[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 192 (Tuesday, October 5, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 59595-59596]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-22369]


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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

[GN Docket No. 04-54; FCC 04-208]


Availability of Advanced Telecommunications Capability in the 
United States

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Notice; report to congress.

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SUMMARY: This Report concludes the Commission's fourth inquiry under 
section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. This Report finds 
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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Regina Brown, Wireline Competition 
Bureau, Telecommunications Access Policy Division, (202) 418-7400, TTY 
(202) 418-0484.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a summary of the Commission's Fourth 
Report to Congress in GN Docket No. 04-54 released on September 9, 
2004. The full text of this document is available for public inspection 
during regular business hours in the FCC Reference Center, Room CY-
A257, 445 12th Street, SW., Washington, DC 20554.

I. Introduction

    1. Section 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 reasonable 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.
    2. This Fourth Report to Congress (Fourth Report) concludes the 
Commission's fourth inquiry into the availability of advanced 
telecommunications capability in the United States. Like the previous 
three reports, this Fourth Report finds 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.
    3. 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) transmission 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 Fourth 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.
    4. Our existing definitions are not static. 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 
consideration rule changes that will enable us to gather more 
information about these ``next-generation'' broadband networks and 
services for purposes of future reports.
    5. This Fourth Report documents the significant development of new 
Internet-based services, and new access technologies that has taken 
place since the issuance of our last report in 2002. The best-known of 
these new Internet-based services is the commercial deployment of voice 
communications over the Internet Protocol network. 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 technologies, 
fiber-to-the-home, and broadband over power lines, in addition to more 
familiar cable modem and digital subscriber line (DSL) services.
    6. The Fourth Report also documents that subscribership to these 
networks and services has increased significantly since the issuance of 
our last report. Specifically, subscribership to high-speed lines 
almost tripled from 9.6 million in June 2001 to 28.2 million in 
December 2003, and subscribership to advanced services more than 
tripled in this same period, from 5.9 million lines to 20.3 million 
lines. In addition, the number of residential and small business 
subscribers to high-speed services has more than tripled during the 
same period, from 7.8 million lines

[[Page 59596]]

in June 2001 to 26 million lines in December 2003.
    7. Further, the Fourth Report documents the continuation of a 
positive trend that first emerged in our last report: namely, the 
increasing 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 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 
substantial progress in closing the gaps in access that these groups 
traditionally have experienced.
    8. 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 services (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.
    9. 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 connections to access the Internet increased from 75 percent 
to 95 percent.

Federal Communications Commission.
Marlene H. Dortch,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 04-22369 Filed 10-4-04; 8:45 am]
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