Remember Ajit Pai? The former FCC chairman hand-picked by then-President Donald Trump? You know, the one who was notorious for drinking. giant wreath coffee mug And…oh yeah, kill net neutrality?
In 2021, as he was about to leave government, Pai declared that the U.S. minimum broadband speed requirement of 25 megabits per second (mbps) was more than enough for Americans.
Just three years later, we have a new U.S. president and, later, a new FCC chairman. The FCC is finally redefining what speeds are classified as “broadband.”
The FCC has determined that these realistic AI robocalls are illegal.
According to the FCC: statement The broadband speed benchmark released on Thursday quadrupled from 25mbps to 100mbps.as The Verge The new benchmarks are what current FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel wanted to set nine years ago, she noted. 2015.
“This amendment is overdue,” Rosenworcel said. statement. “This allows us to align with pandemic-related legislation like the bipartisan Infrastructure Act and the efforts of our colleagues in other agencies, and to address the extent to which low-income and rural areas are underserved. It also helps us pinpoint it more precisely.”
This is a key part of why it’s so important for the FCC to update what it defines as broadband. The FCC report helps determine how the United States is faring when it comes to internet access. If a part of the country doesn’t quite meet these FCC standards, it may be able to get funding from the government to better connect people living in that area. As the FCC notes, as of 2024, 24 million Americans will lack “fixed terrestrial broadband service.” This includes 28 percent of rural America.
And President Joe Biden’s FCC commissioner doesn’t stop at 100mbps either.
“Doing big is in our DNA, so we’ve also adopted a long-term goal of 1 gigabit down and 500 megabits up,” she continued in a statement. “Our goal is to give everyone access to high-speed broadband, no matter where they are.”
Clearly, there is still much work to be done when it comes to adequate internet accessibility in the United States (the vote to change this broadband benchmark was opposed by two Republican FCC commissioners). But after the damage caused by the FCC under the previous administration, things finally seem to be heading in the right direction.
