  reasonable  and  timely  fashion? 
 We  conclude  that  the  deployment  of  first-  gener-ation 
 advanced  telecommunications  capability 
 to  all  Americans  is  reasonable  and  timely.  The  challenge  for  the  future  is  to  ensure  that  this 


 trend  continues  and  is  complemented  by  reasonable 
 and  timely  deployment  of  higher-  speed  broadband. 


 We  expect  that  subscribership  to  broadband 
 services  will  increase  in  the  future  as  new 
 applications  that  require  broadband  access 
 are  introduced  into  the  marketplace,  and 
 consumers  become  more  aware  of  such 
 applications. 


 Subscribership  to  advanced  services  has  tripled 
 since  the  Third  Report. 
13
 n  section  706  of  the  1996  Telecommunications 
 Act,  Congress  defined  the  term  advanced 
 telecommunications  capability  as  high-speed, 
 switched,  broadband  telecommunica-tions 
 capability  that  enables  users  to  originate 
 and  receive  high-  quality  voice,  data,  graphics, 
 and  video  telecommunications  using  any 
 technology.  Because  broadband  is  the  more 
 common  term,  we  will  use  that  throughout 
 this  report. 
 Broadband  differs  from  dial-  up  Internet  access  in 
 several  important  ways.  First,  it  provides  higher  speed 
 data  transfer,  usually  referred  to  as  a  high-  speed  con-nection. 
 Second,  unlike  dial-  up  access,  broadband 
 provides  a  connection  that  is  always  on  so  users  can 
 receive  as  well  as  send  data  without  having  to  recon-nect 
 to  the  network.  Third,  and  of  increasing 
 importance,  broadband  provides  low  latency,  the  abil-ity 
 to  send  and  receive  data  packets  with  little,  or  no 
 noticeable,  delay.  Low  latency  is  critical  for  increas-ingly 
 popular  uses  of  broadband,  such  as  Voice  over 
 Internet  Protocol  (VoIP),  interactive  gaming,  stream-ing 
 media,  and  collaborative  computing,  which  are 
 spurring  demand  today. 
 Most  discussions  about  the  advantage  of  broad-band 
 over  dial-  up  Internet  access  focus  on  the  speed 
 of  the  data  connection.  Broadband  providers  market 
 their  services  to  dial-  up  customers  by  comparing  how 
 much  faster  broadband  connections  are  and  how 
 broadband  users  do  not  have  to  wait  to  download 
 web  pages  to  listen  to  music  or  watch  a  video  clip. 


 The  desire  for  a  faster  connection  is  the  primary 
 reason  most  new  residential  broadband  subscribers 
 switch  from  dial-  up,  according  to  a  Pew  Internet  and 
 American  Life  Project  report  in  April  2004.  The  Pew 
 study  notes  that  the  always  on  characteristic  also  is 
 important  in  subscriber  satisfaction.  As  more  broad-band 
 subscribers  use  VoIP,  interactive  media,  and 
 other  applications  that  require  low  latency,  this 
 characteristic,  too,  will  become  an  important  charac-teristic 
 in  customer  satisfaction. 
 In  prior  section  706  reports  to  Congress,  the 
 Commission  focused  on  the  speed  of  the  connection 
 as  the  defining  characteristic  of  broadband  and 
 recognized  that,  as  new  applications  took  advantage 
 of  ever  faster  connections,  the  speed  defining 
 broadband  would  evolve  over  time.  In  those 
 reports,  the  Commission  defined  advanced  telecom-munications 
 capability  and  advanced  services  as 
 services  and  facilities  with  both  customer-  to-  provider 
 (upstream)  and  provider-  to-  customer  (downstream) 
 transmission  speeds  (in  technical  terms,  band-width) 
 of  more  than  200  kbps.  The  Commission  has 
 defined  the  phrase  high-  speed  as  services  and  facil-ities 
 with  more  than  200  kbps  capability  in  at  least 
 one  direction. 
 The  Commissions  definition  of  first-  generation 
 broadband  as  200  kbps  in  each  direction  is  a  speed  at 
 which  consumers  can  download  image-  rich  web  pages 
 without  waiting  for  the  screen  to  paint  the  page. 
 At  this  speed,  broadband  users  also  can  play  interac-tive 
 games,  use  VoIP  applications,  listen  to  on-  line 


 12 


 >>>  What  Is 
 Broadband? 


 I 
14
 music,  and  watch  compressed  video  clips.  The  ability 
 to  send  (  upload)  web  pages  and  multimedia  was 
 also  seen  as  an  important  characteristic,  even  though 
 most  residential  uses  of  the  Internet  require  very 
 asymmetric  connections  (i.  e.,  the  download  rate  far 
 exceeds  the  upload  data  rate).  Therefore,  the 
 Commissions  definition  of  first-  generation  broadband 
 has  been  200  kbps  in  each  direction. 
 Our  section  706  reports  to  Congress,  including 
 this  one,  focus  on  the  timely  deployment  of  first-  gen-eration 
 broadband.  The  Commission  recognizes, 
 however,  that  the  success  of  first-  generation  broad-band 
 deployment  and  adoption  is  creating  demand 
 for  ever  faster  broadband  networks  and  connections 
 as  well  as  for  networks  that  support  low  latency 
 applications.  Indeed,  as  this  report  describes,  most 
 broadband  providers  are  offering  service  well  in 
 excess  of  the  minimum  speed  of  200  kbps  typically 
 in  the  1  megabit  per  second  (Mbps)  range  or 
 faster  although,  given  the  asymmetric  use  of  most 
 residential  subscribers,  fast  upload  rates  do  not 
 appear  to  be  as  necessary  as  fast  download  rates. 
 As  this  report  finds,  the  competitive  nature  of 
 the  broadband  market,  including  new  entrants  using 
 new  technologies,  is  driving  broadband  providers  to 
 offer  increasingly  faster  service  at  the  same  or  even 
 lower  retail  prices.  In  addition,  as  this  report  notes, 
 service  providers  such  as  incumbent  local  exchange 
 carriers  have  begun  constructing  very  high  speed 
 fiber  optic  residential  broadband  networks.  While 
 this  Fourth  Report  focuses  on  first-  generation  broad- 


 band  deployment,  future  section  706  reports  will  col-lect 
 data  and  report  on  next-  generation  as  well  as 
 first-  generation  broadband.  Now  that  first-  generation 
 broadband  is  available  to  the  vast  majority  of  U.  S. 
 households,  it  will  become  important  to  monitor  the 
 migration  to  next-  generation  networks  and  services. 
 In  a  separate  rulemaking  proceeding,  the 
 Commission  is  examining  ways  to  improve  its  Form 
 477  local  competition  and  broadband  data  gathering 
 form.  One  of  the  potential  changes  to  Form  477  is  to 
 require  carriers  reporting  data  to  break  down  high-speed 
 connections  into  more  granular  speed  tiers  for 
 reporting  purposes,  to  better  allow  us  to  track  what  is 
 happening  in  the  marketplace.  Because  that  proceed-ing 
 is  still  ongoing,  we  decline  at  this  time  to  alter  the 
 definition  of  advanced  services  for  this  report. 


 The  competitive  nature  of  the  broadband  market, 
 including  new  entrants  using  new  technologies,  is 
 driving  broadband  providers  to  offer  increasingly 
 faster  service  at  the  same  or  even  lower  retail  prices. 


 13 
15
 14 
 roadband  services  are  provided 
 using  a  variety  of  technologies, 
 network  architectures  and  trans-mission 
 paths.  In  this  section, 
 we  examine  the  technologies 
 used  to  provide  broadband, 
 highlighting  the  changes  and 
 advances  in  the  delivery  of 
 broadband  that  have  been  made 
 since  our  last  report. 


 Cable  Technologies 
 Cable  modems  allow  subscribers  to  access  high-  speed 
 data  services  over  cable  systems  that  are  generally 
 designed  with  hybrid  fiber-  coaxial  (HFC)  architec-ture. 
 Cable  modem  service  is  primarily  residential 
 service,  but  may  also  include  some  small  business 
 service.  Sample  prices  for  cable  modem  service  range 
 from  $35  to  $80  a  month,  including  the  lease  of  the 
 modem. 
 Overall,  the  cable  industry  has  maintained  the 
 course  outlined  in  the  Third  Report  by  continuing  to 
 upgrade  and  improve  cable  systems  and  broadband 
 service  offerings  and  by  extending  the  offering  of 
 such  broadband  services  to  at  least  90  percent  of 
 homes  passed  by  cable  systems.  The  cable  industry 
 expects  that  industry-  wide  facilities  upgrades  enabling 
 the  provision  of  broadband  Internet  access  to  residen-tial 
 customers  will  be  completed  soon. 
 At  the  same  time  that  the  cable  industry  has 
 expanded  the  reach  of  upgraded  broadband  facilities, 


 cable  operators  have  increased  download  transmission 
 speeds  from  200  kbps  to  as  much  as  6  Mbps.  For 
 example,  Comcast  announced  in  October  2003  that 
 it  would  double  the  downstream  speeds  of  its  cable 
 modem  service  to  3  Mbps  at  no  additional  cost  to 
 subscribers,  and  in  July  2004  added  a  4  Mbps  option. 
 TimeWarner  is  offering  a  plan  with  speeds  of  up  to  6 
 Mbps  downstream.  RCN  increased  its  3  Mbps 
 MegaModem  service  to  5  Mpbs  in  response  to  cus-tomer 
 demands,  and  Cox  added  4  and  5  Mbps 
 downstream  options. 
 Cable  companies  have  also  continued  to  upgrade 
 equipment  used  to  deliver  broadband  services.  The 
 CableLabs  Certified  Cable  Modem  Project,  also 
 known  as  Data  Over  Cable  Service  Interface 
 Specification  or  DOCSIS,  has  continued  to  develop 
 the  critical  interface  requirements  for  cable  modems 
 and  cable  modem  termination  systems  used  for  high-speed 
 data  distribution  and  connection  to  the 
 Internet.  In  general,  DOCSIS-  certified  modems  are 
 compatible  with  and  interchangeable  across  similarly 
 certified  DOCSIS-  equipped  cable  headends.  The  first 
 specification,  DOCSIS  1.0,  allowed  cable  operators 
 to  deliver  baseline  high-  speed  Internet  services  on  a 
 best  effort  basis  simultaneously  over  the  same  plant 
 as  core  video  services.  The  next  specification,  DOC-SIS 
 1.1,  was  designed  to  provide  quality  of  service  so 
 that  cable  operators  can  offer  such  products  as 
 Internet  Protocol  (IP)  telephony  and  tiered  services. 
 In  January  2002,  CableLabs  completed  specifications 
 for  its  latest  standard,  DOCSIS  2.0,  which  is 
 designed  to  address  issues  concerning  the  upstream 


 >>>  Developments  in 
 Last-  Mile  Technologies 
 Since  the  Third  Report 


 B 
16
 portion  of  the  cable  plant  (the  transmission  from  the 
 subscriber  to  the  Internet),  allowing  30  Mbps  capaci-ty 
 in  both  directions.  Adelphia  has  deployed  more 
 than  200  of  the  DOCSIS  2.0  cable  modem  termina-tion 
 systems  for  its  high-  speed  Internet  customers. 
 PacketCable,  another  CableLabs  project,  devel-ops 
 specifications  for  delivering  advanced,  real-  time 
 multimedia  services  over  two-  way  cable  plant.  The 
 project  addresses  issues  such  as  device  interoperability 
 and  product  compliance  with  the  PacketCable  speci-fications. 
 As  such,  the  specifications  enable  a  wide 
 range  of  services,  including  IP  telephony,  multimedia 
 conferencing,  interactive  gaming,  and  general  multi-media 
 applications. 
 The  cable  industry  also  is  reported  to  be  pursu-ing 
 a  project  entitled  Next  Generation  Network 
 Architecture  (NGNA),  which  is  in  part  a  competi-tive 
 response  to  wireline  broadband  providers  and  in 
 part  a  response  to  Direct  Broadcast  Satellites  (DBS) 
 Digital  Video  Recorder  (DVR)  technology.  The 
 NGNA  project,  spearheaded  by  Comcast,  Cox  and 
 Time  Warner,  who  together  serve  between  38  and  40 
 million  cable  customers,  is  attempting  to  squeeze 
 more  carriage  capacity  over  this  upgraded  plant 
 through  means  of  various  compression  technologies 
 and  customer  premises  equipment.  Cable  services 
 provided  today  are  a  mix  of  analog  and  digital  chan-nels, 
 with  two-  thirds  of  the  channel  capacity  of  most 
 cable  systems  dedicated  to  transmitting  approximately 
 80  basic  and  expanded  basic  channels,  together  with 
 pay-  per-  view  offerings.  The  NGNA  project  seeks  to 
 define  the  features  of  a  next-  generation  all-  digital 


 cable  network,  which  could  have  broad  implications 
 for  functionality  and  cost.  The  effort  involves 
 rethinking  cables  basic  technologies,  including  every-thing 
 from  encryption  strategies  to  set-  top  boxes  that 
 can  be  dramatically  upgraded  via  software  uploads,  to 
 create  more  carriage  capacity  by  completely  migrating 
 cable  service  from  analog-  to-  digital  transmission  so 
 that  all  services  could  be  provided  utilizing  IP. 
 Cable  systems  may  migrate  to  digital  by  utiliz-ing 
 NGNA  to  reclaim  analog  spectrum  and 
 installing  transitional  customer  premises  equipment 
 in  or  on  analog-  only  homes.  Executives  say  that  the 
 effort  will  utilize  existing  fiber  plant,  and  does  not 
 call  for  tearing  up  the  system  and  replacing  trunk 
 lines,  as  the  initial  fiber  upgrades  did.  Because  a 
 cable  operator  can  typically  fit  approximately  ten 
 standard  definition  digital  channels  into  the  space 
 previously  occupied  by  one  analog  television  chan-nel, 
 one  NGNA  concept  is  for  cable  operators  to 
 digitize  all  their  analog  signals  at  the  head  end  and 
 provide  every  customer  with  a  digital  cable  box, 
 tripling  the  amount  of  space  available  for  other  serv-ices. 
 Another  concept  is  the  use  of  simple  outlet 
 digital  adaptor  or  video  network  interface  unit 
 devices  at  the  subscribers  premises,  which  provide  a 
 transparent  means  to  send  and  convert  digital  signals 
 to  analog  customers  who  do  not  use  set-  top  boxes. 
 These  devices  enable  cable  operators  to  convert  their 
 systems  to  all  digital  transmission  at  a  fraction  of  the 
 cost  of  a  digital  set-  top  box.  Operators  have 
 expressed  confidence  that  the  digital  adaptor  will 
 have  enough  intelligence  to  support  a  remote  control 


 15 


 Wi-  Fi  joins  an  increasingly  lengthy  list  of  wired  and 
 wireless  methods  of  accessing  the  Internet,  such  as 
 cable  modem,  WiMax,  DSL,  broadband  over  power 
 lines  and  fiber-  to-  the-  home. 
17
 16 
 and  an  onscreen  menu,  letting  subscribers  use  video-on- 
 demand  systems. 


 Copper  Technologies 
 The  technology  that  local  telephone  carriers  predomi-nantly 
 use  for  providing  high-  speed  data  services  is 
 the  digital  subscriber  line  (DSL)  service  offering. 
 DSL  is  a  copper-  based  service  that  allows  the  tele-phone 
 carrier  to  add  certain  electronics  to  the 
 telephone  line  to  enhance  the  copper  loop  that  pro-vides 
 the  customer  voice  service  so  that  it  serves  as  a 
 conduit  for  both  voice  and  high-  speed  data  traffic. 
 There  are  a  number  of  variations  of  DSL  service. 
 The  DSL  service  primarily  used  by  residential  cus-tomers 
 is  asymmetric  DSL  (ADSL).  ADSL  provides 
 speeds  in  one  direction  (usually  downstream)  that  are 
 greater  than  the  speeds  in  the  other  direction.  Since 
 the  Third  Report,  carriers  have  increased  the  speeds 
 typically  offered  in  their  ADSL  services.  For  instance, 
 a  number  of  carriers  are  now  offering  download 
 speeds  of  1.5  Mbps  and  3.0  Mbps  and  upload  speeds 
 as  high  as  768  kbps.  Sample  prices  for  1.5  Mbps/  384 
 kbps  service  range  from  $34.95  a  month  with  certain 
 promotions  to  $64.95  per  month  for  a  service  that 
 can  serve  multiple  computers  in  a  house.  Prices  for  an 
 even  faster  download  speed  of  3.0  Mbps  range  from 
 $44.95  to  $99.95  depending  upon  the  upload  speed, 
 which  ranges  from  384  kbps  to  768  kbps.  Installation 
 for  ADSL  services  typically  range  from  free  to  $99.95, 
 because  many  carriers  are  using  self-  installation  kits 
 that  permit  the  customers  to  install  the  ADSL  services 


 themselves.  A  number  of  rural  telephone  companies 
 are  providing  video  services  using  DSL. 


 Fiber  Technologies 
 In  the  last  several  years,  carriers  have  begun  construct-ing 
 entirely  fiber  optic  cable  transmission  facilities 
 that  run  from  a  distribution  frame  (or  its  equivalent) 
 in  an  incumbent  local  exchange  carriers  (LECs)  cen-tral 
 office  to  the  loop  demarcation  point  at  an 
 end-  user  customer  premise.  These  loops  are  referred  to 
 as  fiber-  to-  the-  home  (FTTH)  loops.  FTTH  technolo-gy 
 offers  substantially  more  capacity  than  any 
 copper-  based  technology.  For  example,  Wav7  Optics 
 provides  a  FTTH  system  today  using  commercially 
 available  equipment  that  delivers  transmission  speeds 
 up  to  500  Mbps  shared  over  a  maximum  of  16  sub-scribers. 
 This  system  can  also  provide  up  to  500  Mbps 
 symmetrically  to  one  subscriber  if  desired.  The  speed 
 an  actual  user  will  experience  depends  upon  the  time 
 of  day  and  the  number  of  users  online.  A  typical 
 FTTH  system  can  deliver  up  to  870  MHz  of  cable 
 television  video  services  (for  high-  definition  television) 
 or  IP  video  services  along  with  multiple  telephone 
 lines  and  current  and  next-  generation  data  services  at 
 speeds  in  excess  of  100  Mbps. 
 There  are  three  basic  types  of  architectures  being 
 used  to  provide  FTTH.  The  most  common  architec-ture 
 used  is  Passive  Optical  Network  (PON) 
 technology.  This  technology  allows  multiple  homes  to 
 share  a  passive  fiber  network.  In  this  type  of  network, 
 the  plant  between  the  customer  premises  and  the 


 Developments  in  Last-  Mile  Technologies  Since  the  Third  Report 


 Chart  2  :  Advanced  Services  Lines  by  Technology 
 Coaxial  Cable  44.1%  Other  Wireline 
 30.7% 


 Fiber  15.5% 
 ADSL  9.4% 
 Satellite  or  W  ireless 
 0.4% 


 Coaxial  Cable  75.3% 
 Other  Wireline  6.4% 


 Fiber  3.0% 
 ADSL  14.9% 
 Satellite  or  W  ireless 
 0.4% 


 December  1999  T  otal  Lines  1,988,455  December  2003  T  otal  Lines  20,344,453 
 Source: 


 FCC 
18
 Women  and  the  Web  omen  rely  on  the  Internet  to  manage  all  facets  of  their  work,  family  and 
 social  lives,  according  to  a  recent  study  titled  Real  Women.  Digital  World. 
 The  Untold  Story  of  Women  &  The  Web  by  Yahoo!  Inc.,  a  leading  global 
 Internet  company,  and  Starcom  MediaVest  Group,  one  of  the  largest  media 
 communications  companies  in  the  world.  The  research  found  that,  because 
 working  women  are  spending  more  time  at  work  than  they  were  a  year  ago,  the  Internet  has 
 become  a  central  activity  within  womens  lives,  enabling  the  compression  of  time  and  becoming 
 an  integral  means  of  managing  life  and  accomplishing  the  many  daily  tasks.  According  to  the 
 article,  using  the  Internet  trails  only  work,  sleep  and  spending  time  with  family. 


 The  research  found  that,  of  the  women  polled,  women  are  on  the  Internet  approximately  3.3 
 hours  per  day.  Women  are  doing  a  huge  amount  of  multitasking,  said  Kate  Sirkin,  senior 
 vice  president,  global  director  of  strategic  intelligence,  Starcom  MediaVest  Group  Worldwide. 
 Youre  on  a  conference  call,  checking  flights,  [and  so  forth]  and  if  we  dont  do  that,  works 
 taking  over.  Theres  no  way  you  could  live  your  life  if  you  didnt  multitask. 


 Among  the  key  findings  of  the  study,  many  women  use  the  Internet  to  bank,  email  and  send 
 instant  messages  to  friends  and  family,  plan  travel  and  events,  coordinate  their  personal  lives, 
 and  play  games.  The  research  revealed  that,  while  some  of  the  content  sought  by  women  online, 
 such  as  health  and  beauty,  is  typically  found  in  womens  magazines,  other  areas,  such  as  news, 
 sports,  financial  services  and  games,  are  also  highly  frequented  online  destinations  by  women. 


 headend  at  the  central  office  consists  entirely  of  passive 
 components  no  electronics  are  needed  in  the  field. 
 The  other  architectures  being  used  are  home  run 
 fiber  or  point-  to-  point  fiber,  in  which  subscribers 
 have  a  dedicated  fiber  strand,  and  active  or  powered 
 nodes  are  used  to  manage  signal  distribution,  and 
 hybrid  PONs,  which  are  a  combination  of  home  run 
 and  PON  architecture. 
 Although  FTTH  technology  is  still  in  its  infan-cy, 
 the  deployment  of  FTTH  is  growing  substantially. 
 Moreover,  the  equipment  costs  for  FTTH  have 
 decreased  significantly.  As  of  May  2004,  carriers  have 
 deployed  FTTH  technology  to  128  communities  in 
 32  states.  In  addition,  companies  plan  to  deploy 
 FTTH  further  in  the  future.  For  example,  Verizon 
 has  accelerated  its  FTTH  deployment,  with  the  goal 
 of  passing  1  million  homes  by  the  end  of  2004. 
 Verizons  FTTH  deployment  will  create  a  new  net-work, 
 overlaying  the  existing  circuit-  switched  feeder 
 and  distribution  network  throughout  an  entire  cen-tral 
 office  serving  area.  The  FTTH  network  will  be 
 capable  of  transmitting  up  to  622  Mbps  and  receiv-ing 
 155  Mbps  (shared  by  the  customers  on  each 
 fiber),  in  addition  to  a  separate  path  on  the  same 
 fiber  for  video.  Verizon  has  announced  a  limited 


 deployment  of  FTTH  technology,  offering  customers 
 5  Mbps/  2Mbps  from  $34.95  a  month,  15  Mbps/  2 
 Mbps  from  $44.95  and  a  30  Mbps/  5  Mbps  service  at 
 a  price  to  be  announced  later.  SBC  has  also 
 announced  plans  to  implement  a  limited  FTTH 
 deployment  in  greenfield  applications  in  2004,  and 
 to  implement  FTTH  to  approximately  300,000 
 premises  in  2005. 
 Competitive  carriers  are  also  building  FTTH 
 facilities.  For  example,  Eagle  Broadband,  Inc.  is  cur-rently 
 building  FTTH  facilities  in  a  number  of 
 communities,  including  the  town  of  Truckee, 
 California  and  the  Lake  Las  Vegas  Resort  in  Nevada. 
 In  these  communities,  Eagle  is  offering  a  four  play 
 of  bundled  digital  offerings  including  voice,  video, 
 high-  speed  Internet  access  and  security  monitoring. 
 In  addition,  FTTH  Communications,  Inc.  is  a  resi-dential 
 home  developer  that  provides  FTTH 
 technology  to  its  communities  in  the  upper  Midwest 
 states.  For  instance,  FTTH  Communications  devel-oped 
 Evermore,  located  in  Rosemount,  Minn.,  which 
 has  about  1,200  living  units  of  mixed  use,  single-  fam-ily 
 homes,  townhomes  and  senior  housing.  FTTH 
 Communications  provides  services  delivered  over  a 
 fiber  optics  system  built  into  the  developments,  called 


 17 


 Developments  in  Last-  Mile  Technologies  Since  the  Third  Report 
 W 
19
 FiberPath.  The  system  is  designed  to  converge  multi-line 
 telephone,  entertainment,  video  and  high-  speed 
 data  services  all  over  one  fiber  optic  connection.  This 
 connection  not  only  allows  FTTH  Communications 
 to  provide  multiple  services  to  individual  customers, 
 it  also  allows  it  to  offer  community  connection  serv-ices, 
 such  as  a  community  intranet  and  community 
 cable  station. 
 Fiber-  to-  the-  home  deployments  highlight  carrier 
 creativity.  For  instance,  Renaissance  Integrated 
 Solutions  has  created  a  broadband  solution  based  on 
 repairing  failing  sewer  systems  with  a  trenchless  tech-nology 
 known  as  pipe  bursting.  Renaissances 
 solution  simultaneously  replaces  existing  main  line 
 and  lateral  sewer  and  water  pipes  with  two  separate 
 conduit  systems:  one  for  long-  term  sewer  and  water 
 use,  and  one  for  a  ubiquitous  fiber  optic  conduit 
 system.  Because  sewer  systems  run  to  every  building, 
 this  solution  would  effectively  facilitate  a  FTTH 
 system  where  it  is  installed. 
 In  addition  to  FTTH  technologies,  some  carriers 
 are  constructing  fiber-  to-  the-  curb  (FTTC)  facilities 
 that  do  not  run  all  the  way  to  the  home,  but  run  to  a 
 pedestal  located  within  500  feet  of  the  subscriber 
 premises.  Copper  lines  are  then  used  for  the  connec-tion 
 between  the  pedestal  and  the  network  interface 
 device  at  the  customers  premises.  Because  of  the  lim-ited 
 use  of  copper,  FTTC  technologies  permit  carriers 
 to  provide  high-  speed  data  in  addition  to  high  defini- 


 tion  video  services.  BellSouth  has  used  FTTC  exten-sively, 
 deploying  to  approximately  one  million  homes 
 at  the  end  of  2003. 


 Unlicensed  Wireless  Technologies 
 Since  the  Commission  first  allocated  spectrum  in  the 
 902-  928  MHz  band  for  use  on  an  unlicensed  basis 
 under  Part  15  of  the  rules,  there  has  been  an  increas-ingly 
 rapid  expansion  of  products  and  markets  in 
 bands  designated  for  unlicensed  use.  This  Industrial, 
 Scientific,  and  Medical  band  was  the  first  to  experi-ence 
 the  large  scale  introduction  of  devices  such  as 
 cordless  phones,  security  alarms,  wireless  bar  code 
 readers,  and  data  collection  systems.  A  number  of 
 original  equipment  manufacturers  continue  to  provide 
 equipment  for  point-  to-  point  and  point-  to-  multipoint 
 systems  for  such  applications  as  Supervisory  Control 
 and  Data  Acquisition.  In  addition,  there  are  several 
 providers  of  wireless  local  area  network  equipment  in 
 this  band  including  Alvarion  Networks  with  local 
 access  data  rates  of  up  to  3  Mbps  for  non-  line-  of-  sight 
 applications.  In  addition,  Waverider  provides  access 
 equipment  with  data  rates  of  up  to  2  Mbps. 


 Wi-  Fi.  Wi-  Fi,  short  for  Wireless  Fidelity,  is  a  term  that  is  used  generically  to  refer  to  any  product  or 


 service  using  the  802.11  series  standards  developed 
 by  the  Institute  of  Electrical  and  Electronics 
 Engineers  (IEEE)  for  wireless  local  area  network  con-nections. 
 Wi-  Fi  networks  operate  on  an  unlicensed 
 basis  in  the  2.4  and  5  GHz  radio  bands  and  provide 
 multiple  data  rates  up  to  a  maximum  of  54  Mbps. 
 The  bandwidth  is  shared  among  multiple  users.  Wi-Fi 
 enabled  wireless  devices,  such  as  laptop  computers 
 or  personal  digital  assistants  (PDAs),  can  send  and 
 receive  data  from  any  location  within  signal  reach  of 
 a  Wi-  Fi  equipped  base  station  or  access  point  (AP). 
 Typically,  mobile  devices  must  be  within  approxi-mately 
 300  feet  of  a  base  station. 
 The  expansion  of  Wi-  Fi  access  to  the  Internet 
 has  recently  seen  the  explosive  growth  of  hotspots  on 
 a  commercial  and  noncommercial  basis.  A  public 
 wireless  hotspot  is  an  area  where  a  computer  or 
 PDA  equipped  with  a  wireless  local  area  network  card 
 can  connect  to  the  Internet  through  wireless  access 
 points.  Networks  of  hotspots  consisting  of  a  number 
 of  access  points  have  also  been  constructed  to  cover 
 larger  areas  such  as  entire  airports.  Driven  by  low  cost 
 devices  operating  on  an  unlicensed  basis,  the  expan-18 


 Developments  in  Last-  Mile  Technologies  Since  the  Third  Report 
20
 sion  of  hotspot  access  points  has  become  rampant  as 
 build-  out  continues  with  the  assistance  of  numerous 
 entities  including  small-  and  large-  scale  businesses, 
 public  institutions,  and  individual  entrepreneurs. 
 Providers  use  the  technology  for  everything  from 
 enterprise  networks  to  purely  ad  hoc  provision  of 
 access  points  for  either  non-  commercial  use  or  for 
 their  potential  to  attract  customers.  For  instance, 
 both  Starbucks  and  McDonalds  are  using  Internet 
 access  to  attract  patrons,  and  some  colleges  and  uni-versities, 
 such  as  Dartmouth  College,  are  deploying 
 ubiquitous  Wi-  Fi  networks.  Even  entire  municipali-ties 
 from  large  metropolitan  areas  such  as  Seattle  to 
 smaller  communities  such  as  Chaska,  Minn.  are 
 providing  Wi-  Fi  access  on  either  a  no-  fee  basis  or  on 
 a  modest  fee-  for-  service  basis. 
 Industry  analysts  predict  the  continued  growth 
 of  Wi-  Fi  access  points  and  Wireless  Internet  Service 
 Providers.  Major  telecommunications  providers, 
 including  T-  Mobile  and  Verizon,  provide  Internet 
 services  via  substantial  hotspot  networks.  In  addition 
 to  the  large  number  of  access  points  available  in 
 urban  areas  to  the  point  that  tens  of  access  points 
 may  be  accessible  from  a  single  geographical  loca-tion 
 a  major  factor  contributing  to  the  success  of 
 Wi-  Fi  has  been  its  ability  to  provide  wireless  Internet 
 access  in  rural  and  remote  areas  such  as  Alaska  and 
 western  Virginia.  Improvements  in  broadband  access 
 have  also  been  accomplished  by  the  integration  of 
 Wi-  Fi  capabilities  across  multiple  vendors  and  com-plementary 
 capabilities  across  the  various  spectrum 
 bands  and  standards.  Key  to  these  efforts  has  been 
 the  implementation  of  Wi-  Fi  in  integrated  circuits 
 and  devices  such  as  Centrino  by  Intel,  Airport 
 Express  by  Apple,  and  mobile  platforms  provided  by 
 Broadcom  and  Atheros. 
 The  last-  mile  provision  of  advanced  services  for 
 residential  use  via  Wi-  Fi  has  also  become  a  commercial 
 success  story  for  multiple  vendors.  This  is  evidenced  by 
 the  integration  of  Wi-  Fi  capabilities  into  commercial 
 data  devices  such  as  laptop  computers  and  personal 
 digital  assistants.  One  analyst,  In-  Stat/  MDR,  reports 
 the  Wi-  Fi  hardware  market  achieving  staggering 
 growth  in  2003,  expecting  22.7  million  NIC  [net-work 
 interface  card]  and  AP  units  rolled  out  in  2003, 
 a  214%  increase  from  2002s  7.2  million  units  ship-ments. 
 This  success  has  been  driven  by  the  availability 
 and  low  cost  of  IEEE  Standard  802.11b,  802.11a,  and 
 802.11g  embedded  products.  Even  as  the  standards- 


 based  products  were  rolled  out  with  speeds  of  11 
 Mbps  and  54  Mbps,  numerous  vendors  introduced 
 enhancements  to  double  access  speeds  to  a  maximum 
 of  108  Mbps.  Foremost  in  the  decision  to  roll  out 
 more  advanced  mobile  capability  is  the  complementa-ry 
 nature  of  demand-  driven  mobile  and  fixed 
 broadband  services.  Carriers  continue  to  search  for  an 
 appropriate  economic  model  for  providing  consumers 
 Wi-  Fi  connectivity,  ranging  from  free  access  to  paid 
 services  coupled  with  the  provision  of  fixed  versus 
 mobile  services. 


 WiMax.  WiMax,  short  for  Worldwide  Interoperability  for  Microwave  Access  refers  to  any 


 broadband  wireless  access  network  based  on  the  IEEE 
 802.16  standard.  WiMax  includes  fixed  systems 
 employing  a  point-  to-  multipoint  architecture  operating 
 between  2  GHz  and  66  GHz.  WiMax  is  capable  of 
 transmitting  network  signals  covering  in  excess  of  30 
 miles  of  linear  service  area,  which  is  much  greater  than 
 Wi-  Fis  coverage  area.  It  provides  multiple  shared  data 
 rates  of  up  to  75  Mbps. 
 At  the  same  time  that  Wi-  Fi  networks  are  reach-ing 
 a  more  mature  state,  WiMax  has  the  potential  to 
 alter  and  further  accelerate  the  evolution  of  broad-band 
 services.  Coincident  with  the  integration  of 
 Wi-  Fi  into  devices,  Intel  has  announced  the  integra-tion 
 of  WiMax  into  its  next  generation  chipsets 
 for  mobile  devices.  Analysts  suggest  that  WiMax, 
 although  still  in  an  early  state,  could  complement  or 
 even  supplant  the  development  of  Wi-  Fi  networks  in 
 the  long  run.  It  is  anticipated  that  new  standards  for 
 wireless  networks  will  incorporate  both  roaming  and 
 handoff  capabilities,  which  will  further  enhance  the 
 potential  for  broadband  fixed  and  mobile  applica-tions 
 in  both  licensed  and  license-  exempt  spectrum. 


 Personal  Area  Networks.  In  addition  to  the  tech-nologies  for  fixed  and  mobile  wireless  broadband  access 


 already  mentioned,  we  highlight  the  potential  inherent 
 in  devices  for  personal  area  networks  on  a  localized 
 basis.  Currently,  the  Commissions  Part  15  Rules  pro-vide 
 for  limited-  range  use  of  ultra-  wideband  (UWB) 
 communications,  but  the  potential  of  gigahertz  band-widths 
 is  extremely  attractive  for  large  bandwidth 
 applications.  New  devices  are  currently  under  develop-ment 
 for  broadband  applications,  including  new  UWB 
 products  with  data  transfer  rates  of  up  to  one  gigabyte 
 per  second.  Products  operating  at  20-  120  Mbps  are 
 currently  demonstrating  multiple  simultaneous  data 


 19 


 Developments  in  Last-  Mile  Technologies  Since  the  Third  Report 
21
 and  video  streams,  with  commercial  shipping  due  to 
 start  in  the  third  quarter  of  2004.  Products  with  capa-bilities 
 in  the  gigabit  per  second  range  are  expected  by 
 2006.  Industry  groups  are  trying  to  settle  on  a  common 
 standard  for  communications  devices  using  UWB  tech-nology. 
 In  addition  to  UWB,  both  Bluetooth  and 
 Zigbee  technologies  are  being  integrated  into  devices 
 for  short  range  broadband  use,  including  remote  print-ing 
 and  other  connectivity  applications. 


 Licensed  Wireless  Technologies 
 Mobile  wireless  broadband  services  allow  consumers 
 to  access  the  Internet  and  other  data  services  at  high 
 speeds  from  a  cell  phone,  a  PDA,  or  a  wireless  modem 
 card  connected  to  a  laptop  computer.  Mobile  broad-band 
 services  are  also  commonly  referred  to  as  third 


 generation,  or  3G,  services  or  advanced  wireless 
 services.  At  the  time  of  the  Third  Report,  mobile 
 broadband  services  had  not  yet  been  deployed  to  con-sumers 
 in  the  United  States.  Since  that  time,  however, 
 several  mobile  wireless  carriers  have  begun  to  deploy 
 high-  speed  mobile  Internet  access  technologies,  and 
 many  have  announced  plans  to  launch  or  expand 
 these  technologies  further  in  the  future. 
 In  October  2003,  Verizon  Wireless  began  offer-ing 
 high-  speed  mobile  Internet  access  service  in 
 Washington,  D.  C.  and  San  Diego,  Calif.,  using  Code 
 Division  Multiple  Access  (CDMA)  1x  EV-  DO  tech-nology, 
 commonly  referred  to  as  EV-  DO.  EV-  DO 
 technology  increases  maximum  data  transfer  speeds 
 to  2  Mbps,  and  typical,  user-  experienced  download 
 speeds  range  from  300  to  500  kbps.  With  the  EV-DO 
 service,  mobile  subscribers  can  access  the 


 20 


 Developments  in  Last-  Mile  Technologies  Since  the  Third  Report 
 Southern  California  Tribal  Digital  Village  iles  away  from  downtown  San  Diego,  California,  in  an  isolated  and  vast  geograph-ic 
 area  near  the  Mexican  border,  more  than  12,000  Native  Americans  have  access 
 to  broadband  services  comparable  to  those  available  in  urban  San  Diego.  In  2001, 
 the  Southern  California  Tribal  Chairman's  Association,  Hewlett-  Packard,  and  the 
 University  of  California-  San  Diego  began  working  together  to  create  a  broadband 
 network  linking  18  different  Native  American  reservations  using  Wi-  Fi,  or  IEEE  802.11b,  technolo-gy. 
 Now  fully  operational,  the  completed  network  is  called  the  Southern  California  Tribal  Digital 
 Village  (TDV). 


 Developing  the  TDV  network  was  technically  challenging.  The  rocky,  mountainous  terrain  and  deep 
 valleys  made  it  difficult  to  achieve  a  line-  of-  sight  between  network  access  points,  which  is  necessary 
 for  this  type  of  wireless  broadband  technology.  Also,  not  only  is  the  area  that  the  network  needed 
 to  cover  remote,  but  the  17  different  tribal  communities  are  scattered  across  150  miles.  The 
 resourcefulness  of  the  creators  of  the  TDV  and  the  inherent  flexibility  of  the  wireless  technology  over-came 
 these  technical  challenges.  One  example  of  the  flexibility  in  the  technology  is  the  fact  that 
 solar  power  and,  in  one  case,  even  a  car  battery,  power  the  network  access  points.  We  just  kept 
 building  towers  and  pretty  soon  we  had  everybody  connected,  said  Jack  Ward,  director  of  TDV 
 and  one  of  the  authors  of  the  Hewlett-  Packard  grant  application. 


 [  Hewlett-  Packards  e-  inclusion]  program  seeks  to  provide  people  access  to  greater  social  and  eco-nomic 
 opportunities  by  closing  the  gap  between  technology-  empowered  and  technology-  excluded 
 communities,  focusing  on  sustainability  for  the  communities  and  HP,  said  Janiece  Evans-  Page, 
 Global  Director  of  e-  inclusion  at  Hewlett-  Packard.  TDV's  vision  for  expanding  a  wireless  network  to 
 connect  a  broadly  distributed  rural,  underserved  community  and  enhance  education,  communica-tion 
 and  cultural  experiences  quickly  became  a  shared  vision  for  HP. 


 The  TDV  is  in  the  process  of  upgrading  its  10  major  towers  with  the  goal  of  increasing  the  data 
 rates  from  current  speeds  of  3-  5  mbps  to  45  mbps.  In  addition,  the  TDV  has  grown  to  21  tribal  com-munities. 
 The  next  step,  said  Ward,  is  to  start  connecting  homes  to  the  TDV.  And  the  plans 


 M 
22
 Developments  in  Last-  Mile  Technologies  Since  the  Third  Report 
 21 
 dont  stop  there.  If  the  system  becomes  robust  enough,  Ward  said,  were  thinking  about 
 becoming  an  ISP  to  provide  economic  opportunity  and  service  to  rural  communities  beyond  the 
 Indian  communities. 


 Tribal  members  constructed  the  network,  from  building  the  communications  towers  to  aligning  the 
 radios  used  for  communication  between  different  access  points.  Mike  Peralta,  a  member  of  the 
 Luiseno  tribe  and  now  TDVs  network  administrator,  was  tutoring  children  and  teaching  GED  classes 
 before  the  project  began.  Originally  hired  to  work  on  web  design,  Peralta  now  understands  how 
 the  network  is  engineered.  We  used  the  project  to  train  local  people,  Ward  said.  We  thought 
 that  even  when  the  money  went  away,  at  least  the  knowledge  would  be  there. 


 With  the  TDV  partnership,  tribal  members  can  access  information  about  community  events,  health 
 care,  and  job  opportunities  using  an  electronic  community  bulletin  board.  They  can  take  classes  at 
 the  University  of  California-  San  Diego  online  an  important  benefit  because  tribal  members  previ-ously 
 had  only  limited  access  to  higher  learning  opportunities.  The  network  also  enables  Native 
 American  cultural  preservation  through  a  web  link  to  a  specialized  cultural  library  and  through  the 
 First  Voices  program  in  which  numerous  recordings  in  Native  American  languages  are  uploaded 
 to  the  web,  making  them  accessible  for  others  to  learn.  Even  the  physical  network  itself  enhances 
 educational  opportunities.  The  TDV  Shadow  Project  is  a  mentoring  program  that  takes  six  young 
 people  in  the  tribal  communities  and  provides  them  with  technical  training  on  how  to  maintain  the 
 wireless  network,  in  addition  to  providing  training  in  computer  skills.  The  Internet  and  technology 
 have  created  a  consciousness  change,  Ward  said.  Its  no  longer  something  they  read  about  or 
 see  on  TV.  Its  now  starting  to  become  part  of  their  everyday  life. 


 With  limited  existing  telecommunications  infrastructure,  rural  and  remote  geographic  areas  like  the  trib-al 
 lands  that  are  part  of  the  Tribal  Digital  Village  present  particularly  difficult  challenges  to  the 
 deployment  of  broadband  services.  Connecting  these  tribal  communities  has  enabled  a  wide  range  of 
 educational  and  cultural  activities,  transcending  large  geographic  distances.  Its  opening  peoples 
 eyes  to  the  opportunities  that  are  out  there,  said  Peralta.  We  havent  yet  realized  the  full  potential. 


 Internet  via  a  wireless  modem  card  connected  to  a 
 laptop  computer  or  PDA.  Verizon  Wireless  has 
 announced  that  it  plans  to  expand  its  EV-  DO  net-work, 
 while  Sprint  PCS  has  announced  it  expects  to 
 roll  out  EV-  DO  technology  in  selected  markets  dur-ing 
 the  second  half  of  2004.  In  July  2004,  AT&  T 
 Wireless  announced  the  commercial  availability  of 
 Wideband  CDMA  (WCDMA),  or  Universal  Mobile 
 Telecommunications  System  (UMTS),  technology  in 
 Seattle,  San  Francisco,  Phoenix  and  Detriot.  UMTS 
 is  the  next  migration  step  for  some  wireless  carriers 
 and  allows  maximum  downstream  data  speeds  of  up 
 to  2  Mbps,  and  typical  user-  experienced  speeds  of 
 220-  320  kbps. 
 While  the  mobile  data  services  discussed  above 
 are  offered  using  a  cellular  network  architecture,  fixed 
 wireless  broadband  services  have  traditionally  been 


 deployed  using  a  point-  to-  point  or  point-  to-  multi-point 
 network  architecture  that  requires  a  direct 
 line-  of-  sight  between  the  transmitter  and  the  receiver. 
 However,  since  the  Third  Report,  many  wireless  carri-ers 
 have  begun  to  deploy  Orthogonal  Frequency 
 Division  Multiplexing  (OFDM)  technology,  which 
 allows  carriers  to  offer  wireless  broadband  services 
 without  a  direct  line-  of-  sight  between  the  transmitter 
 and  the  receiver.  Many  of  the  wireless  broadband  serv-ices 
 offered  using  OFDM  technology  also  eliminate 
 the  need  for  subscribers  to  attach  an  antenna  to  their 
 rooftop  and  instead  allow  them  to  access  the  Internet 
 with  plug-  and-  play  modem  devices  connected  to  a 
 personal  or  laptop  computer.  Customers  can  transport 
 these  devices  to  other  locations  where  the  network  is 
 available.  Another  advantage  of  such  services  is  that 
 they  often  eliminate  the  need  for  a  carrier  to  send 
23
 22 
 technicians  to  install  equipment  at  an  end  users  house 
 or  building.  The  monthly  prices  for  these  services  vary 
 by  carrier  and  range  from  $24.95  to  $129.99,  with  the 
 more  expensive  plans  typically  offering  download 
 speeds  up  to  3  Mbps.  In  April  2004,  Nextel 
 Communications  began  offering  wireless  broadband 
 service  in  Raleigh-  Durham,  N.  C.  Several  other  carriers 
 offer  OFDM-  based,  non-  line-  of-  sight  wireless  broad-band 
 services  in  small  communities  including 
 Info-  Link.  net  in  Minnesota,  Evertek  in  Iowa, 
 Gryphon  Wireless  in  Nebraska,  BeamSpeed  in 
 Arizona,  and  Rioplex  Wireless  in  Texas. 
 Several  carriers  use  the  spectrum  above  10  GHz 
 specifically  the  24  GHz,  39  GHz,  and  local  multipoint 
 distribution  system  (LMDS)  bands,  often  referred  to  as 
 the  upperbands  to  offer  fixed  wireless  broadband 
 services.  Upperband  technologies  require  a  direct  line-of- 
 sight  between  the  transmitter  and  the  receiver.  The 
 major  upperband  carriers,  including  Teligent  and  XO 
 Communications,  have  begun  to  focus  on  providing 
 backhaul  transport  and  private  line  telecommunications 
 services  to  other  carriers  and  large  business  customers. 
 Many  upperband  providers  have  also  begun  leasing 
 spectrum  on  a  point-  to-  point  or  geographic  area  basis 
 to  other  fixed  and  mobile  carriers.  For  example,  in  May 


 2004,  IDT  Corp.  announced  the  reorganization  of  its 
 fixed  wireless  division  to  focus  on  providing  private 
 line,  wholesale,  and  backhaul  services,  as  well  as  leased 
 spectrum,  to  other  telecommunications  companies, 
 including  mobile  and  fixed  wireless  carriers.  In  January 
 2004,  XO  Communications  completed  a  trial  of  fixed 
 wireless  broadband  service  using  LMDS  spectrum  in 
 San  Diego  and  Irvine,  Calif.  The  company  is  offering  a 
 range  of  services,  including  VoIP,  high-  speed  Internet 
 access,  and  other  data  services,  at  speeds  ranging  from 
 one  to  20  Mbps,  to  small  and  medium  sized  businesses 
 in  conjunction  with  its  metropolitan  fiber  networks. 


 Broadband  over  Power  Lines 
 Another  mechanism  for  delivering  broadband  services 
 that  made  its  commercial  debut  in  2003  is  broadband 
 over  power  lines  (BPL).  BPL  systems  use  existing  elec-trical 
 power  lines  as  a  transmission  medium  to  provide 
 high-  speed  communications  capabilities  by  coupling 
 radio  frequency  energy  onto  the  power  line.  The 
 United  Power  Line  Council  notes  that  BPL  can  cur-rently 
 provide  symmetric  speeds  of  3  Mbps,  and 
 next-  generation  chipsets  are  being  developed  to  pro-vide 
 100  Mbps.  BPL  travels  over  medium-  voltage  (up 


 Developments  in  Last-  Mile  Technologies  Since  the  Third  Report 


 Scott  Sandal  and  South  Dakota  Network  hen  South  Dakotans  residents  Scott  and  Heidi  Sandal  found  out  they 
 were  expecting  their  first  child,  they  considered  moving  back  to  the  Sandal 
 family  ranch  in  Howes,  S.  D.  Sandal  wanted  to  keep  his  job,  however,  as 
 an  application  software  engineer  at  Wells  Fargo  in  Sioux  City  365  miles  from 
 Howes. 


 Commuting  is  not  an  option  from  our  home,  Sandal  said.  My  ability  to  return  to  the  family 
 ranch  was  based  on  three  factors  being  met:  agreement  from  my  wife,  agreement  from  my 
 employer,  and  the  availability  of  broadband. 


 Sandals  wife  and  employer  agreed,  leaving  broadband  access  the  only  issue.  Fortunately  for  the 
 Sandals,  the  local  telecommunications  provider,  Golden  West,  was  in  the  process  of  laying  new 
 fiber  optic  lines  to  rural  communities  in  western  South  Dakota,  including  Howes. 


 As  a  result,  Scott  Sandal  did  not  have  to  make  the  choice  between  his  job  and  what  was  best  for 
 his  family.  He  also  is  able  to  contribute  to  the  community  of  Howes.  He  volunteers  as  a  firefighter 
 and  serves  on  the  school  building  committee  and  the  Meade  County  cooperative  extension  board. 
 My  dream  did  come  true,  Sandal  said.  Thanks  to  Golden  West  Companies,  broadband  via 
 ADSL  technology  was  made  available  right  to  my  familys  ranch. 


 W 
24
 23 
 to  40,000  volts)  transmission  lines.  Initial  trials  of 
 BPL  have  begun  in  Manassas,  Va.;  Allentown,  Penn.; 
 and  Cincinnati,  Ohio.  While  some  challenges  to  the 
 implementation  of  BPL  remain,  the  technology  has 
 the  potential  to  take  advantage  of  the  large-  scale 
 deployed  infrastructure  of  the  power  grid  to  provide 
 broadband  services  to  some  customers  not  yet  served 
 by  DSL  or  cable  modem  services. 


 Satellite  Technologies 
 High-  speed  Internet  access  over  satellite  remains  a  nas-cent 
 technology.  As  of  December  2003,  satellite  and 
 wireless  technology  accounted  for  approximately  1.3 
 percent  of  total  high-  speed  lines  in  the  United  States. 
 Moreover,  none  of  the  satellite-  based  Internet  access 
 services  satisfy  the  Commissions  definition  of 
 advanced  services,  which  calls  for  a  minimum  trans-mission 
 speed  of  200  kpbs  downstream  and  upstream. 
 As  of  mid-  year  2003,  the  two  major  providers  of 
 high-  speed  Internet  access  through  two-  way  satellite 
 technology,  DirecWay,  an  affiliate  of  Hughes 
 Network  Systems  (HNS),  and  Starband,  an  inde-pendent 
 operator,  had  slightly  more  than  200,000 
 subscribers  combined.  Both  HNS  and  Starband  pro- 


 vide  Internet  access  to  individuals  primarily  in  small 
 office/  home  office  environments  and  small  businesses 
 that  are  not  currently  served  by  wireline  broadband 
 providers  or  cable  companies.  Starband  charges  a 
 one-  time  fee,  ranging  from  $199.99  to  $699,  for 
 equipment  and  a  monthly  fee,  ranging  from  $49.99 
 to  $99.99  per  month,  for  its  StarBand  360  Internet 
 access  service.  DirecWay  charges  $600  for  installation 
 and  equipment  and  a  $60  per  month  for  the  service. 
 A  number  of  companies  have  announced  plans  to 
 launch  satellites  that  will  increase  the  speed  of 
 Internet  access  and  also  lower  the  cost  of  ground 
 equipment.  In  another  development,  the  Boeing 
 Corporation  recently  launched  Connexion,  a  real-time, 
 high-  speed  two-  way  in-  flight  Internet  access 
 service  for  passengers  on  board  aircraft  using  satellite 
 technology. 
 On  July  17,  2004,  WildBlue  Communications 
 announced  the  launch  of  its  first  Ka-  band  satellite 
 payload  aboard  Telesats  Anik  F2  satellite.  WildBlue 
 expects  to  begin  providing  two-  way  wireless  high-speed 
 Internet  access  in  early  2005.  WildBlue  expects 
 the  service  to  be  particularly  attractive  to  the  estimat-ed 
 25  million  homes  and  small  businesses  that  do  not 
 have  access  to  other  broadband  Internet  options. 


 Developments  in  Last-  Mile  Technologies  Since  the  Third  Report 


 And  Howes  is  not  the  only  South  Dakota  community  benefiting  from  the  upgraded  network.  Golden 
 West  is  part  of  a  larger  organization  known  as  the  South  Dakota  Network  (SDN).  Created  in  1989 
 by  several  independent  telephone  companies,  the  purpose  of  SDN  is  to  provide  more  telecommuni-cations 
 options  for  rural  customers  by  creating  a  fiber  network.  Today,  27  independent  telephone 
 companies  are  part  of  the  SDN,  which  now  serves  as  a  platform  hub  for 
 Internet  access  and  digital  television  in  addition  to  long  distance  services.  In 
 addition  to  residential  customers,  the  SDN  serves  health  care  facilities,  banks, 
 businesses  and  government  agencies. 


 For  a  large  area  of  western  South  Dakota,  Golden  West  has  laid  the  founda-tion 
 for  rural  growth  and  economic  development,  Sandal  said.  More 
 telecommuting  opportunities  such  as  mine  will  rejuvenate  rural  economies. 


 The  SDN  gives  rural  communities  access  to  uniquely  reliable  telecommunica-tions 
 capabilities.  Because  of  the  networks  redundant  capacity,  businesses 
 that  use  the  SDN  are  ensured  service;  if  a  fiber  optic  line  is  cut,  the  informa-tion 
 can  be  immediately  rerouted.  We  have  structured  our  company  so  one 
 phone  call  plugs  you  in  to  total  business  communications,  Mark  Shlanta, 
 CEO  of  SDN,  says  in  a  message  to  customers  on  SDNs  web  site.  You  can 
 get  the  broadband  services  and  the  equipment  you  need  to  make  it  work. 
25
 24 
 he  rise  of  the  Internet  has 
 fundamentally  changed  the 
 ways  in  which  consumers 
 today  communicate  by 
 increasing  the  speed  of 
 communications,  the  range 
 of  communicating  devices, 
 and  the  platforms  over 
 which  they  can  send  and 
 receive  information.  This 
 growth  has  been  possible  because  the  Internet 
 employs  an  open  network  architecture  using  a  com-mon 
 protocol  the  Internet  Protocol,  or  IP  to 
 transmit  data  across  multiple  interconnected  packet 
 networks  in  a  manner  fundamentally  different  from 
 how  signals  transit  in  a  circuit-  switched  network.  As 
 opposed  to  the  end-  to-  end  path  that  is  required  for  a 
 circuit-  switched  network,  an  IP  network  segments 
 data  into  packets,  which  are  individually  addressed 
 and  then  transmitted  over  a  series  of  physical  net-works 
 which  may  be  comprised  of  copper,  fiber, 
 coaxial  cable,  or  wireless  facilities.  When  transmitting 
 packets  between  two  points,  the  IP  network  does  not 
 establish  a  permanent  or  exclusive  path  between  the 
 points,  but  rather  routes  the  packets  individually  and 
 decides  which  route  to  use  for  each  packet. 
 The  growth  of  the  Internet  has  been  accompanied 
 by  an  explosion  in  consumer  access  to  new  services 
 and  applications.  One  of  the  most  exciting  new  devel-opments 
 is  the  transmission  of  voice  communications 
 over  a  network  using  IP  also  referred  to  Voice  over 


 IP  or  VoIP.  Although  early  attempts  to  offer  IP  teleph-ony 
 were  unsuccessful  due  to  limited  reliability  and 
 voice  quality,  today  technology  has  improved  suffi-ciently 
 to  permit  IP  networks  to  carry  voice 
 communications.  Indeed,  cable  operators,  wireline  car-riers, 
 and  wireless  providers  have  announced  that  they 
 have  begun  to  deploy,  or  intend  to  deploy,  IP  networks 
 to  transmit  IP  telephony  services  to  their  subscribers. 
 Several  cable  companies  are  adding  voice  services 
 over  the  DOCSIS  platform  using  PacketCable  or 
 other  VoIP  standards.  For  example,  in  November 
 2003  Cablevision  launched  its  Optimum  Voice,  a 
 digital  voice-  over-  cable  service,  throughout  its  service 
 area  of  more  than  4  million  homes.  The  service  offers 
 subscribers  of  Cablevisions  high-  speed  Internet  access 
 service  features  including  unlimited  calling  across  the 
 United  States  and  Canada  for  a  flat  rate  of  $34.95  per 
 month.  Time  Warner  Cable  today  provides  its  Digital 
 Phone  VoIP  service  in  its  cable  systems  in  seven  states. 
 Charter  reaches  5,000  VoIP  customers  in  two  states. 
 These  cable  companies  and  others  plan  to  extend  the 
 reach  of  their  VoIP  offerings  in  the  coming  year. 
 A  number  of  other  companies  have  also  begun 
 offering  IP  telephony  services  to  residential  end  users. 
 For  example,  pulver.  com  operates  an  Internet  applica-tion 
 called  Free  World  Dialup  (FWD)  that  facilitates 
 such  members  engaging  in  free  peer-  to-  peer  commu-nications, 
 exchanging  voice,  video  or  text.  Free  World 
 Dialup  subscribers  use  a  Session  Initiation  Protocol 
 (SIP)  phone  or  personal  computer  to  make  calls  to 
 other  FWD  members  that  do  not  utilize  the  public 


 New  Developments 
 in  Services 
 and  Applications 


 >>> 


 T 
26
 switched  telephone  network  (PSTN).  Similarly, 
 AT&  T  and  Vonage  offer  IP  telephony  services  that 
 permit  a  subscriber  with  a  broadband  connection  to 
 place  telephone  calls  to,  and  receive  calls  from,  both 
 other  broadband  subscribers  and  end  users  relying  on 
 traditional  PSTN  facilities.  The  VoIP  provider  sup-plies 
 software  and  a  multimedia  terminal  adapter 
 (MTA)  that  permits  its  customers  to  use  analog 
 phones  to  place  calls  using  their  broadband  Internet 
 connections.  When  a  VoIP  customer  communicates 
 with  a  subscriber  of  ordinary  telephone  service,  the 
 VoIP  provider  converts  its  customers  IP  packets  into  a 
 digital  format  for  transfer  through  a  media  gateway  to 
 the  PSTN  and  vice  versa.  The  price  of  Vonages  IP 
 telephony  service  currently  ranges  from  $14.99  for 
 500  minutes  anywhere  in  the  United  States  and 
 Canada  for  residential  customers  to  $49  for  unlimited 
 calling  within  the  United  States  and  Canada  for  small 
 businesses.  AT&  Ts  CallVantage  includes  unlimited 
 local  and  long  distance  for  $19.99  a  month  for  the 
 first  six  months  and  $34.99  a  month  when  the  pro-motional 
 period  ends. 
 Wireless  service  providers  have  also  begun  pro-viding 
 IP-  based  mobile  data  applications.  While 
 second-  generation  mobile  communications  systems 
 used  circuit-  switched  networks  to  provide  voice  serv-ice, 
 next-  generation  network  overlays  are  now 
 providing  enhanced  multimedia  entertainment  and 
 data  services  such  as  games,  ring  tones,  photo  and 
 video  messaging,  and  web  surfing  built  on  packet 
 switching  and  IP  routing.  For  example,  Verizon 


 Wireless  has  launched  its  Get  it  Now  service,  which 
 allows  customers  to  download  games,  ring  tones,  and 
 entertainment  and  productivity  applications  to  their 
 phone.  This  service  offers  the  Get  Going  line  of 
 applications,  which  can  be  used  to  get  real-  time  air-port 
 status  and  flight  information,  create  and  send 
 expense  reports,  and  locate  a  site  on  a  map  when  vis-iting 
 a  new  city.  Similarly,  Sprint  PCS  is  offering  a 
 service  that  allows  customers  to  see  live  video  on  their 
 mobile  phones.  Sprints  MobiTV  service  is  priced  at 
 $9.99  per  month  and  features  real-  time  video  from 
 news  channels  MSNBC  and  CNBC,  California 
 Music  Channel-  USA,  and  other  channels  including 
 the  Discovery  Channel. 
 Software  developers  are  embedding  traditional 
 IP-  enabled  data  services  with  voice  features.  For 
 example,  both  America  Onlines  and  Microsoft 
 Windows  XPs  instant  messaging  applications  include 
 a  voice  feature,  as  do  many  chat  applications.  Many 
 PC  and  console  games,  such  as  Microsofts  Xbox,  per-mit 
 their  owners  to  play  against  other  players  via 
 peer-  to-  peer  Internet  connections.  Many  of  these 
 games  permit  the  gamers  to  speak  with  each  other  via 
 the  Internet  as  they  play. 
 There  are  numerous  adaptive  and  assistive  tech-nologies 
 currently  available  that  have  greatly 
 improved  access  to  telecommunications  for  people 
 with  hearing  and  speech  disabilities.  For  example, 
 Video  Relay  Service  (VRS)  is  an  innovative  web-based 
 form  of  telecommunications  relay  service 
 (TRS)  that  enables  deaf  and  hard-  of-  hearing  people 


 Voice  over  IP,  games,  and  photo  and  video 
 messaging  are  just  some  of  the  services  driving 
 greater  broadband  usage. 


 25 
27
 Forks,  Washington  and  CenturyTel  Partnership  chance  encounter  between  two  local  officials  in  1999  was  the  start  of  a  collaborative 
 effort  to  secure  broadband  access  for  Forks,  Washington.  Prior  to  1999,  the  hospital, 
 the  schools  and  the  city  government  in  Forks  each  had  independently  attempted  to 
 obtain  congressional  support  for  projects  associated  with  advanced  telecommunica-tions 
 services.  City  Attorney/  Planner  Rod  Fleck  and  the  school  superintendent,  both 
 having  appointments  with  the  same  U.  S.  Senator  about  their  individual  projects,  met  and  decided 
 to  work  together.  A  few  months  later,  the  city,  the  school,  and  the  local  hospital  arrived  at  the 
 office  of  local  exchange  provider  CenturyTel  united  in  an  effort  to  bring  shared  telecommunica-tions 
 services  to  the  remote  city  of  Forks. 


 Forks  is  a  small,  rural  lumber  town  on  the  northwestern  peninsula  of  Washington  State.  Since  suf-fering 
 economic  depression  in  the  mid-  90s,  the  community  has  struggled  to  regain  its  footing. 
 Now,  with  group  efforts  that  began  in  1999  and  are  still  continuing  today,  Forks  has  a  redundant 
 fiber  loop  that  encompasses  Washington  States  Northwestern  peninsula  (servicing  more  than 
 560,000  people  throughout  a  broad  area  of  isolated  rural  communities)  and  a  computer  center 
 that  has  expanded  the  citys  technological  potential  for  businesses  and  city  residents. 


 Nowhere  does  it  say  that  ones  zip  code  should  be  a  bar  to  ones  educational  opportunities,  to 
 their  business  opportunities,  or  their  ability  to  get  health  care  services,  said  Fleck. 


 The  city  was  faced  with  a  choice  between  pulling  together  resources  to  build  its  own  system,  and 
 finding  a  less  expensive,  more  far-  reaching  way  to  provide  access.  We  realized  we  could  not  do 
 it  alone,  said  Fleck,  Our  group  has  been  an  advocate  for  the  work  with  your  provider 
 approach  to  the  needs  of  rural  communities. 


 A 


 who  use  sign  language  to  communicate  with  voice 
 telephone  users  through  video  equipment.  The  video 
 link  allows  a  communications  assistant  to  view  and 
 interpret,  using  sign  language,  the  partys  signed  con-versation 
 and  relay  the  conversation  back  and  forth 
 with  a  voice  caller.  Sign  language  users  with  a 
 computer,  a  high-  speed  Internet  access  line,  and 
 a  low-  cost  web  camera  can  use  VRS.  Moreover, 
 Internet  Protocol  Relay  (IP  Relay)  permits  people 
 who  are  deaf  or  hard-  of-  hearing  or  have  difficulty 
 speaking  to  communicate  through  the  Internet, 
 rather  than  through  a  text  telephone  (TTY).  IP  Relay 
 service  allows  the  user  to  connect  to  a  TRS  facility  via 
 a  computer  (or  other  similar  device)  through  the 


 Internet.  The  call  is  then  relayed  by  the  communica-tions 
 assistant  to  the  receiving  party  via  voice  through 
 the  public  switched  telephone  network.  This  service 
 allows  exciting  new  options  for  people  who  are  deaf 
 or  hard-  of-  hearing. 
 The  past  few  years  have  seen  dramatic  growth  in 
 the  use  of  the  two  Internet-  based  TRS  services,  VRS 
 and  IP  Relay.  For  example,  in  June  2002,  consumers 
 used  710,354  IP  Relay  minutes  and  35,443  VRS 
 minutes.  In  May  2004,  consumers  used  4,567,870  IP 
 relay  minutes  and  733,040  VRS  minutes.  See  Chart 
 3.  In  that  two-  year  period,  consumers  used  six  times 
 more  IP  Relay  minutes,  while  the  usage  of  VRS 
 increased  more  than  twenty-  fold. 


 26 


 New  Developments  in  Services  and  Applications 
28
 27 
 New  Developments  in  Services  and  Applications 
 CenturyTel,  impressed  by  the  communitys  collective  effort,  selected  the  town  of  Forks  for  the  Integrated 
 Community  Network  (ICN)  pilot  project.  The  ICN  process  is  an  economic  strategy  that  uses  the  com-bined 
 resources  of  businesses  and  public  institutions  to  provide  advanced  telecommunications  services 
 at  less  cost  to  the  individual.  Simply  put,  more  people  get  better  access  for  less  money. 


 What  impressed  CenturyTel  the  most  was  that  it  wasnt  me  calling  them  or  the  schools  or  others  in  the 
 city,  said  Fleck.  It  was  all  of  us  calling  them  to  the  table.  And  they  said,  these  guys  are  serious.   


 To  get  advanced  telecommunications  services,  the  community  first  needed  a  main  technology  cen-ter. 
 CenturyTel,  which  owned  an  unused  office  building  in  Forks,  leased  the  building  to  the  city  for 
 $1  a  year.  Called  the  ICN  building,  its  purpose  was  to  serve  as  an  incubator  for  local  businesses 
 (entrepreneurs  could  use  the  offices  and  technology  in  the  building  to  get  business  started),  an 
 after-  hours  learning  facility  and  a  community  technology  center.  After  three  years,  the  community 
 was  able  to  buy  and  remodel  the  ICN  building,  with  the  help  of  $100,000  from  the  Veteran 
 Affairs,  Housing  and  Urban  Development  appropriations  bill.  It  reopened  in  July. 


 The  ICN  committee  started  the  Sappho  Gap  project:  an  ambitious  program  to  obtain  redundancy 
 over  a  rugged  30-  mile  stretch  of  sparsely  populated  land.  With  the  help  of  $1.7  million  awarded 
 by  the  Washington  Community  Economic  Revitalization  board  and  a  $6  million  investment  on  the 
 part  of  CenturyTel,  the  project  was  completed  in  the  summer  of  2004. 


 The  community  center  now  runs  programs  like  Tech  Tuesdays  and  the  Virtual  High  School,  which 
 teach  adults  and  children  technological  literacy.  The  goal  is  to  make  Forks  competitive  and  rele-vant 
 in  todays  society.  We  have  to  ensure  that  all  parts  of  our  great  state  have  access  to  what 
 has  become  the  basic  communication  requirement  of  this  century  a  modernized  telecommunica-tions 
 infrastructure,  Fleck  said. 


 Minutes  (Millions) 
 Chart  3:  Internet-  Based  TRS  Services 


 June  2002  May  2004 


 VRS  Minutes  IP  Relay  Minutes 
 0 


 1 
 2 
 3 
 4 
 5 


 35,443 
 710,354  733,040 


 4,567,870 


 Source: 
 FCC 
29
 28 
 Is  Broadband 
 Being  Deployed 
 to  All  Americans? 


 s  many  observers  have 
 noted,  broadband  holds 
 great  promise  for  the 
 future  of  America  and 
 the  world.  Increased 
 access  to  broadband  will 
 bring  substantial  social 
 and  economic  benefits. 
 Broadband  can  offer  con-sumers 
 many  compelling 
 advantages,  such  as  enabling  workers  to  telecommute 
 more  easily  and  productively  than  they  otherwise 
 would  be  able  to  do  without  a  broadband  connection. 
 Consumers  will  also  have  greater  access  to  health  and 


 educational  resources.  Patients  will  be  able  to  use 
 telemedicine  to  interact  virtually  with  physicians,  and 
 students  in  rural  areas  will  be  able  to  benefit  from 
 expanded  course  offerings. 
 Nevertheless,  those  benefits  accrue  only  if 
 infrastructure  is  available,  deployed  in  service  pack-ages 
 that  meet  consumer  needs  and  is  affordable. 
 Subscribership  data  provides  one  of  the  most  useful 
 measures  of  broadband  deployment.  As  a  result, 
 we  analyze  available  subscribership  data  below. 
 Broadband  deployment  has  steadily  increased 
 since  the  Third  Report.  As  set  forth  in  Chart  4 
 summarizing  Commission  data,  subscribership  to 
 advanced  services  providing  connections  to  the  A 


 0 
 5 
 10 
 15 
 20 
 25 
 (Millions) 


 Jun  01 
 5.9 
 Dec  01 


 7.4 
 Jun  02 


 10.4 
 Dec  02 


 12.4 
 Jun  03 


 16.3 
 Dec  03 


 20.3 
 Chart  4:  Advanced  Services  Lines 


 Source: 
 FCC 


 23.5 
 (Millions) 
 Chart  5  :  High-  Speed  Lines 


 Jun  01 
 9.6 
 Dec  01 


 12.8 
 Jun  02 


 16.2 
 Dec  02 


 19.9 
 Jun  03  Dec  03 


 28.2 
 0 
 5 
 10 
 15 
 20 
 25 
 30 


 Source: 
 FCC 


 >>> 
30
 Internet  at  speeds  exceeding  200  kbps  in  both  direc-tions 
 has  more  than  tripled  since  our  last  report,  from 
 5.9  million  lines  in  June  2001  to  20.3  million  lines  in 
 December  2003.  Similarly,  as  set  forth  in  Chart  5, 
 high-  speed  lines  providing  connectivity  of  more  than 
 200  kbps  in  at  least  one  direction  has  almost  tripled 
 from  June  2001  to  December  2003,  from  9.6  million 
 lines  to  28.2  million  lines.  Moreover,  the  Leichtman 
 Group  reports  that  the  twenty  largest  cable  and  DSL 
 providers  in  the  United  States  representing  about  98 
 percent  of  the  market  added  a  combined  total  of 
 more  than  2.34  million  subscribers  in  the  first  quarter 
 of  2004.  Net  broadband  additions  for  the  first  quarter 
 of  2004  were  the  largest  per  quarter  gain  to  date. 


 As  was  true  in  our  last  report,  cable  modem 
 and  ADSL  service  providers  provide  the  vast  majority 
 of  advanced  service  lines,  with  cable  representing 
 75.3  percent,  ADSL  representing  14.9  percent,  and 
 other  technologies  representing  9.8  percent  in 
 December  2003.  The  relative  position  of  cable  and 
 ADSL  was  56  percent  and  16.8  percent  in  June 
 2001.  See  Chart  6. 
 Looking  more  broadly  at  high-  speed  lines,  the 
 Commissions  data  indicates  that  cable  modem  serv-ice 
 represented  58  percent  of  lines,  with  ADSL 
 representing  34  percent  of  lines  as  of  year-  end  2003. 
 More  recently,  the  Pew  Internet  and  American  Life 
 Project  (Pew  Project)  reported  in  April  2004  that  42 


 Chart  6:  Advanced  Services  Lines  by  Technology 


 Other  Wireline  27.2% 
 ADSL  16.8% 


 Coaxial  Cable  75.3% 


 Other  Wireline  9.8%  ADSL 
 14.9% 


 June  2001  T  otal  Lines  5,945,950  December  2003  T  otal  Lines  20,344,453 
 Coaxial  Cable  56.0% 


 Source: 
 FCC 


 Broadband  can  offer  consumers  many  compelling 
 advantages,  such  as  enabling  workers  to  telecommute 
 more  easily  and  productively  than  they  otherwise 
 would  be  able  to  do  without  a  broadband  connection. 


 29 
31
 30 
 percent  of  broadband  users  at  home  connected  via 
 DSL,  compared  to  28  percent  a  year  previously. 
 Focusing  specifically  on  residential  and  small 
 business  subscribers,  the  Commissions  data  indicate 
 that  the  number  of  high-  speed  lines  more  than 
 tripled,  to  26.0  million  in  December  2003,  from  7.8 
 million  in  June  2001.  See  Chart  7.  With  respect  to 
 advanced  services  lines,  in  December  2003,  there 
 were  18.1  million  lines  serving  residential  and  small 
 business  customers,  compared  to  4.3  million  lines  in 
 June  2001. 
 As  of  December  2003,  only  6.8  percent  of  zip 
 codes  in  the  U.  S.  reported  no  high-  speed  lines,  com-pared 
 to  22.2  percent  of  zip  codes  with  no  reported 
 lines  in  June  2001.  There  also  has  been  a  steady 
 growth  in  the  percent  of  zip  codes  reporting  four  or 


 more  providers  of  high-  speed  lines,  from  27.5  percent 
 in  June  2001  to  46.3  percent  in  December  2003.  See 
 Chart  8.  While  we  recognize  that  the  presence  of 
 reported  subscribers  in  a  zip  code  does  not  necessarily 
 mean  service  is  available  throughout  the  zip  code, 
 these  figures  do  provide  some  evidence  that  there  has 
 been  steady  progress  in  the  deployment  of  broadband 
 since  our  last  report. 


 Strides  Made  in  Advanced  Services  Deployment  in  Rural  Communities 


 Both  the  Commissions  data  and  other  sources  indi-cate 
 that  the  deployment  of  advanced  services 
 capability  has  increased  in  rural  areas.  As  was  true  in 
 our  prior  report,  high-  speed  service  is  reported  in  vir-tually 
 all  of  the  most  densely  populated  zip  codes. 
 Just  as  importantly,  there  has  been  dramatic  growth 
 during  the  same  period  in  high-  speed  service  to  less 
 populated  zip  codes.  With  respect  to  the  lowest  den-sity 
 zip  codes  (fewer  than  six  persons  per  square 
 mile),  as  depicted  in  Chart  9,  there  were  reported 
 lines  in  73  percent  of  zip  codes  in  December  2003, 
 compared  to  37  percent  in  June  of  2001. 
 These  findings  are  reinforced  by  surveys  con-ducted 
 by  the  carriers  that  serve  the  most  rural  areas 
 of  the  United  States.  For  example,  the  trade  associa-tion 
 that  files  access  tariffs  on  behalf  of  small  rural 
 telephone  companies,  the  National  Exchange  Carrier 
 Association  (NECA),  indicates  that  the  number  of  its 
 companies  deploying  DSL  services  increased  from 
 557  in  2001  to  814  in  2003,  accounting  for  nearly 
 79  percent  of  NECA  member  companies  equipped 


 Is  Broadband  Being  Deployed  to  All  Americans? 


 Chart  8:  Percentage  of  Zip  Codes  with  High-  Speed  Providers 
 Jun  2001  Dec  2001  Jun  2002  Dec  2002  Jun  2003  Dec  2003  0 
 5 
 10 
 15 
 20 
 25 
 30 
 35 
 40 
 45 
 50 


 27.5% 
 31.1% 


 35.9% 
 39.4% 
 43.7%  46.3% 


 22.2%  20.6% 
 16.1% 
 12.0%  9.0% 


 6.8% 


 Source: 
 FCC 


 Percentage  of  zip  codes  with  four  or  more  providers  reporting  lines  Percentage  of  zip  codes  with  no  reported  lines 


 (Millions) 
 Chart  7:  Residential  and  Small  Business  Advanced  Services  and  High-  Speed  Lines 


 Jun  01  Dec  01  Jun  02  Dec  02  Jun  03  Dec  03  0 
 5 
 10 
 15 
 20 
 25 
 30 


 4.3 
 7.8 
 5.8 


 11.0 
 8.7 


 14.0 
 10.4 


 17.4 
 14.3 


 20.6 
 18.1 


 26.0  Advanced  Services  Lines  High-  Speed  Lines 


 Source: 
 FCC 
32
 for  DSL  in  2003.  NECA  states  that  this  represents  a 
 steady  increase  in  the  availability  of  DSL  to  rural  cus-tomers 
 over  prior  surveys. 
 The  Independent  Telephone  &  Telecommunications 
 Alliance  (ITTA),  an  organization  of  12  midsize 
 incumbent  local  exchange  carriers  offering  a  diversi-fied 
 range  of  services,  including  broadband  capability, 
 asserts  that  its  members  and  other  rural  carriers  have 
 made  great  strides  in  bringing  broadband  to  rural 
 areas.  For  instance,  one  ITTA  member,  CenturyTel, 
 offers  DSL  and  other  broadband  services  to  almost 
 70  percent  of  its  access  customers,  including  cus-tomers 
 in  remote  and  sparsely  populated  areas. 
 The  National  Telecommunications  Cooperative 
 Association  (NTCA),  a  non-  profit  association  repre-senting 
 more  than  550  small  and  rural  telephone 
 cooperatives  and  commercial  companies,  also  recently 
 conducted  a  survey  to  gauge  the  deployment  rates  of 
 advanced  services  by  its  member  companies. 
 Specifically,  the  2004  survey  revealed  that  92  percent 
 of  the  respondents  offer  broadband  to  some  part  of 
 their  customer  base.  According  to  NTCA,  this  is  a 
 dramatic  increase  from  58  percent  in  2000. 


 Respondents  to  this  survey  indicated  that  they  use  a 
 variety  of  technologies  to  provide  broadband  to  their 
 customers.  Ninety-  two  percent  of  the  member  com-panies 
 reported  that  they  use  DSL,  and  22  percent 
 reported  that  they  use  unlicensed  wireless,  compared 
 to  only  29  percent  offering  DSL  and  none  offering 
 wireless  broadband  in  1999. 
 The  Organization  for  the  Promotion  and 
 Advancement  of  Small  Telecommunications 
 Companies  (OPASTCO),  a  national  trade  association 
 representing  more  than  560  small  telecommunica-tions 
 carriers  serving  rural  areas  in  the  U.  S.,  also 
 conducted  a  survey  of  its  membership  in  2004.  The 
 survey  found  that,  on  an  average,  respondents  have 
 been  able  to  make  broadband  available  to  88  percent 
 of  their  customers.  Nearly  all  respondents  (more  than 
 99  percent)  reported  being  able  to  deliver  advanced 
 services,  i.  e.,  speeds  of  at  least  200  kbps  in  both 
 directions,  to  their  customers.  The  OPASTCO  survey 
 also  found  that  almost  all  of  the  respondents  use  DSL 
 technology  to  deliver  broadband  to  their  subscribers. 
 The  American  Cable  Association  (ACA),  a  not-for- 
 profit  trade  association  that  represents  independent 
 cable  television  businesses  and  smaller  cable  systems, 
 including  systems  with  less  than  1,000  lines,  estimates 
 that  about  580  ACA  member  companies  now  offer 
 broadband  service  to  residential  and  business  cus-tomers. 
 For  instance,  Carson  Communications,  one  of 
 the  ACAs  smallest  members,  serving  approximately 
 5,000  subscribers  in  rural  northeast  Kansas,  now  offers 
 cable  modem  service  and  broadband  wireless  services 
 to  more  than  89  percent  of  its  rural  subscriber  base. 
 Although  the  Wireless  Internet  Service  Provider 
 (WISP)  market  is  still  in  its  infancy,  according  to 
 industry  estimates,  approximately  2,000  to  3,000 
 WISPs  are  serving  the  nations  rural  areas  from  the 
 Catskill  Mountains  in  New  York  to  Coffman  Cove, 
 Alaska.  WISPs  are  using  a  wide  range  of  both  licensed 
 and  license-  exempt  diverse  technologies  to  provide 
 broadband  service  to  rural  consumers  and  businesses. 
 For  instance,  Odessa  Office  Equipment,  a  rural-  office-31 


 Is  Broadband  Being  Deployed  to  All  Americans? 
 Chart  9:  Percentage  of  Lowest  Density  Zip  Codes  with  Reported  Lines  1 
 0 
 10 
 20 
 30 
 40 
 50 
 60 
 70 
 80 


 37% 
 43% 


 50% 


 60% 
 69%  73% 


 Jun  01  Dec  01  Jun  02  Dec  02  Jun  03  Dec  03  1 
 Zip  Codes  with  fewer  than  six  persons  per  square  mile.  Source: 


 FCC 


 Both  the  Commissions  data  and  other  sources  indicate 
 that  the  deployment  of  advanced  services  capability 
 has  increased  in  rural  areas. 
33
 32 
 supply  company-  turned  WISP  based  in  Odessa, 
 Washington,  serves  thousands  of  customers  in  a  3,000- 
 square-  mile  area  of  northwestern  Washington  via  2 
 megabit  Wi-  Fi  technology  using  barns,  streetlight 
 poles  and  houses  as  wireless  tower  sites.  Additionally, 
 GCI,  a  telecommunications  and  cable  services  provider 
 in  Alaska,  provides  its  WISP  services  to  rural  cus-tomers 
 at  prices  comparable  to  urban  services.  GCI 
 uses  unlicensed  wireless  technology  (IEEE  802.11) 
 interconnected  with  satellite  backhaul  to  bridge  the 
 last  mile  for  its  rural  service  areas. 
 The  universal  service  fund,  which  helps  pre-serve 
 and  advance  universal  service  for  all 
 Americans,  supports  the  deployment  of  facilities 
 that  can  be  used  to  provide  broadband  in  rural 
 communities.  Rural  carriers  receive  more  than 
 $1  billion  annually  in  universal  service  support  for 
 their  underlying  copper  loop  network.  In  addition, 
 since  1998,  the  universal  service  fund  has  disbursed 
 more  than  $55  million  to  support  broadband  con-nections 
 to  rural  health  facilities.  The  Universal 
 Service  Administrative  Company  (USAC),  which 
 administers  the  universal  service  fund,  estimates  that 
 the  fund  will  provide  more  than  $28  million  in 
 Funding  Year  2003  alone  to  help  provide  assistance 
 for  rural  health  care  connections  in  remote  commu-nities, 
 and  potentially  an  even  larger  amount  in 
 Funding  Year  2004. 
 Available  information  thus  indicates  that  there 
 has  been  significant  progress  in  deployment  of  broad-band 
 infrastructure  in  rural  areas  since  our  last 
 report.  But  we  are  aware  that  consumer  adoption  of 
 broadband,  at  least  at  present,  is  lower  than  actual 


 deployment  of  infrastructure.  A  study  conducted  by 
 the  Pew  Project,  in  February  2004,  on  rural  areas  and 
 the  Internet  indicates  that  while  broadband  adoption 
 is  growing  in  urban,  suburban,  and  rural  areas,  a  larg-er 
 percentage  of  consumers  use  broadband  in  urban 
 and  suburban  areas  compared  to  rural  areas.  The 
 report  lists  various  factors  for  the  difference  in  broad-band 
 penetration  between  rural  areas,  and  urban  and 
 suburban  areas.  The  Pew  Project  suggests  that  a 
 major  factor  for  this  gap  is  demographic,  noting  that 
 rural  residents  as  a  group  are  older,  less  wealthy,  and 
 have  lower  levels  of  educational  attainment,  which 
 are  factors  associated  with  lower  broadband  usage. 


 Broadband  at  Home  and  Work 
 Broadband  is  increasingly  available  to  customers  at  home 
 and  work.  The  Commissions  data  show  that  residential 
 and  small  business  customers  subscribed  to  18  million 
 lines  as  of  December  2003  a  significant  increase  from  1 
 million  lines  in  December  1999.  See  Chart  10.  As  Chart 
 11  illustrates,  most  residential  and  small  business  cus-tomers 
 receive  advanced  services  via  coaxial  cable. 
 In  March  2004,  the  Pew  Project  found  that  55  percent 
 of  all  adult  Internet  users  have  access  to  broadband  connec-tions 
 either  at  home  or  work.  At  the  end  of  February  2004, 
 more  than  a  third  of  those  users  had  broadband  connections 
 at  home.  Overall,  48  million  adults  had  high-  speed  connec-tions 
 in  the  home  in  February  2004,  representing  growth  of 
 60  percent  from  a  year  earlier.  The  Pew  Project  study  also 
 noted  that  among  Internet  users  who  have  been  online  for 
 10  or  more  years,  56  percent  of  residential  users  have  high-speed 
 connections,  which  may  suggest  that  consumers  are 


 Is  Broadband  Being  Deployed  to  All  Americans? 


 (Millions) 
 Chart  10:  Residential  and  Small  Business  Advanced  Services  Lines 


 Dec  1999  Jun  2000  Dec  2000  Jun  2001  Dec  2001  Jun  2002  Dec  2002  Jun  2003  Dec  2003 
 0 


 5 
 10 
 15 
 20 


 Source: 
 FCC 
34
 more  likely  to  subscribe  to  broadband  if  they  have  used  the 
 Internet  for  a  longer  period  of  time. 
 Although  use  of  high-  speed  connections  at  home  has 
 increased,  the  Pew  Projects  survey  suggests  that  people  are 
 more  likely  to  use  high-  speed  connections  at  work.  The 
 survey  indicated  that  64  percent  of  people  who  are 
 employed  full  or  part-  time  go  online  in  the  workplace.  Of 
 this  group,  67  percent  of  people  who  are  employed  full  or 
 part-  time  go  online  using  a  high-  speed  connection. 


 Children  are  Using  Broadband  in  their  Classrooms 


 Broadband  is  directly  affecting  students  today.  In  March 
 2004,  NetDay,  a  national,  non-  profit,  education  tech- 


 nology  organization,  conducted  a  survey  of  210,000  stu-dents 
 from  kindergarten  through  12th  grade  to  learn 
 more  about  the  impact  of  technology  on  students  lives. 
 NetDays  report  on  the  survey  results  found  that  stu-dents 
 are  technology  savvy,  feel  strongly  about  the 
 positive  value  of  technology  and  rely  upon  technology  as 
 an  essential  and  preferred  component  of  every  aspect  of 
 their  lives.  The  report  indicated  that  as  students  get 
 older,  their  use  of  technology  becomes  more  sophisticat-ed. 
 However,  the  younger  students  are  progressing  at  a 
 faster  rate  than  older  students.  Specifically,  the  report 
 found  that  students  are  using  online  communications 
 for  a  variety  of  activities,  including  school  projects, 
 tutoring,  gaming,  and  emailing  friends. 
 Almost  all  schools  have  access  to  the  Internet.  The 
 Department  of  Education  has  documented  the  steady 
 increase  in  the  number  of  schools  with  Internet  access, 
 and  the  number  of  instructional  classrooms  with 
 Internet  access.  For  instance,  in  2002,  99  percent  of 
 public  schools  had  access  to  the  Internet,  compared  to 
 35  percent  in  1994.  Moreover,  in  2002,  92  percent  of 
 public  school  classrooms  had  access  to  the  Internet, 
 compared  to  3  percent  in  1994  and  77  percent  in 
 2000.  In  2002,  94  percent  of  public  schools  reported 
 using  broadband  connections  for  Internet  access,  com-pared 
 to  80  percent  in  2000  and  85  percent  in  2001, 
 as  shown  in  Chart  12.  In  2002,  as  in  previous  years, 
 the  use  of  broadband  connections  is  directly  related  to 
 school  size;  90  percent  of  small  schools  reported  using 
 broadband  connections  to  access  the  Internet,  com-pared 
 with  100  percent  of  the  large  schools. 


 33 


 Is  Broadband  Being  Deployed  to  All  Americans? 
 Chart  11:  Residential  and  Small  Business  Advanced  Services  Lines  by  Technology 
 Coaxial  Cable  83.6% 


 Other  W  ireline 
 4.5% 


 Fiber  0.0% 
 ADSL  11.2% 
 Satellite  or  W  ireless 
 0.7% 


 Coaxial  Cable  84.5% 
 Other  Wireline  6.4% 
 Fiber  0.1% 
 ADSL  13.5% 
 Satellite  or  W  ireless 
 0.3% 
 December  1999  T  otal  Lines  1,043,695  December  2003  T  otal  Lines  18,095,131 
 Source: 


 FCC 


 Chart  12:  Percentage  of  Public  Schools  Reporting  Using  Broadband  Connections 
 2000  2001  2002  70 
 75 
 80 
 85 
 90 
 95 
 100 


 80% 
 85% 


 94% 


 Source: 
 De 
 p 
 artment 


 of 
 Education 
35
 34 
 Most  notably,  the  use  of  broadband  connections 
 in  schools  with  the  highest  minority  enrollment 
 increased  from  81  percent  to  95  percent  between 
 2000  and  2002.  Similarly,  during  the  same  time  peri-od, 
 the  percentage  of  schools  with  the  highest  poverty 
 concentration  (as  measured  by  the  percent  of  stu-dents 
 eligible  for  free  or  reduced-  price  lunch)  using 
 broadband  connections  to  access  the  Internet 
 increased  from  75  percent  to  95  percent.  Thus,  the 
 evidence  suggests  that  broadband  is  becoming  more 
 widely  available  in  our  nations  schools. 
 The  universal  service  fund  subsidizes  the  cost  of 
 both  the  broadband  services  that  access  the  Internet 
 and  the  deployment  of  infrastructure  that  is  used  to 


 access  the  Internet  in  our  nations  schools.  Since  1998, 
 nearly  $7  billion  has  been  disbursed  to  support  the 
 purchase  of  telecommunications  services,  Internet 
 access,  and  internal  connections  by  schools,  and  an 
 additional  $827  million  has  supported  such  purchases 
 by  consortia  that  include  both  schools  and  libraries. 


 Low-  Income  Populations  Have  Increased  Access  to  Advanced 
 Services  Since  the  Third  Report 
 It  generally  appears  that  low-  income  populations 
 subscribe  to  advanced  services  at  lower  levels  than 
 high-  income  populations.  In  2002,  more  than  75  per- 


 Is  Broadband  Being  Deployed  to  All  Americans? 


 Maniilaq  Health  Center  in  Kotzebue,  Alaska  Dr.  Michael  Orms  had  a  patient  who  was  bleeding  internally  due  to  an  ectopic  preg-nancy, 
 and  she  needed  emergency  surgery  to  save  her  life.  For  residents  of  Kotzebue, 
 Alaska,  a  community  of  more  than  3,000  people  located  26  miles  above  the  Arctic 
 Circle,  access  to  these  types  of  specialized  medical  services  usually  meant  a  flight  via 
 an  air  ambulance  to  Anchorage.  But  heavy  fog  had  settled  in,  so  it  wasnt  safe  to  fly. 


 Fortunately,  the  Maniilaq  Health  Center  in  Kotzebue  is  equipped  with  a  wireless  telecart  fitted 
 with  a  video  camera  that  can  be  manipulated  by  the  attending  physician  to  send  high-  quality,  real-time 
 sound  and  video  between  the  Health  Center  and  Anchorage.  Dr.  Orms,  who  is  not  a 
 surgeon,  performed  the  procedure  under  the  guidance  of  an  experienced  Anchorage  surgeon  who 
 manipulated  the  video  camera  on  the  Health  Centers  telecart  to,  as  Dr.  Orms  said,  remotely  look 
 over  my  shoulder  to  successfully  perform  the  surgery. 


 Organized  and  timely  emergency  response  is  particularly  important  in  Alaskas  far  north  regions, 
 where  the  distances  to  be  traveled  and  extreme  weather  conditions  often  prevent  medical  personnel 
 from  reaching  and  treating  critically  injured  patients.  Here,  real-  time  contact  with  injured  patients 
 via  videoconferencing  enables  physicians  at  a  central  medical  facility  to  diagnose  and  treat  patients 
 by  providing  guidance  to  medical  personnel  on  the  scene  in  outlying  Village  clinics. 


 The  Maniilaq  Health  Center  is  a  state-  of-  the-  art  facility  that  houses  an  emergency  room,  an  ambu-latory 
 care  clinic,  dental  and  eye  care  clinics,  a  pharmacy,  and  an  in-  patient  wing  with  24  beds. 
 The  Health  Center  is  the  hub  of  a  virtual  private  network  supported  by  broadband  satellite  and  ter-restrial 
 wireless  links  that  facilitate  the  provision  of  quality  health  care  services  to  residents  of  the 
 11  Alaska  Native  communities  that  make  up  the  Northwest  Arctic  Borough.  The  nearest  health 
 care  facility  offering  comparable  service  is  more  than  500  miles  away.  Broadband  services  are 
 provided  by  Inutek.  net.,  a  consortium  organized  in  2001  by  the  Maniilaq  Association,  GCI  and 
 OTZ  Coop,  the  Northwest  Arctic  Borough's  local  exchange  service  carrier. 


 The  ten  village  clinics  are  staffed  by  village  residents  that  have  been  trained  as  Health  Aides  in 
 Maniilaqs  Community  Health  Aide/  Practitioner  Program.  Each  Village  clinic  is  connected  to  the 
 Maniilaq  Health  Center  by  a  broadband-  capacity  satellite  link  that  provides  videoconferencing 
 and  other  digital  transmission  services,  such  as  record  storage  and  retrieval,  between  Village  clin-ics 
 and  the  Health  Center  in  Kotzebue.  The  Health  Center,  and  each  Village  clinic,  is  equipped 


 D 
36
 cent  of  U.  S.  households  with  incomes  of  more  than 
 $50,000  had  Internet  access,  but  the  share  was  38  per-cent 
 for  those  with  household  incomes  of  less  than 
 $30,000,  according  to  a  survey  by  the  Pew  Project. 
 However,  the  gap  in  broadband  subscribership  between 
 lower-  and  higher-  income  populations  is  steadily 
 decreasing.  The  Commissions  data  collection  program 
 gathers  and  analyzes  information  on  broadband  sub-scription 
 rates  by  zip  code  with  zip  codes  ranked  by 
 household  income.  Our  data  indicate  that  the  gap 
 between  subscribership  in  the  highest  income  zip 
 codes  ($  53,494  and  higher)  and  the  lowest  income  zip 
 codes  ($  21,644  and  lower)  has  shrunk  from  about  37 
 to  17  percentage  points,  primarily  due  to  increases  in 


 subscribership  among  low-  income  zip  codes.  In  partic-ular, 
 our  most  recent  data  indicate  that,  in  December 
 2003,  approximately  99  percent  of  the  highest  income 
 zip  codes  reported  high-  speed  lines  and  almost  82  per-cent 
 of  the  lowest  income  zip  codes  reported 
 high-  speed  lines.  By  contrast,  the  Third  Report  indicat-ed 
 that  as  of  June  2001,  of  the  highest  income  zip 
 codes,  96  percent  had  high-  speed  subscribers,  while  of 
 the  lowest  income  zip  codes,  59  percent  had  high-speed 
 subscribers.  These  statistics  suggest  that  there  has 
 been  considerable  growth  in  access  to  broadband  for 
 low-  income  populations  since  our  last  report. 
 A  survey  conducted  by  the  Pew  Project  in  2004 
 indicates  that  3  percent  of  those  people  who  use  the 


 35 


 Is  Broadband  Being  Deployed  to  All  Americans? 
 with  a  telecart,  which  enables  doctors  to  diagnose  medical  problems  and  devise  treatment  regi-mens 
 to  be  implemented  by  clinic  personnel.  Telemedicine  technology  also  is  employed  on  a 
 regular  basis  to  train  Health  Aides  and  to  help  them  perform  routine  procedures  under  a  doctors 
 supervision.  It  also  supports  teleradiology,  the  means  by  which  a  radiograph  can  be  digitized, 
 stored,  and  forwarded  to  the  Alaska  Native  Medical  Center. 


 Investment  in  telemedicine  technologies  can  be  costly.  The  State  of  Alaska  estimates  that  typical 
 up  front  costs  to  install  a  network  providing  the  level  of  connectivity  available  in  Maniilaqs  sys-tem 
 are  upwards  of  $20,000.  In  1999,  the  11  health  care  facilities  in  the  Maniilaq  system  and 
 about  225  other  communities  received  telecarts  like  that  used  by  Dr.  Orms  as  part  of  a  $30  mil-lion 
 federal  interagency  telecommunications  project  to  support  health  care  in  rural  Alaska  known 
 as  the  Alaska  Federal  Health  Care  Access  Network.  Broadband  service  in  Alaska  requires  the  use 
 of  satellites  and  is  estimated  to  cost  approximately  $13,000  per  month. 


 Although  the  costs  are  high,  the  investment  in  telemedicine  technologies  also  yields  significant 
 cost-  savings.  For  example,  it  reduces  the  number  of  MedeVac  trips  that  would  otherwise  be 
 required  to  transport  patients  to  the  Health  Center  in  Kotzebue  or  to  a  fully  equipped  hospital  like 
 the  Alaska  Native  Medical  Center  in  Anchorage.  MedeVacing  costs  are  borne  by  a  rural  health 
 care  provider  operating  in  such  areas  and  can  run  as  high  as  $40,000  for  a  single  trip.  The 
 Health  Center  has  been  able  to  eliminate  an  estimated  two-  thirds  of  its  MedeVac  trips  and  associ-ated 
 costs  since  the  advent  of  its  telemedicine  capability.  In  addition,  MedeVacing  a  patient  can 
 endanger  both  the  patient  and  the  flight  crew  if  weather  conditions  are  threatening,  an  especially 
 important  consideration  in  a  remote  area  like  the  Northwest  Arctic  Borough,  where  bad  weather 
 is  a  commonplace. 


 A  year  before  the  woman  with  the  ectopic  pregnancy,  Dr.  Orms  performed  another  surgery  to 
 stem  heavy  internal  bleeding  until  a  MedeVac  plane  could  fly  the  patient  to  Anchorage.  That  time, 
 however,  the  critical  nature  of  the  emergency  prevented  the  use  of  the  videoconference.  While  that 
 patient  also  recovered  fully,  Dr.  Orms  said  the  experiences  were  vastly  different  from  a  medical 
 and  technical  standpoint,  and  that  he  is  grateful  for  the  advantages  provided  by  videoconferenc-ing. 
 He  explained  that  the  videoconferencing  capability  enhances  an  attending  physicians  level  of 
 confidence  and  actual  performance  immeasurably,  because  a  specialist  is  available  throughout  the 
 procedure  to  provide  guidance  in  the  event  of  unexpected  complications. 
37
 Internet  rely  on  public  places  to  access  the  Internet. 
 Low-  income  populations  comprise  a  significant  por-tion 
 of  this  segment.  According  to  the  survey,  16 
 percent  of  low-  income  populations  have  broadband 
 access  at  home  or  at  work.  For  the  remaining  low-income 
 individuals,  public  access  points  such  as 
 libraries  represent  the  most  utilized  means  of  access-ing 
 the  Internet.  According  to  the  Gates  Foundation, 
 in  2002,  95  percent  of  public  libraries  in  the  United 
 States  offered  free  access  to  the  Internet,  often  pro-viding 
 a  critical  online  access  point  for  residents  of 
 the  nations  poorest  communities.  The  universal 
 service  fund  supports  the  purchase  of  telecommuni-cations 
 services,  Internet  access,  and  internal 
 connections  by  libraries.  Since  1998,  the  fund  has 
 provided  $236  million  in  support  to  libraries  and 
 $827  million  to  consortia  that  include  both  schools 
 and  libraries. 
 Further,  broadband  access  is  readily  available  at 
 public  schools.  According  to  the  Department  of 
 Education,  Internet  access  using  broadband  connec-tions 
 has  increased  from  75  percent  in  2000  to  95 
 percent  in  2002  among  the  schools  with  the  highest 
 poverty  concentration.  Thus,  although  low-  income 


 populations  may  lag  behind  higher-  income  popula-tions 
 in  accessing  broadband  services,  research 
 indicates  that  broadband  services  are  available  to 
 low-  income  populations  through  subscription 
 services  as  well  as  free  public  facilities. 


 Minority  Access  to  Broadband  is  on  the  Rise 


 There  has  been  considerable  growth  in  advanced 
 services  usage  by  minority  populations.  According  to 
 a  May  2004  study  by  the  Pew  Project  of  adults  18 
 and  older,  61  percent  of  non-  Hispanic  Caucasians, 
 59  percent  of  Hispanics,  and  52  percent  of  African-Americans 
 used  the  Internet  as  of  February  2004. 
 Further,  research  by  the  Pew  Project  indicates  that,  in 
 2001,  20  percent  of  Hispanic  adult  home  Internet 
 users  had  broadband  access,  15  percent  of  non-Hispanic 
 Caucasian  adult  home  Internet  users  had 
 broadband  access,  and  9  percent  of  African-  American 
 adult  home  Internet  users  had  broadband  access.  In 
 2003,  30  percent  of  non-  Hispanic  Caucasian  adult 
 home  Internet  users  had  broadband  access,  24  per-cent 
 of  Hispanic  adult  home  Internet  users  had 


 36 


 Is  Broadband  Being  Deployed  to  All  Americans? 
38
 broadband  access,  and  20  percent  of  African-American 
 adult  home  Internet  users  had  broadband 
 access.  Moreover,  as  noted  above,  the  use  of  broad-band 
 in  schools  with  the  highest  minority  enrollment 
 increased  from  81  percent  to  95  percent  between 
 2000  and  2002. 


 The  Disabled  Community  is  Accessing  Broadband  Services  Despite  Barriers 


 Broadband  services  have  the  potential  to  provide  sig-nificant 
 opportunities  for  people  with  disabilities.  As 
 discussed  above,  the  Internet,  and  broadband  specifi-cally, 
 has  become  a  critical  communications  tool  for 
 people  who  are  deaf  or  hard  of  hearing,  through  the 
 use  of  IP  Relay  and  VRS,  two  forms  of  TRS  that  rely 
 upon  the  Internet.  The  past  few  years  have  seen  dra- 


 matic  growth  in  the  use  of  these  two  Internet-  based 
 TRS  services.  For  example,  in  June  2002,  consumers 
 used  710,354  IP  Relay  minutes  and  35,443  VRS 
 minutes.  In  May  2004,  consumers  used  4,567,870  IP 
 relay  minutes  and  733,040  VRS  minutes.  There  has 
 been  a  more  than  640  percent  increase  in  IP  Relay 
 usage  and  a  more  than  2,000  percent  increase  in  VRS 
 in  the  past  two  years. 
 Beyond  these  positive  trends,  the  Commission 
 has  a  special  interest  in  the  continued  and  increasing 
 availability  of  advanced  services  for  people  with  dis-abilities. 
 Such  individuals  may  be  doubly  vulnerable, 
 both  in  that  they  may  need  access  to  advanced 
 telecommunications  capability  to  overcome  econom-ic, 
 educational,  and  other  limitations,  and  they  may 
 also  be  the  most  likely  to  lack  access  precisely  because 
 of  these  limitations. 


 37 


 Is  Broadband  Being  Deployed  to  All  Americans? 
 The  Commission  has  a  special  interest  in  the 
 continued  and  increasing  availability  of 
 advanced  services  for  people  with  disabilities. 
39
 38 
 ection  706  requires  that  we 
 determine  whether  advanced 
 telecommunications  capability 
 is  being  deployed  to  all 
 Americans  in  a  reasonable 
 and  timely  fashion.  Based 
 on  our  analysis,  we  conclude 
 that  the  deployment  of 
 advanced  telecommunications 
 capability  to  all  Americans 
 is  reasonable  and  timely,  especially  toward  the  lower 
 threshold  of  200  kbps.  The  challenge  for  the  future 
 is  to  achieve  reasonable  and  timely  deployment  of 
 higher  speed  broadband. 
 As  an  initial  matter,  we  emphasize  that  the  statute 
 directs  us  to  look  at  the  deployment  of  advanced 
 telecommunications  capability,  not  the  subscribership 
 of  advanced  telecommunications  capability.  The  for-mer 
 refers  to  the  availability  of  facilities  capable  of 
 providing  advanced  and  high-  speed  services,  while  the 
 latter  represents  the  number  of  consumers  that  actually 
 choose  to  purchase  advanced  or  high-  speed  services. 
 Using  information  from  the  Commissions  data  collec-tion 
 program,  we  estimate  that  roughly  20  percent  of 
 consumers  with  access  to  advanced  telecommunica-tions 
 capability  do  subscribe  to  such  services.  One 
 critical  prerequisite  to  using  broadband,  however,  is 
 having  a  computer  in  the  home.  As  of  June  2004,  71 
 percent  of  U.  S.  households  had  computers  in  the 
 home,  which  may  provide  some  explanation  for  why 


 penetration  of  broadband  lags  behind  the  deployment 
 of  broadband.  Other  possible  reasons  for  the  gap 
 between  availability  and  subscribership  to  broadband 
 services  are:  price,  lack  of  content,  availability  of  sub-stitutes, 
 or  the  availability  of  broadband  at  work. 
 Furthermore,  many  popular  Internet  applications,  such 
 as  sending  e-  mail  messages,  do  not  require  broadband. 
 Nonetheless,  we  believe  that  subscribership  to 
 broadband  services  will  increase  in  the  future  as  new 
 applications  that  require  broadband  access,  such  as  VoIP, 
 are  introduced  into  the  marketplace,  and  consumers 
 become  more  aware  of  such  applications.  As  described 
 in  the  preceding  sections  of  this  report,  the  availability 
 and  subscribership  of  advanced  and  high-  speed  services 
 continues  to  grow  steadily  throughout  the  nation. 
 Rural  areas  are  typically  characterized  by  sparse 
 and  dispersed  populations,  great  distances  between  the 
 customer  and  the  service  provider,  and  difficult  ter-rain. 
 These  factors  present  a  unique  set  of  difficulties 
 for  providers  attempting  to  deploy  broadband  servic-es. 
 Yet  despite  these  obstacles,  the  data  described  in 
 the  preceding  section  demonstrate  that  significant 
 progress  is  being  made  towards  ubiquitous  availability 
 of  advanced  services  in  rural  areas.  This  is  a  marked 
 improvement  since  the  Third  Report. 
 Similar  strides  have  been  made  in  other  signifi-cant 
 segments.  For  example,  access  to  advanced 
 services  by  low-  income  populations  and  minority 
 groups  has  grown  dramatically,  and  roughly  94  per-cent 
 of  public  schools  had  broadband  connections  to 


 Is  Broadband 
 Being  Deployed  in 
 a  Reasonable  and 
 Timely  Fashion? 


 S 


 >>> 
40
 39 
 the  Internet  in  2002.  We  continue  to  believe  that  the 
 availability  of  advanced  services  will  help  make  our 
 nation  stronger  and  more  effective  in  the  21st  century. 
 We  base  these  conclusions  on  our  current  defini-tions 
 of  advanced  services  as  services  and  facilities 
 with  transmission  speeds  of  more  200  kbps  both 
 upstream  and  downstream,  and  high-  speed  as 
 services  and  facilities  with  more  than  200  kbps  capa-bility 
 in  at  least  one  direction.  As  we  noted  earlier  in 
 this  report,  broadband  will  evolve  in  the  future,  and 
 we  expect  that  higher  transmission  speed  thresholds 
 may  be  relevant  in  future  inquiries.  As  broadband 
 evolves,  we  will  want  to  explore  whether  Americans 
 have  access  to  the  broadband  capabilities  necessary 
 to  take  advantage  of  new  services  and  applications. 
 We  have  proposed  changes  to  our  Form  477  that,  if 
 adopted,  will  permit  us  to  gather  more  detailed  infor-mation 
 on  what  transmission  speeds  are  available, 
 which  would  allow  us  to  conduct  a  more  detailed 
 analysis  in  the  future. 
 We  are  committed  to  ensuring  that  all 
 Americans  can  share  in  the  benefits  of  access  to 
 broadband  services,  and  will  continue  to  monitor  the 
 nation  as  a  whole,  as  well  as  groups  of  particular 
 interest  to  us,  for  progress  in  the  availability  of  such 
 services.  We  will  also  look  at  other  methods  we  can 
 utilize  to  collect  data  and  other  information  that  will 
 enable  us  to  analyze  the  continued  progress  of 
 deployment  of  advanced  services,  particularly  among 
 users  falling  within  specialized  demographic  groups. 


 Based  on  our  analysis,  we  conclude  that  the 
 deployment  of  advanced  telecommunications 
 capability  to  all  Americans  is  reasonable  and  timely. 
41
 40 
 Broadband 
 Deployment  in 
 Other  Countries 


 ne  tool  to  help 
 assess  the  degree  to 
 which  broadband  is 
 being  deployed  in 
 the  United  States  on 
 a  timely  basis  is  to 
 examine  broadband 
 deployment  in  other 
 countries.  There  are 
 a  number  of  studies 
 comparing  the  availability  of  broadband  across  coun-tries. 
 For  example,  among  the  30  member  countries 
 belonging  to  the  Organisation  for  Economic  Co-  opera-tion 
 and  Development  (OECD),  the  United  States  is 


 tied  for  second  in  cable  modem  service  and  eighteenth 
 in  terms  of  DSL  service. 
 The  most  comprehensive  reports  by  the  OECD 
 and  the  International  Telecommunications  Union 
 (ITU)  focus  on  penetration  (adoption)  rates.  There 
 are  potential  lessons  to  be  learned  from  understand-ing 
 what  drives  broadband  adoption  in  other 
 countries,  especially  those  that  exhibit  comparatively 
 high  penetration  rates,  as  increased  adoption  will 
 drive  future  and  more  advanced  deployment.  O 


 Chart  13:  Largest  Broadband  Markets  in  the  World 
 (Millions  of  broadband  subscribers) 


 Source: 
 OECD, 
 A 


 p 
 ril 


 2004 


 U.  S.  EUJapan  China  Korea  Canada  0 
 5 
 10 
 15 
 20 
 25 
 30  28 


 23 


 14  12 
 11 


 4.  5 


 Chart  14:  Top  15  Countries  with  Residential  Broadband  Subscribers 
 Broadband  subscribers  per  100  people 


 Source: 
 International 


 Telecommunications 


 Union, 
 data 


 for 
 2002. 


 Korea 
 Hong  Kong 
 Canada 
 Taiwan 
 Iceland 
 Belgium 
 Denmark 
 Sweden 
 Netherlands 
 Japan 
 U.  S. 
 Austria 
 Switzerland 
 Singapore 
 Finland 
 0  5  10  15  20  25 


 21.3 
 14.9 
 11.2 


 8.4 
 8.4 
 8.4 
 7.8 


 9.4 


 7.2 
 7.1 
 6.9 
 6.6 
 6.3 
 5.5 
 5.3 


 >>> 
42
 42 
 southern  border,  its  average  population  density  is 
 lower  than  the  United  States,  while  its  broadband 
 subscribership  rate  is  higher.  This  suggests  that  popu-lation 
 density  alone  may  not  explain  broadband 
 subscribership  rates. 
 Looking  at  income  levels  across  different  coun-tries, 
 Chart  17  shows  that  the  United  States,  Japan, 
 and  Canada  all  have  per  capita  income  above 
 US$  25,000  per  year,  while  Korea,  is  closer  to 
 US$  17,000  per  year.  Korea  has  achieved  relatively 
 widespread  broadband  use  even  though  its  per  capita 
 income  is  lower  relative  to  other  countries  with  simi-lar 
 broadband  subscribership. 
 Government  support  is  also  a  driver  of  broad-band 
 development.  In  all  four  countries,  the 
 government  provides  some  form  of  support  for 
 broadband  service.  In  the  United  States,  the  univer-sal 
 service  program  subsidizes  Internet  access, 
 including  broadband,  to  schools,  libraries,  and  rural 
 health  care  providers.  To  date,  $8  billion  has  been 
 disbursed  to  support  connectivity  for  schools  and 
 libraries,  much  of  it  for  broadband.  As  previously 
 mentioned,  more  than  $55  million  has  been  dis-bursed 
 to  support  broadband  for  rural  health  care 
 providers,  and  rural  carriers  receive  more  than  $1 
 billion  annually  in  universal  service  support  for 
 their  underlying  copper  loop  network.  In  addition, 


 the  U.  S.  Department  of  Agricultures  Rural  Utilities 
 Service  provides  loans  to  companies  providing 
 broadband  service  to  communities  with  fewer  than 
 20,000  people. 
 In  Korea,  government  support  appears  to  be 
 the  most  wide-  ranging  and  includes  funding  to  link 
 public  institutions,  funding  for  research  and 
 development,  and  subsidized  loans  for  remote  areas. 
 For  example: 


   Korea  Information  Infrastructure  (KII)-  G 
 program  links  public  institutions  nationwide. 
   KII-  T  provides  funding  for  research  and 
 development  for  next-  generation  networks. 
   KII-  P  subsidizes  loans  for  remote  areas,  defined 
 as  localities  with  fewer  than  50,000  people. 


 There  is  also  government  support  in  Korea  for 
 education  and  consumer  outreach. 
 In  Japan,  a  variety  of  policies  promote  deploy-ment 
 of  broadband  facilities,  such  as  preferred  loans 
 for  fiber  optic  network  buildout,  tax  deductions  for 
 digitalization  of  equipment  and  for  corporate  use  of 
 broadband  networks,  and  subsidies  to  local  govern-ments 
 for  building  fiber  networks. 
 In  Canada,  government  support  appears  primarily 
 focused  on  aiding  rural  development  in  the  sparsely 
 populated  northern  regions,  through  such  programs 
 as  the  Broadband  for  Rural  and  Northern 
 Development  and  the  National  Satellite  Initiative. 
 Competition  is  also  a  driver  of  broadband  avail-ability, 
 subscribership,  price,  and  capacity.  The 
 OECD  has  reported  information  on  broadband 
 offerings  available  in  Canada,  Korea,  and  Japan  as  of 
 October  2003.  In  each  of  these  countries,  the  avail-able 
 speed  for  broadband  service  is  growing  very 
 quickly.  Competition  has  led  to  a  clustering  of  broad-band 
 prices,  with  typical  prices  varying  by  country. 
 Chart  18  compares  a  sample  of  offerings  in  each 
 country,  in  terms  of  the  capacity  of  the  broadband 
 service,  and  the  monthly  subscription  price. 
 In  Korea,  the  incumbent  telecom  operator 
 Korea  Telecom  (KT)  remains  the  major  provider  of 
 DSL  services.  KT,  along  with  broadband  providers 


 Broadband  Deployment  in  Other  Countries 
 Chart  17:  GDP  per  capita 
 Thousands  of  U.  S.  dollars  (PPP  adjusted) 


 Source: 
 World 
 Bank, 
 2002 


 Canada  Korea  Japan  U.  S. 
 0 


 10 
 20 
 30 
 40 
 $29 


 $17 
 $27 
 $36 


 Population  density,  per  capita  income  and  government 
 support  play  a  role  in  broadband  deployment. 
44
 44 
 The  Future 
 of  Broadband 


 There  are  at  least  three  broad-band 
 trends  likely  to  shape  the 
 future  for  the  next  decade. 
 First,  broadband  adoption  will 
 continue.  Second,  broadband 
 connections  will  become 
 faster;  that  is,  they  will  be 
 able  to  transmit  increasing 
 volumes  of  data  during  a  given 
 interval.  Third,  a  wide  array  of 
 technologies  will  be  able  to  deliver  broadband  to  con-sumers 
 and  businesses. 
 We  are  approaching  broadband  adoption  levels 
 that  could  serve  as  a  tipping  point  for  the  rapid 
 creation  of  advanced  services.  Widespread  broadband 
 Internet  access  can  enable  a  variety  of  new  and  valu-able 
 services,  including  distance  learning,  remote 
 medical  diagnostics,  and  easier  telecommuting.  But 
 these  services  are  likely  to  become  commercially  feasi-ble 
 only  when  broadband  access  has  become 
 sufficiently  widespread  to  provide  a  customer  base 
 that  could  cover  development  costs.  As  these  services 
 do  become  available,  however,  they  will  create  new 
 incentives  for  consumers  to  adopt  broadband. 
 The  continuing  deployment  of  broadband  and 
 the  development  of  services  that  rely  upon  broad-band 
 may  thus  have  a  synergistic,  mutually 
 reinforcing  quality:  deployment  will  likely  spur  the 
 development  of  services  that,  in  turn,  will  spur  fur-ther 
 deployment.  In  other  words,  as  more  people 
 adopt  broadband,  the  market  is  likely  to  devote 


 more  resources  towards  the  provision  of  innovative 
 advanced  services  that  encourage  more  people  to 
 adopt  broadband.  The  prospect  of  this  type  of 
 network  effect  suggests  that  the  future  of  broad-band 
 is  bright. 
 Consumers  will  continue  to  adopt  and  upgrade 
 broadband  services.  Broadband  is  already  widely 
 deployed  in  large  businesses.  The  future  of  broadband 
 depends,  however,  on  its  deployment  to  the  con-sumers 
 and  small  businesses  whose  economic 
 activities  generate  most  of  our  economic  growth.  For 
 this  reason,  we  will  focus  on  the  future  of  the  con-sumer 
 market  for  broadband.  Also  the  distinction 
 between  the  deployment  of  broadband  and  the 
 adoption  of  broadband  is  critical  to  a  proper  under-standing 
 of  the  evolving  broadband  market. 
 Consumers  continue  to  adopt  broadband  in 
 increasing  numbers.  A  report  from  Strategy  Analytics 
 predicts  that  an  additional  8.5  million  homes  will 
 add  broadband  in  2004,  totaling  approximately  33.5 
 million  users  by  the  end  of  2004,  compared  to  25 
 million  users  in  April  2004.  Ipsos  News  estimates 
 that  56  percent  of  dial-  up  users  are  likely  to  upgrade 
 their  Internet  connections  to  high-  speed  from  May 
 through  November  2004.  Of  course,  simple  mathe-matics 
 dictate  that  the  rate  of  growth  of  broadband 
 deployment  will  slow  as  it  becomes  more  widespread. 
 This  does  not  mean,  however,  that  the  rate  of  growth 
 of  the  market  for  advanced  services  will  slow  over  the 
 next  decade.  The  opportunity  to  provide  new  servic-es, 
 premium  services,  and  upgrades  to  existing 


 T 


 >>> 
46
 services  appears  to  foretell  a  vigorous  and  growing 
 broadband  market  for  the  foreseeable  future. 
 The  trend  of  increasing  consumer  adoption  of 
 broadband  will  also  be  likely  to  be  complemented  by 
 another  critically  important  trend:  consumers  will 
 more  fully  integrate  broadband  into  their  lives.  As 
 consumers  adopt  broadband  and  realize  its  benefits, 
 they  will  expand  the  reach  of  broadband  within  their 
 homes  and  businesses  so  that  broadband  becomes 
 available  in  all  useful  locations  and  to  all  the  devices 
 that  might  benefit  from  high-  speed  networking. 
 Devices  like  broadband-  enabled  media  center  home 
 computers  illustrate  how  broadband  can  become  a 
 critical  component  of  home  entertainment  systems 
 that  have  not  previously  been  networked.  Cell 
 phones,  PDAs,  cars,  gaming  systems,  and  home 
 appliances  are  other  examples  of  devices  that  may 
 benefit  from  networking.  Indeed,  the  popular  wire-less 
 networking  standard,  Wi-  Fi,  provides  a  means  of 
 linking  devices  in  a  single  location,  which  has  caused 
 the  sales  of  Wi-  Fi  enabled  devices  to  soar.  Consumers 
 and  businesses  are  likely  to  find  a  number  of  unantic-ipated 
 uses  for  broadband  connections  as  they 
 become  truly  ubiquitous. 
 Broadband  access  speeds  will  continue  to  increase. 
 Providers  of  broadband  access  consistently  assert  that 
 they  will  continue  to  increase  the  speed  of  the  connec-tions 
 that  they  offer  their  customers.  Such  advances  are 
 critical  to  the  continued  development  of  broadband. 
 Providers  assert  that  within  the  next  several  years, 
 consumers  can  expect  connections  providing  symmetri- 


 cal  service  at  10  to  20  Mbps.  Within  five  to  ten  years, 
 these  connection  speeds  should  increase  to  100  Mbps, 
 and  some  providers  predict  that  premium  services  may 
 provide  consumers  with  1  gigabit  per  second  (Gbps) 
 access  within  a  decade.  Even  higher-  speed  connections 
 may  be  deployed  to  businesses,  with  some  providers 
 predicting  the  availability  of  10  Gbps  business  services. 
 A  diverse  range  of  technologies  will  provide  broad-band 
 access.  One  of  the  most  intriguing  aspects  of  the 
 growing  market  for  broadband  appears  to  be  the 
 diverse  range  of  technologies  and  facilities-  based  plat-forms 
 capable  of  providing  broadband  access.  The 
 diversity  of  advanced  telecommunications  technolo-gies 
 offers  at  least  two  critical  advantages. 
 First,  potentially  competing  access  technologies 
 can  promote  both  price  and  quality-  of-  service  com-petition 
 among  broadband-  access  providers.  This 
 competition  may  be  critical  to  overall  adoption  of 
 broadband:  as  consumers  discover  new  uses  for 
 broadband  access,  competition  can  ensure  that  serv-ice 
 providers  have  incentives  to  shape  their  offerings 
 to  reflect  fast-  evolving  consumer  preferences  as  well 
 as  competitive  pricing.  The  prospects  of  such  compe-tition 
 lend  credence  to  calls  for  restrained  regulation 
 of  advanced  telecommunications  technologies  and 
 advanced  telecommunications  providers. 
 Second,  access  technologies  may  also  have  com-plementary 
 roles  that,  taken  together,  may  hasten  the 
 overall  speed  at  which  broadband  access  becomes 
 universally  available.  For  example,  wireless  broadband 
 networks  may  provide  coverage  for  mobile  and 


 The  continuing  deployment  of  broadband  and  the 
 development  of  services  that  rely  upon  broadband 
 may  thus  have  a  synergistic,  mutually  reinforcing 
 quality:  deployment  will  likely  spur  the  development 
 of  services  that,  in  turn,  will  spur  further  deployment. 


 45 
47
 portable  devices  and  fill  in  the  gaps  where  wireline 
 broadband  coverage  is  unavailable.  Additionally,  wire-less 
 broadband  services,  along  with  satellite  services, 
 may  bring  high-  speed  broadband  to  remote  areas 
 where  wireline  broadband  services  are  currently  infea-sible 
 or  uneconomical. 
 Broadband  satellite  and  wireless  services  appear 
 to  be  the  two  types  of  new  access  services  most  likely 
 to  be  deployed  in  the  near  future.  New  satellite-  based 
 broadband  services  will  be  launched  by  SES 
 Americom,  EchoStar,  and  the  members  of  the 
 National  Rural  Telecommunications  Cooperative. 
 Wireless  broadband  services  are  projected  to  become 
 available  from  a  host  of  smaller  WISPs,  such  as  AMA 
 Tech  Tel  Communications  using  unlicensed  spectrum 
 and  Evertek  using  licensed  spectrum,  and  from  larger 
 carriers  such  as  Verizon  with  its  BroadbandAccess  serv-ice 
 over  cellular  spectrum  and  the  Intel-  supported 
 WiMax  service. 
 Additional  access  technologies  may  also  play 
 important  roles  in  the  future.  Entrepreneurs  and  engi-neers 
 are  now  investigating  and  developing  an  array  of 
 technologies  from  powerlines  to  ultrawideband  to 
 determine  whether  such  technologies  would  be  a 
 viable  option  for  broadband  access  services. 
 Government  policymakers  will  be  challenged 
 to  find  innovative  ways  to  support  private  market 
 mechanisms  that  will  deploy  and  improve  advanced 
 services.  The  key  to  meeting  this  challenge  is  a  policy 
 environment  that  focuses  on  all  broadband  access 
 technologies  that  provide  value  to  consumers.  The 
 Commission  will  remain  challenged  to  seek  out  flexi-ble 
 approaches  that  will  allow  it  to  move  quickly  to 


 remove  barriers  to  the  deployment  of  advanced 
 telecommunications  capability. 
 The  number  and  diversity  of  the  tasks  that  could 
 be  assisted  or  transformed  by  two-  way,  high-  speed, 
 global  data  transmission  creates  certainty  about  the 
 importance  of  broadband,  even  as  it  creates  uncer-tainty 
 about  how  broadband  will  assist  or  transform 
 any  particular  task.  This  uncertainty  is  both  unavoid-able 
 and  beneficial.  It  is  unavoidable  because  the 
 effect  of  broadband  upon  any  particular  task  depends 
 not  only  on  the  existence  of  a  high-  speed  pipe,  but 
 also  on  a  complex  web  of  other  factors  including  con-sumer 
 preferences  and  the  rate  at  which  companies 
 develop,  deploy,  and  improve  broadband-  enabled 
 devices  and  services.  This  uncertainty  is  beneficial 
 because  it  encourages  companies  to  invest  broadly  in 
 broadband  applications  in  order  to  be  able  to  respond 
 quickly  to  market  signals. 
 This  fluid  situation  means  that  broadband  adop-tion 
 could  be  hindered  either  by  failures  to  create 
 necessary  incentives  to  encourage  the  deployment  of 
 broadband  or  by  prescriptive  regulations  that  will 
 necessarily  fail  to  keep  pace  with  a  fast-  changing 
 broadband  market.  Policymakers  can  reasonably  pre-dict 
 that  broadband  will  move  from  a  high-  end 
 luxury  item,  to  a  mainstream  expectation,  and,  even-tually, 
 to  a  necessity  for  civic  life. 
 The  future  of  broadband,  though  difficult  to 
 predict,  is  promising.  Over  the  next  decade,  broad-band 
 will  become  much  faster  and  more  ubiquitous. 
 The  market  for  advanced  services  is  poised  for  growth 
 and  competition. 


 46 


 The  Future  of  Broadband 
 The  future  of  broadband  is  promising.  Over  the 
 next  decade,  broadband  will  become  much  faster 
 and  more  ubiquitous.  The  market  for  advanced 
 services  is  poised  for  growth  and  competition. 
48
 Conclusion 
 he  deployment  of  infrastructure 
 capable  of  delivering  broadband 
 services  is  critical  to  the  U.  S. 
 economy.  Broadband  has  played 
 and  will  continue  to  play  a  vital 
 role  in  the  21st  century.  Many 
 U.  S.  companies  depend  on 
 broadband  connections  to  run 
 various  facets  of  their  businesses, 
 including  tracking  inventory, 
 monitoring  consumer  relations,  and  forecasting  prod-uct 
 sales.  Moreover,  the  availability  of  broadband  has 
 created  greater  flexibility  and  opportunity  in  the 
 workplace,  particularly  in  the  increased  use  of 
 telecommuting  by  employees  who  remain  connected 
 to  their  jobs  despite  distance  and  other  factors. 
 In  addition  to  tangible  benefits  to  the  economy, 
 broadband  has  a  significant  impact  on  the  lives  of 
 everyday  citizens.  For  example,  high-  speed  connec-tions 
 to  the  Internet  allow  children  in  rural  areas 
 from  Alaska  to  Florida  to  access  the  same  information 
 as  schoolchildren  in  urban  areas,  improving  their 
 educational  opportunities.  Telemedicine  networks 
 over  broadband  connections  save  lives  and  improve 
 the  standard  of  healthcare  in  sparsely  populated,  rural 
 areas.  In  the  future,  new  and  even  more  exciting 
 applications  will  be  developed  that  will  provide  con-sumers 
 with  highly  customized,  low-  cost  alternative 
 services  delivered  in  the  manner  of  their  choice.  It  is 
 essential  to  continue  to  monitor  the  progress  of  the 
 deployment  of  advanced  telecommunications  plat-forms 
 and  determine  if  additional  steps  are  needed  to 
 further  encourage  this  growth  to  all  Americans. 


 T 


 47 
49
 List  of  Parties  Filing  Comments  and  Reply  Comments  in  Response 
 to  the  Fourth  Notice  of  Inquiry 
 Parties  Filing  Comments  Association  of  Public  Television  Stations 


 AT&  T  Corp. 
 California  Public  Utilities  Commission 
 Comcast  Corporation 
 Corporation  for  Education  Network 
 Initiatives  in  California 


 Covad  Communications 
 Current  Communications  Group,  LLC 
 EchoStar  Satellite  LLC 
 General  Communication,  Inc. 
 IEEE-  USA 
 Independent  Telephone  & 
 Telecommunications  Alliance 


 MCI,  Inc. 
 MTCO  Communications,  Inc. 
 National  Association  of  Telecommunication 
 Officers  and  Advisors 


 National  Cable  &  Telecommunications  Association 
 National  Energy  Marketers  Association 
 National  Exchange  Carrier  Association,  Inc. 
 National  Rural  Telecommunications  Cooperative 
 National  Telecommunications  Cooperative 
 Association 


 Nortel  Networks 
 Optoelectronics  Industry  Development  Association 
 Organization  for  the  Promotion  and  Advancement 
 of  Small  Telecommunications  Companies 


 Pulse-  LINK 
 Rural  Independent  Competitive  Alliance 
 Rural  Iowa  Independent  Telephone  Association 
 SBC  Communications,  Inc. 
 Schellhardt,  Don 
 SES  Americom,  Inc. 
 Sprint  Corporation 
 United  Power  Line  Council 


 United  States  Conference  of  Mayors,  National 
 Association  of  Counties,  American  Public  Works 
 Association,  Texas  Coalition  of  Cities  for  Utility 
 Issues,  Mount  Hood  Cable  Regulatory 
 Commission 


 United  States  Telecom  Association 
 Verizon 
 Wireless  Communications  Association 
 International,  Inc. 


 Parties  Filing  Reply  Comments  AT&  T  Corp. 
 City  of  White  Plains 
 Comcast  Corporation 
 CTIA  -  The  Wireless  Association 
 DAndrea,  Ralph 
 EchoStar  Satellite,  LLC 
 Federal  Communications  Commission 
 Intergovernmental  Advisory  Committee 


 Industry  Rights-  of-  Way  Working  Group 
 MCI,  Inc. 
 MTCO  Communications,  Inc. 
 National  Association  of  Telecommunications  Officers 
 and  Advisors  and  Alliance  for  Community  Media 


 National  Cable  &  Telecommunications  Association 
 Next  G  Networks,  Inc. 
 Real  Access  Alliance 
 Rural  Independent  Competitive  Alliance 
 SBC  Communications 
 Schellhardt,  Don 
 SES  Americom,  Inc. 
 Telecommunications  for  the  Deaf,  Inc. 
 Telecommunications  Manufacturer  Coalition 
 Teletruth  &  New  Networks  Institute 
 Town  of  Colonie,  New  York 
 United  States  Conference  of  Mayors,  National 
 Association  of  Counties,  American  Public  Works 
 Association,  Texas  Coalition  of  Cities  for  Utility 
 Issues,  Montgomery  County,  Maryland,  and 
 Mount  Hood  Cable  Regulatory  Commission 


 The  Verizon  Telephone  Companies 


 48 


 Appendix  A  >>> 
50
 List  of  Sources 
 General  Proceedings  and  Reports  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,  CC  Docket 
 No.  98-  146,  Report,  14  FCC  Rcd  2398  (1999) 
 (First  Report). 


 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,  CC  Docket  No. 
 98-  146,  Second  Report,  15  FCC  Rcd  20913  (2000) 
 (Second  Report). 


 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,  CC  Docket 
 No.  98-  146,  Report,  17  FCC  Rcd  2844  (2002) 
 (Third  Report). 


 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,  GN  Docket 
 No.  04-  54,  Fourth  Notice  of  Inquiry,  19  FCC 
 Rcd  5136  (2004)  (Fourth  NOI). 


 Local  Telephone  Competition  and  Broadband  Reporting, 
 Notice  of  Proposed  Rulemaking  and  Order  on 
 Reconsideration,  WC  Docket  No.  04-  141,  CC  Docket 
 No.  99-  301,  19  FCC  Rcd  7364  (2004)  (Local 
 Competition  and  Broadband  Reporting  NPRM). 


 Federal  Communications  Commission,  Wireline 
 Competition  Bureau,  Industry  Analysis  and 
 Technology  Division,  High-  Speed  Services  for  Internet 
 Access:  Status  as  of  December  31,  2003  (Ind.  An.  and 
 Tech.  Div.,  rel.  June  2004)  (December  2003  High-Speed 
 Report). 


 Developments  in  Last-  Mile  Technologies  Since  the  Third  Report 
 Cable  Technologies  Annual  Assessment  of  the  Status  of  Competition  in  the 
 Market  for  the  Delivery  of  Video  Programming,  Tenth 
 Annual  Report,  MB  Docket  No.  03-  172,  FCC  04-  5 
 (rel.  Jan.  28,  2004). 


 Comcast  to  Double  Downstream  Speeds  for  Comcast 
 High-  Speed  Internet  Costumers,  Press  Release, 
 Comcast  Corp.,  Oct.  2,  2003. 


 RCN  Raises  the  Bar  by  Increasing  Cable  Modem 
 Download  Speeds  to  Up  to  5  Mbps,  Press  Release, 
 RCN  Corp.  Oct.  2,  2003. 


 Richard  Bilotti,  Benjamin  Swinburne,  Megan  Lynch, 
 Broadband  Update,  Morgan  Stanley,  July  7,  2003. 


 PacketCable  Home,  Cable  Labs,  available  at 
 http://  www.  packetcable.  com  (retrieved  August  3, 
 2004). 


 John  H.  Higgins  and  Ken  Kerschbaumer,  Cable 
 Operators;  Still  No  Space  85  Billion  Dollars  Later, 
 Broadcasting  &  Cable,  June  14,  2004. 


 Jeff  Baumgartner,  NGNA:  A  sneak-  peek  at  cables 
 battle  plan  for  the  future,  Communications  and 
 Engineering  &  Design,  May  2004,  available  at 
 http://  testced.  cahners1.  com/  ced/  2004/  0504/  05a.  htm. 
 (retrieved  August  3,  2004). 


 Cable  Companies  Use  Speed  to  Gain  Competitive  Edge 
 Over  DSL,  Communications  Daily  (July  28,  2004). 


 Ken  Belson,  Two  Big  Cable  Companies  Report 
 Losses  Amid  Competition,  New  York  Times,  C4 
 Aug.  10,  2004. 


 Copper  Technologies  DSL  Life  Home  Page:  About  DSL,  available  at 
 http://  www.  dsllife.  com/  (retrieved  Aug.  10,  2004). 
 ADSL:  Asymmetric  Digital  Subscriber  Line, 
 RAD  Data  Communications,  available  at 
 http://  www2.  rad.  com/  networks/  1997/  adsl/ 
 ADSLTechDis.  htm  (retrieved  Aug.  10,  2004). 


 DSL  for  Home:  Products  &  Services,  Package 
 Price,  Verizon  Online,  available  at  http:// 
 www22.  verizon.  com/  ForHomeDSL/  channels/  dsl/ 
 package+  price.  asp  (retrieved  Aug.  10,  2004). 


 49 


 Appendix  B 
51
 Fiber  Technologies  Review  of  the  Section  251  Unbundling  Obligations 
 of  Incumbent  Local  Exchange  Carriers, 
 Implementation  of  the  Local  Competition 
 Provisions  of  the  Telecommunications  Act  of  1996, 
 Deployment  of  Wireline  Services  Offering  Advanced 
 Telecommunications  Capability,  Report  and  Order 
 and  Order  on  Remand  and  Further  Notice  of 
 Proposed  Rulemaking,  CC  Docket  Nos.  01-  338, 
 96-  98,  98-  147,  18  FCC  Rcd  16,978  (2003) 
 (Triennial  Review  Order). 


 Declaration  of  Leonard  Ray,  WC  Docket  No.  01-  338 
 (filed  June  1,  2004). 


 Marconi  Reply  Comments,  WC  Docket  No.  01-  338 
 (filed  Nov.  17,  2003). 


 FTTH  Council  Ex  Parte  WC  Docket  No.  01-  338 
 (filed  Oct.  11,  2002). 


 FTTH  Council  Presentation,  WC  Docket 
 No.  01-  338  (submitted  Jan.  2004). 


 FTTH  Council  and  TIA  Release  Updated  U.  S. 
 Optical  Fiber  Communities  List  May  2004,  Press 
 Release,  May  19,  2004. 


 SBC  Ex  Parte  Presentation,  WC  Docket 
 No.  01-  338  (Feb.  4,  2004). 


 Robert  Whitman,  Rocket  the  Foundations  of  the 
 Last  Mile,  gl  guidelines,  Vol.  1  1e,  Winter  2003. 


 California  District  Goes  Broadband,  Press  Release, 
 FCW.  com  Feb.  9,  2004. 


 Eagle  Broadband,  Lake  Las  Vegas  Resort  Community 
 Selects  Eagle  Broadband  to  Provide  Video  Content  and 
 Broadband  Services,  Dibya  Sarkar,  Oct.  9,  2003. 


 Jordanna  Smida,  Fiber  Optics  to  the  Home  Technology 
 Offers  Client  Service,  Builder  Revenue  Opportunity, 
 Design/  Build  Business,  Feb.  2003. 


 Ed  Gubbins,  BellSouth  Defends  Fiber-  to-  the-  Curb, 
 TelephonyOnline,  com,  Sept.  8,  2003. 


 Unlicensed  Wireless  Technologies  Hotspot  Locations:  The  Wireless  Directory, 
 available  at  http://  www.  hotspot-  locations.  com/ 
 modules.  php?  name=  Technology  (retrieved 
 Aug.  3,  2004). 


 Press  Release,  2003  Numbers  Indicate  that  Joe  Schmos 
 Got  Wi-  Fi,  In-  Stat/  MDR  Market  Alert,  Jan.  16, 
 2004,  available  at  http://  www.  gii.  co.  jp/  press/ 
 cg17647_  en.  shtml  (retrieved  Aug.  3,  2004). 


 Rudy  L.  Baca,  Scott  Cleland,  John  Freeman,  David 
 Lytel,  How  Wireless  Broadband  Will  Increasingly 
 Disrupt  the  Traditional  Wireless  Model,  Precursor 
 Change  Viewpoint,  May  17,  2004. 


 Licensed  Wireless  Technologies  Description  of  Transaction,  Public  Interest  Statement 
 and  Waiver  Request  of  Cingular  Wireless  Corporation, 
 FCC  Form  603,  Ex.  1,  WT  Docket  No.  04-  70 
 (filed  Mar.  18,  2004) 


 Emily  Motsay,  Sprint  Confirms  EV-  DO  Plans  with 
 $1B  Investment  Cingular  Reaffirms  UMTS 
 Commitment  with  RFP,  RCR  Wireless  News, 
 June  22,  2004. 


 NextNet  and  Regional  Service  Providers  Launch 
 NLOS  Broadband  Wireless  Services  in  Ohio,  Michigan, 
 and  Nebraska,  Press  Release,  NextNet  Wireless, 
 May  17,  2004. 


 Presentation  by  Guy  Kelnhofer,  President  and  CEO 
 of  NextNet  Wireless,  submitted  at  Wireless 
 Broadband  Forum,  Federal  Communications 
 Commission,  May  19,  2004. 


 Dan  Meyer,  Nextel  Plans  Next-  Generation  Wireless 
 Data  Trial,  RCR  Wireless  News,  Feb.  5,  2004. 


 Wireless,  Communications  Daily,  Feb.  9,  2004. 
 Susan  Rush,  Nextel  Tests  Wireless  Broadband  in  N.  C., 
 Wireless  Week,  Feb.  9,  2004. 


 Dan  Meyer,  Nextel  to  Offer  Commercial  OFDM 
 Service,  RCR  Wireless  News,  Apr.  14,  2004. 


 Dan  Meyer,  Nextels  Broadband  Network  is  Faster  than 
 Other  Wireless  Technologies,  RCR  Wireless  News,  Apr. 
 16,  2004. 


 IDT  to  Reorganize  Winstar  Division,  RCR  Wireless 
 News,  May  12,  2004. 


 50 


 Appendix  B 
52
 Broadband  over  Power  Lines  Lisa  Cornwell,  Utility  to  offer  high-  speed  Internet  over 
 power  lines,  USA  Today,  Tech,  March  3,  2004. 
 Grant  Gross,  Broadband-  over-  power-  line  vendor  rolls 
 out  service,  Computerworld,  March  2,  2004. 


 Satellite  Technologies  Annual  Assessment  of  the  Status  of  Competition  in 
 the  Market  for  the  Delivery  of  Video  Programming, 
 Tenth  Annual  Report,  MB  Docket  No.  03-  172, 
 FCC  04-  5  (rel.  Jan.  28,  2004).  PDS  Consulting, 
 Broadband  Satellite,  May  28,  2004,  available  at 
 www.  PDSconsulting.  net  (retrieved  Aug.  13,  2004). 


 Bruce  Elbert,  Broadband  Satellite  Services  another 
 year,  another  strategy,  SatMagazine,  February  2004, 
 available  at  http://  www.  satmagazine.  com/ 
 feb2004/  feb2004.  pdf  (retrieved  Aug.  6,  2004). 


 Starband:  Service  Overview,  available  at  http:// 
 starband.  com/  services.  asp  (retrieved  Aug.  13,  2004). 


 Direcway  Homepage,  available  at  http://  hns. 
 getdway.  com/  (retrieved  August  6,  2004). 


 WildBlue  Communications  Press  Room, 
 available  at  http://  www.  wildblue.  com/  press/ 
 (retrieved  August  6,  2004). 


 National  Rural  Telecommunications  Cooperative: 
 Satellite  Technologies,  available  at  http:// 
 www.  nrtc.  coop/  sub/  satellitetechnologies/  index.  html 
 (retrieved  August  6,  2004). 


 New  Developments  in  Services  and  Applications 
 Grant  and  Zuckerman,  Redialing  the  Internet  Frenzy? 
 Wall  St.  J.,  Nov.  13,  2003. 


 Cablevision  Comments,  WC  Docket  No.  04-  36 
 (filed  May  28,  2004). 


 Vonage:  The  Broadband  Phone  Company,  Products 
 &  Services,  available  at  www.  vonage.  com/ 
 products.  php  (retrieved  Aug.  13,  2004). 


 AT&  T  CallVantage,  available  at  www.  usa.  att.  com/ 
 callvantage/  home.  jsp  (retrieved  Aug.  16,  2004). 


 Verizon  Wireless,  Calling  All  Jocks,  Music  Buffs, 
 Spiritual  Gurus,  City  Slickers  and  Dancing  Queens-Verizon 
 Wireless  Get  It  Now  Service  Has 
 Applications  for  Everyone,  Press  Release  June  8, 
 2004. 


 Verizon  Launches  New  Get  It  Now  BREW  Service, 
 Wireless  Advisor,  June  17,  2004. 


 Adam  Shah,  TV  Comes  to  Cell  Phones,  IDG  News 
 Service,  Nov.  14,  2003. 


 GCI,  Wireless  Net:  Rural  Alaskas  Internet  Solution, 
 available  at  www.  gci.  com/  wireless/  wirelessnet.  htm 
 (retrieved  Aug.  13,  2004). 


 Is  Broadband  Being  Deployed  to  All  Americans? 
 A  Record  2.3  Million  Add  Broadband  in  First  Quarter 
 of  2004,  Leichtman  Research  Group,  May  11,  2004. 


 55%  of  Adult  Internet  Users  Have  Broadband  at 
 Home  or  Work,  Pew  Internet  &  American  Life 
 Project,  April  2004. 


 Strides  Made  in  Advanced  Services 
 Deployment  in  Rural  Communities  Rural  Areas  and  the  Internet,  Pew  Internet  & 


 American  Life  Project,  February  17,  2004. 
 Fulfilling  the  Digital  Dream:  A  Report  on  the 
 Technology  of  Small  and  Rural  Telephone  Companies, 
 NECAs  2003  Access  Market  Survey,  prepared  by 
 NECAs  Technology  Planning  and  Implementation 
 Group  (2003). 


 NTCA  Releases  Broadband/  Internet  Availability 
 Study  92%  of  Respondents  Offer  Broadband  to 
 Their  Customer  Base,  Press  Release,  National 
 Telecommunications  Cooperative  Association, 
 June  29,  2004,  available  at  http://  www.  ntca.  org/  ka/ 
 ka-  3.  cfm?  content_  item_  id=  2263&  folder_  id=  298 
 (retrieved  Aug.  10,  2004). 


 Paul  Davidson,  Inventive  wireless  providers  go  rural, 
 USA  Today,  July  14,  2004. 


 Mark  Rockwell,  Rural  WISPs  Share  Success  Stories, 
 Wireless  Week,  November  4,  2003. 


 51 


 Appendix  B 
53
 Mark  Rockwell,  Motorola  Gains  Ground  in  Rural 
 Areas,  Buffalo  Wireless,  June  3,  2003. 


 USAC  Quarterly  Administrative  Filing  2004, 
 available  at  http://  www.  universalservice.  org/ 
 overview/  filings/  (retrieved  Aug.  16,  2004). 


 Broadband  at  Home  and  Work  55%  of  Adult  Internet  Users  Have  Broadband  at 
 Home  or  Work,  Pew  Internet  &  American  Life 
 Project,  April  2004. 


 Children  are  Using  Broadband 
 in  their  Classrooms  Voices  and  Views  of  Todays  Tech-  Savvy  Students, 


 A  National  Report  on  NetDay  Speak  Up  Day 
 For  Students  2003,  March  2004. 


 Internet  Access  in  U.  S.  Public  Schools  and  Classrooms: 
 1994-  2002,  U.  S.  Department  of  Education,  Institute  of 
 Education  Series,  Pub.  No.  20004-  0012,  October  2003. 


 Low-  Income  Populations  Have  Increased  Access 
 to  Advanced  Services  Since  the  Third  Report  Toward  Equity  of  Access:  The  Role  of  Public  Libraries 


 in  Addressing  the  Digital  Divide,  Gates  Foundation 
 &  Pew  Internet  &  American  Life  Project, 
 February  25,  2004. 


 Internet  Access  in  the  Public  Schools  and  Classrooms: 
 1994-  2001,  School  Connectivity  Statistics, 
 September  2002. 


 Internet  Access  in  U.  S.  Public  Schools  and  Classrooms: 
 1994-  2002,  U.  S.  Department  of  Education, 
 Institute  of  Education  Series,  Pub.  No.  20004-  0012, 
 October  2003. 


 Jonathon  Krim,  Program  Aids  Urban  Poor  In  Accessing 
 The  Internet,  Washington  Post,  August  9,  2004. 


 Minority  Access  to  Broadband  is  on  the  Rise  Trends  in  Internet  Adoption  and  Use:  Comparing 
 Minority  Groups,  Pew  Internet  &  American  Life 
 Project,  May  11,  2004. 


 The  Disabled  Community  is  Accessing 
 Broadband  Services  Despite  Barriers  The  Ever-  Shifting  Internet  Population,  Pew  Internet  & 


 American  Life  Project,  April  16,  2003. 


 Is  Broadband  Being  Deployed  in  a  Reasonable  and  Timely  Fashion? 
 2004  CE  Ownership  and  Market  Potential  Study, 
 eBrain  Research,  Consumer  Electronics  Association, 
 June  2004. 


 Broadband  Deployment  in  Other  Countries 
 Canadian  Radio-  television  and  Telecommunications 
 Commission,  Report  to  the  Governor  in  Council:  Status 
 of  Competition  in  Canadian  Telecommunications  Markets, 
 Deployment/  Accessibility  of  Advanced  Telecommunications 
 Infrastructure  and  Services,  Ottawa,  Canada, 
 November  2003. 


 National  Computerization  Agency  and  Ministry 
 of  Information  and  Communication,  Republic 
 of  Korea,  2003  White  Paper:  Internet  Korea,  Seoul, 
 Korea,  July  2003. 


 Masayoshi  Son,  Chief  Executive  Officer, 
 Softbank  BB,  Briefing  for  the  FCC,  Tokyo, 
 Japan,  March  2004. 


 Irene  Wu,  Canada,  South  Korea,  Netherlands, 
 and  Sweden:  Regulatory  Implications  of  the  Convergence 
 of  Telecommunications,  Broadcasting  and  Internet 
 Services,  Telecommunications  Policy,  Volume  24, 
 2004. 


 E-  Commerce  and  Development  Report  2003, 
 United  Nations  Conference  on  Trade  and 
 Development,  available  at  www.  un.  org/  publications. 


 International  Telecommunications  Union,  Birth  of 
 Broadband,  Geneva,  Switzerland,  September  2003. 


 National  Computerization  Agency,  Broadband  in 
 Korea:  Korea  Information  Infrastructure,  Seoul, 
 Republic  of  Korea,  June  2002. 


 52 


 Appendix  B 
54
 Sam  Paltridge  and  Masayuki  Matsui,  Organisation 
 for  Economic  Co-  operation  and  Development 
 (OECD),  Benchmarking  Broadband  Prices  in  the 
 OECD,  Paris,  France,  June  15,  2004. 


 Sam  Paltridge,  Development  of  Broadband  Access  in 
 OECD  Countries,  October  29,  2001. 


 Sam  Paltridge,  The  Development  of  Broadband  Access 
 in  Rural  and  Remote  Areas,  May  10,  2004. 


 Yasu  Taniwaki,  Telecommunications  Attache, 
 Embassy  of  Japan,  Washington,  D.  C.  Emerging 
 Broadband  Market  and  Relevant  Policy  Agenda  in 
 Japan,  Journal  of  Interactive  Advertising, 
 Volume  4,  No.  1,  Fall  2003. 


 USAC  Quarterly  Administrative  Filing  2004, 
 available  at  http://  www.  universalservice.  org/ 
 overview/  filings/  (retrieved  Aug.  16,  2004). 


 The  Future  of  Broadband 
 Strategy  Analytics:  8.5  Million  US  Homes  to  Add 
 Broadband  in  2004,  Press  Release,  Strategy  Analytics, 
 April  28,  2004. 


 Savvy  Internet  Users  Sold  on  Broadband,  But 
 Undecided  Between  Cable  and  DSL  For  The  Home, 
 Press  Release,  Ispos  News  Center,  May  23,  2004. 


 53 


 Appendix  B 
55
 List  of  Broadband-  Related  Proceedings  at  the  Commission 
 Inquiry  Concerning  High-  Speed  Access  to  the  Internet 
 over  Cable  and  Other  Facilities,  Declaratory  Ruling 
 and  Notice  of  Proposed  Rulemaking,  GN  Docket 
 No.  00-  185,  17  FCC  Rcd  4798  (2002),  revd  in  part, 
 Brand  X  Internet  Services  v.  FCC,  345  F.  3d  1120 
 (2003),  rehg  denied,  Mar.  31,  2004,  stay  of  mandate 
 granted,  Apr.  9,  2004. 


 2000  Biennial  Regulatory  Review  Streamlining  and 
 Other  Revisions  of  Part  25  of  the  Commissions  Rules 
 Governing  the  Licensing  of,  and  Spectrum  Usage  by, 
 Satellite  Network  Earth  Stations  and  Space  Stations, 
 Notice  of  Proposed  Rulemaking,  IB  Docket 
 No.  00-  248,  15  FCC  Rcd  25,128  (2000). 


 2000  Biennial  Regulatory  Review  Streamlining  and 
 Other  Revisions  of  Part  25  of  the  Commissions  Rules 
 Governing  the  Licensing  of,  and  Spectrum  Usage  by, 
 Satellite  Network  Earth  Stations  and  Space  Stations, 
 Further  Notice  of  Proposed  Rulemaking,  IB  Docket 
 No.  00-  248,  17  FCC  Rcd  18,585  (2002). 


 Procedures  to  Govern  the  Use  of  Satellite  Earth  Stations 
 on  Board  Vessels  in  the  5925-  6425  MHz/  3700-  4200 
 MHz  Bands  and  14.0-  14.5  Ghz/  11.7-  12.2  GHz 
 Bands,  Notice  of  Proposed  Rule  Making,  IB  Docket 
 No.  02-  10,  18  FCC  Rcd  25,248  (2003). 


 Petition  for  Rulemaking  of  the  Boeing  Company  of 
 Amendment  of  Parts  2,  25,  and  87  of  the  Commissions 
 Rules  to  Implement  Decisions  from  World 
 Radiocommunication  Conferences  Concerning 
 Frequency  Bands  Between  28  MHz  and  36  GHz  and 
 to  Otherwise  Update  the  Rules  in  This  Frequency  Range, 
 ET  Docket  No.  02-  305  (filed  July  21,  2003). 


 Unlicensed  Operation  in  the  TV  Broadcast  Bands, 
 ET  Docket  No.  04-  186,  Additional  Spectrum  for 
 Unlicensed  Devices  Below  900  MHz  and  in  the  3  GHz 
 Band,  Notice  of  Proposed  Rulemaking,  ET  Docket 
 No.  02-  380,  FCC  No.  04-  113  (rel.  May  25,  2004). 


 Modification  of  Parts  2  and  15  of  the  Commissions 
 Rules  for  Unlicensed  Devices  and  Equipment  Approval, 
 Report  and  Order,  ET  Docket  No.  03-  201,  FCC 
 No.  04-  165  (rel.  July  12,  2004). 


 Allocations  and  Service  Rules  for  the  71-  76  GHz, 
 81-  86  GHz  and  92-  95  GHz  Bands,  Report  and 
 Order,  WT  Docket  No.  02-  146,  18  FCC  Rcd 
 23,318  (2003). 


 Service  Rules  for  Advanced  Wireless  Services  in  the  1.7 
 GHz  and  2.1  GHz  Bands,  Report  and  Order,  WT 
 Docket  No.  02-  353,  18  FCC  Rcd  25,162  (2003). 


 FCC  Promotes  the  Deployment  of  Wireless  Broadband 
 Services  by  Creating  New  Rules  for  the  2495-  2690 
 MHz  Band  While  Protecting  Educational  Services,  WT 
 Docket  No.  03-  66,  Press  Release  (June  10,  2004). 


 FCC  Adopts  Measures  to  Increase  Rural  Investment  and 
 Facilitate  Deployment  of  Spectrum-  Based  Services  in 
 Rural  Areas,  WT  Docket  No.  02-  38,  Press  Release 
 (July  8,  2004). 


 Review  of  Regulatory  Requirements  for  Incumbent  LEC 
 Broadband  Telecommunications  Services,  Notice  of 
 Proposed  Rulemaking,  CC  Docket  No.  01-  337, 
 16  FCC  Rcd  22,745  (2001). 


 Review  of  Regulatory  Requirements  for  Incumbent 
 LEC  Broadband  Telecommunications  Services, 
 Memorandum  Opinion  and  Order  Rulemaking,  CC 
 Docket  No.  01-  337,  17  FCC  Rcd  27,000  (2002). 


 Appropriate  Framework  for  Broadband  Access  to  the 
 Internet  over  Wireline  Facilities,  Universal  Service 
 Obligations  of  Broadband  Providers,  Computer  III 
 Further  Remand  Proceedings:  Bell  Operating  Company 
 Provision  of  Enhanced  Services;  1998  Biennial 
 Regulatory  Review  Review  of  Computer  III  and 
 ONA  Safeguards  and  Requirements,  Notice  of 
 Proposed  Rulemaking,  CC  Docket  Nos.  02-  33, 
 95-  20,  98-  10,  17  FCC  Rcd  3019  (2002). 


 Petitions  for  Reconsideration  for  Review  of  the  Section 
 251  Unbundling  Obligations  of  Incumbent  Local 
 Exchange  Carriers,  Implementation  of  the  Local 
 Competition  Provisions  of  the  Telecommunications  Act 
 of  1996,  Deployment  of  Wireline  Services  Offering 
 Advanced  Telecommunications  Capability,  CC  Docket 
 Nos.  01-  338,  96-  98,  98-  147  (filed  Oct.  2,  2003). 


 Schools  and  Libraries  Universal  Service  Mechanism, 
 Third  Report  and  Order  and  Second  Further  Notice 
 of  Proposed  Rulemaking,  CC  Docket  No.  02-  6,  FCC 
 No.  03-  323  (rel.  Dec.  23,  2003). 


 54 


 Appendix  C 
56
 Review  of  the  Section  251  Unbundling  Obligations  of 
 Incumbent  Local  Exchange  Carriers,  Implementation  of  the 
 Local  Competition  Provisions  of  the  Telecommunications 
 Act  of  1996,  Deployment  of  Wireline  Services  Offering 
 Advanced  Telecommunications  Capability,  Report  and 
 Order  and  Order  on  Remand  and  Further  Notice  of 
 Proposed  Rulemaking,  CC  Docket  Nos.  01-  338,  96- 
 98,  98-  147,  18  FCC  Rcd  16,978  (2003)  (Triennial 
 Review  Order),  corrected  by  Errata,  18  FCC  Rcd 
 19,020  (2003)  (Triennial  Review  Order  Errata),  vacat-ed 
 and  remanded  in  part,  affirmed  in  part,  United 
 States  Telecom  Assn  v.  FCC,  D.  C.  Cir.  No.  00-  1012 
 (and  consolidated  cases)  (D.  C.  Cir.  Mar.  2,  2004). 


 Vonage  Holdings  Corp.  Petition  for  Declaratory 
 Ruling  Concerning  an  Order  of  the  Minnesota 
 Public  Utilities  Commission,  WC  Docket  No.  03-  211 
 (filed  Sept.  22,  2003). 


 Petition  of  BellSouth  Telecommunications,  Inc.  for 
 Forbearance  Under  47  U.  S.  C.  160(  c)  from  Application 
 of  Sections  251(  c)(  3),  (4),  and  (6)  in  New-  Build, 
 Multi-  Premises  Developments,  WC  Docket  No. 
 03-  220  (filed  Oct.  8,  2003). 


 Commission  Establishes  Comment  Cycle  for  New 
 Verizon  Petition  Requesting  Forbearance  from 
 Application  of  Section  271,  Public  Notice,  FCC  03- 
 263  (rel.  Oct.  27,  2003). 


 SBC  Communications  Inc.  s  Petition  for  Forbearance 
 Under  47  U.  S.  C.    160(  c),  WC  Docket  No.  03-  235 
 (filed  Nov.  6,  2003). 


 SBC  Communications,  Inc.  Petition  For  Waiver  of 
 Section  61.42  of  the  Commissions  Rules,  WC  Docket 
 No.  03-  250  (filed  Dec.  9,  2003). 


 Bellsouth  Telecommunications,  Inc.  Request  for 
 Declaratory  Ruling  that  State  Commissions  May  Not 
 Regulate  Broadband  Internet  Access  Services  by 
 Requiring  BellSouth  to  Provide  Wholesale  or  Retail 
 Broadband  Services  to  CLEC  UNE  Voice  Customers, 
 WC  Docket  No.  03-  251  (filed  Dec.  16,  2003). 


 Qwest  Communications  International  Inc.  Petition  for 
 Forbearance  Under  47  U.  S.  C.    160(  c),  WC  Docket 
 No.  03-  260  (filed  Dec.  18,  2003). 


 Level  3  Communications,  LLC  Petition  For 
 Forbearance  Under  47  U.  S.  C.  Section  160(  c)  From 
 Enforcement  Of  47  U.  S.  C.  Section  251(  g),  Rule 
 51.701(  b)(  1),  and  Rule  69.5(  b),  WC  Docket 
 No.  03-  266  (filed  Dec.  23,  2003). 


 Rural  Health  Care  Support  Mechanism,  Report  and 
 Order,  Order  on  Reconsideration,  and  Further 
 Notice  of  Proposed  Rulemaking,  WC  Docket  No. 
 02-  60,  FCC  03-  288  (rel.  Nov.  17,  2003). 


 Petition  of  SBC  Communications  Inc.  for  Forbearance 
 from  the  Application  of  Title  II  Common  Carrier 
 Regulation  to  IP  Platform  Services,  WC  Docket  No. 
 04-  29  (filed  Feb.  5,  2004). 


 Petition  for  Declaratory  Ruling  of  the  Southern  New 
 England  Telephone  Company  and  Order  Preempting  the 
 Connecticut  Department  of  Public  Utility  Controls 
 Decision  Directing  the  Southern  New  England 
 Telephone  Company  to  Unbundle  its  Hybrid  Fiber 
 Coaxial  Facilities,  WC  Docket  No.  04-  30  (filed  Feb. 
 10,  2004). 


 Petition  for  Declaratory  Ruling  that  pulver.  coms  Free 
 World  Dialup  is  Neither  Telecommunications  Nor  a 
 Telecommunications  Service,  Memorandum  Opinion 
 and  Order,  WC  Docket  No.  03-  45,  FCC  04-  27  (rel. 
 Feb.  19,  2004). 


 Inflexion  Communications  Corp.  Petition  for 
 Declaratory  Ruling  That  Inflexion  Communications 
 ExtendIP  VoIP  Service  is  Exempt  From  Access  Charges, 
 WC  Docket  No.  04-  52  (filed  Feb.  27,  2004). 


 BellSouth  Telecommunications,  Inc.  Petition  for 
 Forbearance,  WC  Docket  No.  04-  48  (filed  Mar.  1, 
 2004). 


 IP-  Enabled  Services,  Notice  of  Proposed  Rulemaking, 
 WC  Docket  No.  04-  36,  FCC  04-  28  (rel.  Mar.  10, 
 2004). 


 Joint  Petition  for  Expedited  Rulemaking  Concerning  the 
 Communications  Assistance  for  Law  Enforcement  Act, 
 RM-  10865  (filed  Mar.  10,  2004). 


 Qwest  Corporation  Petition  for  Forbearance  Pursuant  to 
 47  U.  S.  C.    160(  c),  WC  Docket  No.  04-  223  (filed 
 June  21,  2004). 


 55 


 Appendix  C 
57
 Verizon  Petition,  In  The  Alternative,  For  Forbearance 
 To  Allow  It  To  Exercise  Pricing  Flexibility  For 
 Advanced  Services  Where  The  Commission  Has  Granted 
 Relief  For  Traditional  Special  Access  Services,  WC 
 Docket  No.  04-  246  (filed  June  25,  2004). 


 Petition  of  the  Verizon  Telephone  Companies  for 
 Declaratory  Ruling,  or,  Alternatively,  for  Interim  Waiver 
 with  Regard  to  Broadband  Services  Provided  via  Fiber 
 to  the  Premises,  WC  Docket  No.  04-  242  (filed  June 
 28,  2004). 


 Conditional  Petition  of  the  Verizon  Telephone 
 Companies  for  Forbearance  Under  47  U.  S.  C.    160(  c) 
 with  Regard  to  Broadband  Services  Provided  via  Fiber 
 to  the  Premises,  WC  Docket  No.  04-  242  (filed  June 
 28,  2004). 


 Local  Competition  and  Broadband  Reporting, 
 Notice  of  Proposed  Rulemaking  and  Order  on 
 Reconsideration,  WC  Docket  No.  04-  141,  CC 
 Docket  No.  99-  301,  19  FCC  Rcd  7364  (2004). 


 56 


 Appendix  C 
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