Number: RL33542
Title: Broadband Internet Regulation and Access: Background and Issues
Authors: Angele A. Gilroy and Lennard G. Kruger, Resources, Science, and Industry Division 
Abstract: Some areas of the nation - particularly rural and low-income communities - continue to lack full access to high-speed broadband Internet service. In order to address this problem, the 110th Congress is examining a wide range of issues including the scope and effect of federal broadband financial assistance programs (including universal service and the broadband programs at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service), the adequacy of broadband data collection by the FCC, and the impact of telecommunications regulation and new technologies on broadband deployment. One facet of the debate over broadband services focuses on whether present laws and subsequent regulatory policies are needed to ensure the development of competition and its subsequent consumer benefits, or conversely, whether such laws and regulations are overly burdensome and discourage investment in and deployment of broadband services.
Pages: 20
Date: November 21, 2008