The US Federal Communications Commission issued a report on the availability of broadband in the country, saying operators are failing to reach the entire population. The report shows 14-24 million Americans lack access to broadband, and "the immediate prospects for deployment to them are bleak", the FCC said. The report concludes that the goal of universal availability is not being met in a timely way. The regulator also upgraded its definition of broadband, which had been set at 200Kbps over a decade ago, to 4Mbps download and 1Mbps upload. The report requested by Congress will be used to continue to develop the FCC's National Broadband Plan. This includes proposals to reform the Universal Service Fund to include broadband funding through public-private partnerships, find more available spectrum for mobile broadband and reduce barriers to infrastructure deployment. Commonly known as the "706 Report," the FCC report includes for the first time a comprehensive list of unserved areas, compiled from data not previously available to the FCC. The telecom industry accused the FCC of misrepresenting the data, some of which had been included in the National Broadband Plan showing 95 percent of American households have access to broadband. USTelecom, an operator lobby group which calls itself the Broadband Association, said it was "inconsistent with the Commission's own data to conclude that deployment is not progressing in a timely and reasonable manner". Verizon said it supports reform of the universal service programme to provide access to the remaining 5 percent of households, but warned that the FCC should not use the report "as a justification to roll back the bipartisan, pro-investment policies that have brought broadband to 290 million Americans".
