EDUCAUSE Responds to FCC’s Request for Information Regarding Broadband

In an effort to keep our message in front of the Federal Communications Commission, EDUCAUSE, as part of the Schools, Health, and Libraries Broadband Coalition (SHLB) recently filed in two separate proceedings.  On September 4 and September 8, comments were filed to re-emphasize the need for anchor institutions, such as colleges and universities, to have access to affordable, very high-capacity broadband to achieve their missions. Taken together, the main points of the comments were:

• Policy makers must adopt policies that encourage the deployment of very high capacity broadband capabilities to these institutions.
• The needs of these institutions should be measured and satisfied with “future-proof” technology; comments call for 100 Mbps as a minimum and up to 1 Gbps for larger institutions.
• Providing high-capacity broadband to these anchor institutions will benefit the surrounding communities if the networks are open to interconnection with other providers.
• Policy makers should give top priority to providing funds for high-capacity broadband connections to anchor institutions as it awards the $7.2 billion in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The comments were comprehensive in covering the needs of other anchor institutions as well, such as K-12 schools, hospitals, clinics, and libraries. In pointing out the particular needs of educational facilities, the comments stated that educational facilities “use broadband connections to provide distance learning and offer multimedia teaching programs that address many learning styles and capabilities. In the 21^st century, educators and students require more access to information, people, tools and resources….”Networked education” makes education personalized, equitable, relevant, and cost-efficient…”

The full comments are available at:

http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/CSD5725.pdf and

http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/CSD5728.pdf