FCC’s Wheeler Proposes Raising Broadband Definition to 25 Mbit/s
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is to propose raising the definition of broadband to 25 Mbit/s downstream and 3 Mbit/s upstream because the current 4 Mbit/s down and 1 Mbit/s up is inadequate in today’s streaming-media world.
According to an Ars Technica article, a new FCC report, currently in draft form, has been sent by Wheeler to his fellow commissioners, saying that the current broadband market is not meeting the needs of all Americans.
The FCC determines whether broadband “is being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion,” part of the Annual Broadband Progress Report required by Congress, the article notes. And the FCC decides what qualifies as broadband: The previous definition, updated in 2010, raised the definition from 200 Kbit/s to the current specifications.
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