FCC abolishes gigabit speed goal, suggesting it is unfair to slower technologies
FCC abolishes gigabit speed goal, suggesting it is unfair to slower technologies
美国联邦通信委员会（FCC）废除千兆网速目标，称其对较慢技术不公平
The Federal Communications Commission last week eliminated the gigabit speed goal established during the Biden administration and declared that current levels of broadband deployment in the US are acceptable. Though fiber networks have routinely offered such speeds for years, the FCC said the gigabit speed goal is not “technologically neutral,” suggesting that it isn’t fair to other, slower technologies. 美国联邦通信委员会（FCC）上周废除了拜登政府时期设定的千兆网速目标，并宣布目前美国的宽带部署水平是可以接受的。尽管光纤网络多年来一直能提供此类速度，但 FCC 表示，千兆网速目标并非“技术中立”，暗示这对其他较慢的技术不公平。
In 2024, the FCC raised its broadband benchmark to 100Mbps downstream and 20Mbps upstream, setting the new standard by which to judge whether deployment is reasonable and timely. The FCC at the time also set a long-term speed goal of 1Gbps download speeds paired with 500Mbps upload speeds, saying it would use the goal “as a guidepost for evaluating our efforts to encourage deployment.” 2024 年，FCC 将其宽带基准提高到下行 100Mbps 和上行 20Mbps，设定了判断部署是否合理及及时的最新标准。当时，FCC 还设定了一个长期速度目标，即 1Gbps 的下载速度和 500Mbps 的上传速度，并表示将把该目标“作为评估我们鼓励部署工作的一个指导方针”。
Republican Brendan Carr, who is now the FCC chairman, never liked that long-term goal. He proposed abolishing it last year, and the change was finalized on August 14 in the FCC’s latest broadband deployment report. The reports are mandated by Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act. 现任 FCC 主席、共和党人布伦丹·卡尔（Brendan Carr）一直不喜欢这个长期目标。他去年提议废除该目标，这一变更已于 8 月 14 日在 FCC 最新的宽带部署报告中最终确定。这些报告是根据《电信法》第 706 条的要求制定的。
“As part of our return to following the plain language of Section 706, we adopt our proposal from the Notice [of Inquiry] to abolish without replacement the long-term goal of 1,000/500 Mbps established in the 2024 Report,” the order said. “A long-term goal is not mentioned in Section 706 and could appear to violate our obligation to conduct our analysis in a technologically neutral manner. At present, it is impossible to predict long-term technological developments and the evolution of consumer preferences.” 该命令称：“作为我们回归遵循第 706 条明文规定的一部分，我们采纳了（调查）通知中的提议，废除 2024 年报告中设定的 1,000/500 Mbps 长期目标，且不设替代方案。第 706 条中并未提及长期目标，且该目标似乎违反了我们以技术中立方式进行分析的义务。目前，我们无法预测长期的技术发展和消费者偏好的演变。”
The FCC said that comments submitted by cable industry group NCTA and wireless industry group CTIA “support our reasoning for abolishing the long-term goal.” FCC 表示，有线电视行业组织 NCTA 和无线行业组织 CTIA 提交的意见“支持我们废除长期目标的理由”。
Gigabit goal “prejudicial” to satellite and wireless
千兆目标对卫星和无线技术存在“偏见”
The Carr FCC said last year that the gigabit goal “may be unreasonably prejudicial to technologies such as satellite and fixed wireless that presently do not support such speeds.” But in last week’s report, it said it is not eliminating the goal merely to help providers of slower technology. 卡尔领导下的 FCC 去年曾表示，千兆目标“可能对目前不支持此类速度的卫星和固定无线等技术造成不合理的偏见”。但在上周的报告中，FCC 表示废除该目标并非仅仅是为了帮助提供较慢技术的供应商。
“We disagree with commenters arguing that our concern about technological neutrality merely serves to accommodate technologies that may currently offer slower speeds,” the FCC said. “At present, we do not know the nature of future consumer preferences and, considering that the goal is not required by the statute and does not serve any positive purpose (as discussed herein), we believe it prudent to abolish it.” FCC 表示：“我们不同意那些认为我们对技术中立的担忧仅仅是为了迁就目前可能提供较慢速度的技术的评论。目前，我们不知道未来消费者偏好的本质，考虑到法律并未要求设定该目标，且该目标也没有起到任何积极作用（如本文所述），我们认为废除它是审慎的做法。”
Democratic FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez was not convinced. “Lowering standards to ensure certain technologies can meet a benchmark is the opposite of technological neutrality,” Gomez said. “Technological neutrality requires that we evaluate all technologies against the same standard and support the ones that perform best. We need not lower the standards or get rid of them entirely to allow certain technologies to flourish despite their shortfalls.” 民主党籍 FCC 委员安娜·戈麦斯（Anna Gomez）对此并不买账。戈麦斯说：“为了确保某些技术能够达到基准而降低标准，这与技术中立背道而驰。技术中立要求我们用同一标准评估所有技术，并支持表现最好的技术。我们无需降低标准或完全废除标准，来让某些技术在存在缺陷的情况下依然能够蓬勃发展。”
The change does not affect grant programs that require ISPs to deploy certain speeds in exchange for government funding. Most of the network deployments paid for by the FCC’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund are required to have gigabit speeds. “If this is the standard that funding awardees are held to, other providers should be working towards providing service at the same speeds,” Gomez said. 这一变更不会影响那些要求互联网服务提供商（ISP）部署特定速度以换取政府资助的拨款项目。FCC“农村数字机会基金”资助的大多数网络部署都要求达到千兆速度。戈麦斯表示：“如果这是资金获得者必须遵守的标准，那么其他供应商也应该努力提供同样速度的服务。”
FCC finds deployment is good enough
FCC 认为部署情况已足够好
Section 706 requires the FCC to determine whether broadband is being deployed “on a reasonable and timely basis” to all Americans. If the answer is no, the US law says the FCC must “take immediate action to accelerate deployment of such capability by removing barriers to infrastructure investment and by promoting competition in the telecommunications market.” 《电信法》第 706 条要求 FCC 确定宽带是否正在“以合理且及时的方式”向所有美国人部署。如果答案是否定的，美国法律规定 FCC 必须“通过消除基础设施投资障碍和促进电信市场竞争，立即采取行动加速此类能力的部署”。
Democratic-led commissions have generally found that the industry isn’t doing enough to make broadband universally available, while Republican-led commissions have found the opposite. The Carr FCC maintained that tradition in the latest report. 民主党领导的委员会通常认为，行业在实现宽带普及方面做得不够，而共和党领导的委员会则持相反观点。卡尔领导的 FCC 在最新报告中延续了这一传统。
“Today, we conclude our annual inquiry by finding that deployment of advanced telecommunications capability to all Americans meets the statutory standard of being reasonable and timely,” the FCC report said. FCC 报告称：“今天，我们结束了年度调查，认定向所有美国人部署先进电信能力符合法律规定的合理且及时的标准。”
The FCC said that as of mid-2025, “approximately 94 percent of Americans had access to fixed wireline service at our speed benchmark of 100/20 Mbps,” and that the percentage was 97 percent when including fixed wireless service. Including satellite service would bump it to 99.7 percent, the FCC said. FCC 表示，截至 2025 年年中，“约 94% 的美国人能够接入我们 100/20 Mbps 速度基准的固定有线服务”，如果计入固定无线服务，这一比例为 97%。FCC 称，如果计入卫星服务，这一比例将升至 99.7%。
Many Americans had only one choice for modern wireline service. In addition to the 5.7 percent of US households without any 100/20 Mbps providers, 40.6 percent of households had just one wired broadband provider offering those speeds. When including fixed wireless service, 3 percent of households had zero options and 20 percent had just one option. 许多美国人在现代有线服务方面只有一个选择。除了 5.7% 的美国家庭没有任何 100/20 Mbps 的供应商外，40.6% 的家庭只有一家有线宽带供应商提供此类速度。如果计入固定无线服务，3% 的家庭没有任何选择，20% 的家庭只有一个选择。
No price analysis
无价格分析
In addition to availability, the Biden-era FCC’s 2024 report considered the price of broadband. The Trump-era FCC called that a mistake, saying that “the 2024 Report strayed from the statute’s plain language, which requires consideration of ‘availability’—not adoption, affordability, or equitable access.” 除了可用性之外，拜登政府时期的 FCC 2024 年报告还考虑了宽带价格。特朗普政府时期的 FCC 称这是一个错误，并表示“2024 年的报告偏离了法律的明文规定，法律要求考虑的是‘可用性’，而不是采用率、负担能力或公平获取。”
While the Carr FCC chose not to measure affordability itself, it concluded that “evidence shows broadband prices are going down.” The FCC report cited evidence from third parties including a price analysis and comments written by broadband industry lobby groups, but didn’t cite advocacy group research suggesting that prices have risen. 虽然卡尔领导的 FCC 选择不自行衡量负担能力，但它得出的结论是“证据表明宽带价格正在下降”。FCC 报告引用了包括价格分析和宽带行业游说团体撰写的评论在内的第三方证据，但并未引用倡导团体关于价格上涨的研究。
“Today’s Section 706 Report shows that President Trump’s policies and the Commission’s Build America agenda are delivering real results for the American people,” Carr said. “More Americans than ever have access to affordable, next-gen services. The digital divide is rapidly closing. And a range of data sets show that speeds are…” 卡尔表示：“今天的第 706 条报告表明，特朗普总统的政策和委员会的‘建设美国’议程正在为美国人民带来实实在在的成果。越来越多的美国人能够获得负担得起的下一代服务。数字鸿沟正在迅速缩小。一系列数据集显示，网速正在……”