To require the Federal Communications Commission to study the current and projected demands on rural broadband networks associated with services offered by edge providers, and for other purposes.

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1650 To require the Federal Communications Commission to study the current and projected demands on rural broadband networks associated with services offered by edge providers, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 8, 2021 Mr. MULLIN (for himself, Mr. LUCAS, Mr. WITTMAN, Mr. HERN, Mr. BAIRD, Mr. LATURNER, Mr. MEUSER, Mrs. BICE of Oklahoma, and Mr. COLE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on En- ergy and Commerce A BILL To require the Federal Communications Commission to study the current and projected demands on rural broadband networks associated with services offered by edge pro- viders, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. DEFINITIONS. 3 In this Act: 4 (1) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 5 means the Federal Communications Commission. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:59 May 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1650.IH H1650 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1650 IH (2) EDGE PROVIDER.—The term ‘‘edge pro- 1 vider’’— 2 (A) means an entity that provides 3 (through, but as a separate product from, the 4 broadband internet service of a user) a service 5 or content— 6 (i) for which the entity requires the 7 user to subscribe or establish an account in 8 order to use the service; 9 (ii) through which the user purchases, 10 downloads, or accesses content, applica- 11 tions, or services from the entity without a 12 subscription or account; 13 (iii) by which a program searches for 14 and identifies items in a database that cor- 15 respond to keywords or characters speci- 16 fied by the user, used especially for finding 17 particular sites on the World Wide Web; or 18 (iv) by which the user divulges sen- 19 sitive information of the user; 20 (B) includes an entity that provides a serv- 21 ice described in subparagraph (A) through a 22 software program, including a mobile applica- 23 tion; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:59 May 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1650.IH H1650 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1650 IH (C) does not include an entity that solely 1 provides broadband internet service. 2 (3) EDGE PROVIDER DATA.—The term ‘‘edge 3 provider data’’ means data associated with services 4 or content offered by edge providers. 5 (4) HIGH-COST RURAL AREA.—The term ‘‘high- 6 cost rural area’’ means an area of the United States 7 that— 8 (A) is not contained within an incorporated 9 city or town; and 10 (B) has a population of fewer than 20,000 11 inhabitants. 12 (5) QUALIFYING BROADBAND SERVICE.—The 13 term ‘‘qualifying broadband service’’ means broad- 14 band internet service with measurable speeds of not 15 less than the speeds required for the Commission to 16 determine the service is advanced telecommuni- 17 cations capability, as that term is defined in section 18 706(d) of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (47 19 U.S.C. 1302(d)). 20 (6) RURAL BROADBAND NETWORK.—The term 21 ‘‘rural broadband network’’ means the plant, equip- 22 ment, components, facilities, hardware, and software 23 used by a rural broadband provider to provide quali- 24 fying broadband service in a high-cost rural area. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:59 May 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1650.IH H1650 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1650 IH (7) RURAL BROADBAND PROVIDER.—The term 1 ‘‘rural broadband provider’’ means an entity that— 2 (A) provides qualifying broadband service 3 in a high-cost rural area using any technology, 4 including a fixed or mobile wireless or wireline 5 network; and 6 (B) provides qualifying broadband service 7 to fewer than 250,000 customers. 8 SEC. 2. RURAL BROADBAND NETWORK ADVANCEMENT 9 STUDY. 10 (a) PROCEEDING BY FCC.— 11 (1) IN GENERAL.— 12 (A) INITIATION.—Not later than 1 year 13 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 14 Commission shall initiate a proceeding to ana- 15 lyze the demands that have been or will be 16 placed on rural broadband networks during the 17 covered period that are associated with edge 18 provider data transmitted over such networks, 19 including internet browsing data and data asso- 20 ciated with video streaming services. 21 (B) CONCLUSION.—Not later than 1 year 22 after initiating the proceeding under subpara- 23 graph (A), the Commission shall conclude the 24 proceeding. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:59 May 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1650.IH H1650 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1650 IH (2) MATTERS FOR ANALYSIS.—The analysis 1 conducted under paragraph (1) shall include the fol- 2 lowing: 3 (A) ESTIMATION OF EDGE PROVIDER 4 DATA.—An estimation of the quantity of edge 5 provider data that has been or will be trans- 6 mitted over rural broadband networks during 7 the covered period. 8 (B) CALCULATION OF COSTS.—A calcula- 9 tion of the costs to rural broadband providers 10 during the covered period associated with trans- 11 mission by such providers of edge provider data 12 over the rural broadband network that are not 13 already recovered through— 14 (i) user rates that are reasonably com- 15 parable to user rates in urban areas; or 16 (ii) Federal programs aimed at pro- 17 moting rural broadband deployment or sus- 18 taining rural broadband networks, includ- 19 ing Federal universal service support pro- 20 grams established under section 254 of the 21 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 22 254). 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:59 May 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1650.IH H1650 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 1650 IH (3) COSTS DESCRIBED.—The categories of costs 1 to be calculated under paragraph (2)(B) shall in- 2 clude costs associated with— 3 (A) the initial deployment of rural broad- 4 band networks; 5 (B) the operation and maintenance of 6 rural broadband networks; and 7 (C) the delivery of services to users over 8 rural broadband networks, including the trans- 9 mission of data between high-cost rural areas 10 and urban or suburban interconnection points. 11 (4) PROVISION OF INFORMATION.— 12 (A) USE OF DATA.—To analyze the de- 13 mands described under paragraph (1), the 14 Commission shall— 15 (i) use any existing commercial or 16 government data or estimate concerning 17 the covered time period; and 18 (ii) collect data concerning the covered 19 time period from edge providers or rural 20 broadband providers. 21 (B) REQUIREMENT TO SUBMIT INFORMA- 22 TION.—In any case in which the Commission 23 determines that it is necessary to collect data 24 under subparagraph (A)(ii) from an edge pro- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:59 May 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1650.IH H1650 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 1650 IH vider or a rural broadband provider, such edge 1 provider or rural broadband provider shall pro- 2 vide any information necessary for the Commis- 3 sion to complete the proceeding under para- 4 graph (1). 5 (5) COVERED PERIOD DEFINED.—In this sub- 6 section, the term ‘‘covered period’’ means the 6-year 7 period that— 8 (A) begins on the date that is 3 years be- 9 fore the date on which the proceeding under 10 paragraph (1) is initiated; and 11 (B) ends on the date that is 3 years after 12 the date on which the proceeding is initiated. 13 (b) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 120 days 14 after concluding the proceeding under subsection (a)(1), 15 the Commission shall publish on its website and submit 16 to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transpor- 17 tation of the Senate and the Committee on Energy and 18 Commerce of the House of Representatives a report on 19 the findings of the proceeding. 20 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:59 May 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1650.IH H1650 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS