Competition to provide broadband high-speed Internet will come mostly from different technologies, especially wireless, rather than from cable TV and phone carriers, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission predicted Friday.
Michael Powell, who is leading an FCC initiative to promote broadband infrastructure, said critics miss the big picture when they focus only on high-speed Internet connections provided by cable companies and Baby Bell phone carriers. The current dominance of cable modems and digital subscriber line connections in broadband probably won’t last, he said.
“Our critics are taking a stagnant snapshot instead of using a motion picture,” Powell said. “Broadband competition is emerging from third-generation mobile wireless, fixed wireless and satellites. If we get three to five platform choices, that’s a wonderful world.”
His reassurances didn’t quiet critics, who say Powell is caving in to big telecommunications and cable companies.
The FCC has begun rewriting broadband regulations to encourage firms to build infrastructure that will carry high-speed data to consumers. Critics contend that FCC deregulation will result in the next-generation Internet being shaped to financially benefit huge phone and cable firms rather than the consumer.
In a telephone interview Friday, Powell bristled at criticism from the Consumer Federation of America and the Center for Digital Democracy.
“They criticize large carriers, but no one wants to build this infrastructure but the big guys,” Powell said. “We have to get the infrastructure built first and then concern ourselves with additional questions once it’s in the ground.”
If carriers restrict access to tomorrow’s Internet, then new regulations can be adopted to address that, he said.
Mark Cooper, research director for the Consumer Federation of America, said Powell’s logic won’t work.
“If he leaves the door open to future regulation, then he’s destroying the incentive to invest in broadband,” said Cooper, who wants new regulation that guarantees everyone will have access to the broadband Web.
“We’ve built new infrastructure about every 40 to 50 years in this country–highways, canals, railroads, the telephone network–and nondiscriminatory access has always been a part of it,” Cooper said. “To abandon that now amounts to a failure of imagination.”
Even at this early stage, Cooper said there are signs that broadband is being held back for selfish reasons.
Streaming video isn’t yet a major application on broadband Internet-enabled PCs because cable TV operators don’t want competition for their core TV business, he said. “Cable TV executives refer to streaming video as a `blood-sucker.’ They don’t want any competition for our eyeballs.”
Powell said the most important thing is to move ahead with new broadband rules that will create a stable regulatory climate so that the necessary infrastructure will be built.
“Much of the technology community is anxious,” Powell said. “They really believe we have to build high-speed access now. The people who want to provide broadband content are more worried the thing won’t get built than they are about being unable to use it.
“I don’t dispute the consumer groups’ concerns, but let’s get this thing built now and then keep an eye how it is deployed.”
