A diverse coalition of consumer, minority, and disability groups urged the FCC in a filing yesterday to clarify their rules so that apartment, co-op and condo buildings are treated like all other residential neighborhoods when it comes to the new rules that encourage the deployment of broadband services to the mass market.
In their "Triennial Review Order," the FCC proposed to deregulate deployment of fiber to the home, but then seemed to indicate "home" meant only single-family dwelling units. If this approach stands, then deployment of broadband services to the estimated 100 million Americans currently living in MUPs -- apartment buildings, cooperatives, or condominiums -- will not be encouraged and will likely lag behind the rest of the community.
The filing, submitted by TRAC, was also signed onto by the Alliance for Public Technology, the American Association of People with Disabilities, Community Action Partnership, Deafness Research Foundation, League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), the MAAC Project (San Diego), NAACP (Alexandria, VA branch), National Black Chamber of Commerce, National Campaign for Hearing Health, and the World Institute on Disability.
Approximately 25 million households and an estimated 100 million people live in multi-unit premises, and seniors, minorities, low-income citizens, and people with disabilities occupy a disproportionate number of these households. These residents may miss out on the benefits of broadband access, including increased independent living, job benefits, expanded educational opportunities, and access to telemedicine.
According to the filing, clarifying the rules so that MUPs are treated the same as mass market locations (without broadband unbundling requirements) rather than as large business locations would go a long way towards speeding up the deployment of broadband to a substantial segment of the nation's underserved population: people with disabilities, seniors, low income, and minority consumers.
TRAC promotes the interests of residential telecommunications customers.