PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Apr 22, 2013
Directs the Comptroller General (GAO), beginning on or before December 31, 2013, and annually thereafter for the following five years, to prepare a report to aid Congress in monitoring and measuring the effects of a series of reforms by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) intended to promote the availability and affordability of broadband service throughout the United States.
Requires such report to include measurements, statistics, and metrics with respect to:
the implementation progress on the reforms adopted in the FCC's Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking adopted on October 27, 2011;
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
any effects of such reforms on retail end-user rates for local voice telephony, interconnected VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol), long distance voice, mobile wireless voice, bundles of voice telephony or VoIP, fixed broadband Internet access, and mobile broadband Internet access services;
any disparities or trends with respect to the relative average (such as per consumer) retail rates charged for each service to residential and business consumers located in rural and urban areas as well as between incumbent local exchange carriers subject to price cap regulation and those subject to rate-of-return regulation;
any effects on average fixed and mobile broadband Internet access speeds available to residential and business consumers as well as speed disparities between rural and urban areas;
any effects on the magnitude and pace of investments in broadband-capable networks in rural areas, including investments financed by the Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Rural Utilities Service under the Rural Electrification Act of 1936, and investment disparities between rural and urban areas;
any disparities or trends with respect to the magnitude and pace of investments in broadband-capable networks in areas served by carriers subject to price cap regulation and areas served by carriers subject to rate-of-return regulation;
any effects on adoption of broadband Internet access services by end users; and
any effects on state universal service funds or initiatives, including carrier-of-last-resort requirements.
People & committees
Sen. Begich, Mark [D-AK] · D–AK
Legislative record
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Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
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Source last updated: Sep 8, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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