Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 requires the FCC to annually conduct an Inquiry concerning the availability of advanced telecommunications to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion. In July 2025 the FCC issued a Notice of Inquiry (NOI) initiating the 2025 Inquiry. The ICORE Blog dated March 18, 2024, discussed the 2024 Section 706 Inquiry and resulting Report. The Commission has stated that the 2025 Inquiry proposes to return the analysis to the plain language of Section 706 and to do so in a technologically neutral manner. The Inquiry specifically proposes and seeks comment on the following:
* To singularly focus on the availability of advanced telecommunications capability as measured through deployment. The Inquiry proposes to focus on whether advanced telecommunications capability “is being deployed” rather than whether it has already been deployed, as was the focus of the 2024 Report.
* Comment is sought as to whether the Commission should maintain 100/20 Mbps as the benchmark for defining advanced telecommunications capability.
* The Inquiry proposes to abolish the long-term goal of 1Gbps/500Mgps established in the 2024 Report as no long-term goal is mentioned in Section 706.
* The Inquiry proposes to continue using the previously established goal of 1Gbps/500Mbps for school students and staff.
* It is proposed that BDC data continue to be used as the primary data source for analyzing fixed broadband availability.
Comments to the July 2025 NOI have now been filed by interested Parties. NTCA urged the Commission to conduct its Section 706 Inquiry in a forward-looking manner considering both present and future market demands citing current rapidly increasing demand for higher-capacity services. Further, NTCA urged the Commission to address regulatory barriers that hinder deployment, particularly costly and time-consuming right-of-way and permitting processes that create unpredictable delays for rural providers. Finally, NTCA recommends that the Commission maintain its recognition that fixed and mobile broadband services are complementary and not substitutable for fixed broadband services.
WTA – Advocates for Rural Broadband (WTA) filed comments in this proceeding. WTA recommended that the Commission continue to use the benchmark of 100/20Mbps when defining advanced telecommunications capability but also opined that the long-term benchmark of 1Gbps/500Mbps should not be abolished citing the need for greater speeds in the not-to-distant future related to the emergence of new applications including AI. WTA agrees with the continued use of BDC as the data source for fixed broadband. Finally, WTA urged the Commission to expand its Universal Service Programs and further urged the Commission to not require the mandatory de-tariffing of Telephone Access Charges and Business Data Services.
Comments were also filed by The Benton Institute for Broadband and Society (Benton). Benton urges the Commission to include consideration of Universal Service goals in its Section 706 analysis and points to the issues of affordability, adoption, availability, and equitable access in addition to deployment when determining the extent of the digital divide. Benton maintains that broadband adoption rates for low-income households, older adults, and people living in rural America are slowing and lag in the adoption of broadband services. Finally, Benton suggests that the Commission should retain and continuously update long-term broadband speed thresholds.
USTelecom in its comments supports the Commission’s proposal to reorient the Section 706 Inquiry to the plain language of the statute noting that nothing in the statute authorizes the Commission to expand the Inquiry into broader policy areas such as adoption, affordability, or equitable access. Further, USTelecom agrees that the Inquiry should focus on the statutory phrase “is being deployed” in a reasonable and timely fashion. USTelecom proposes that the 100/20Mbps benchmark should be maintained as it would provide regulatory certainty and ensures consistency with other ongoing federal initiatives. Also, maintaining the 100/20Mbps benchmark will accommodate a variety of technologies, including fixed wireless and satellite technology. Finally, USTelecom applauds the Commission’s recent efforts to modernize its outdated rules that hinder broadband deployment via the Delete, Delete, Delete proceeding and its review of existing permitting processes at the state and local level.
The above discussion provides a summary of some of the comments filed by interested parties to the Section 706 NOI. It’s clear that differences of opinion exist among the parties. Reply Comments in this proceeding are due by September 23, 2025. We will continue to monitor this issue and will provide updates as more information becomes available.
