NTIA vs. The Public Interest
The blog called municipal networks & community broadband has an interesting article, How NTIA Dismantled the Public Interest Provisions of the Broadband Stimulus Package, on how the NTIA has gamed the stimulus rules in favor of incumbent interests.
Making private companies and public, non-profit entities equal in their ability to apply for stimulus funds actually privileges existing large telecommunications firms because they have the resources to push their way to the front of the line – especially with all the paperwork required of applicants.
The declaration that existing telecommunications companies are in the public interest is only one of the ways the NTIA has structured the BTOP to favor existing private providers.
Another is the speed definition NTIA has chosen in its broadband definition. NTIA chose minimum “broadband” speeds reminiscent of those from more than a decade ago rather than the modern speeds common across the networks of our international peers. The minimum download speed of 768kbps and upload of 200kbps is pitiful. Moreover, adding insult to injury, the anemic baseline speed is based on advertised rates rather than actual rates, perversely encouraging network owners to overstate their capabilities.
It’s sad but not a surprise, given the amount of lobbying money that the telephone incumbents put into Congress. While the NTIA’s interpretations are likely to ensure that some of us continue to have “broadband,” few of us in the United States will have meaningful access to the Internet. This is the difference between the means and the ends.
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