COMMISSION GETS COMMENTARY ON MEASURING BROADBAND PROGRESS

摘要

Setting proper benchmarks for U.S. progress in extending broadband access is a critical part of the FCC's national plan, Public Knowledge Legal Director Harold Feld said at a commission workshop. Benchmarks are critical "so that we can know we're on track, we know we're moving in the right direction, that we're not going to wake up in five years and be surprised that we haven't achieved our goals or that our goals are wildly off course or that our methods are wildly off course," Feld said. Donald Stockdale, chief economist of the FCC Wireline Bureau, said the commission will look closely at various measures of deployment and adoption, speed and quality of service and of competition as it draws up the plan. "Benchmarks are good," said Gregory Rosston, deputy director of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. "Benchmarks are useful if they're done in an appropriate way. People say broadband is good. More broadband is better. That's great. But we also need to know how much does it cost."