By Mark Pattison Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. bishops have long championed the concept of an open Internet, where all legal content can be posted without some having to be charged more than others, and where those surfing the Web have equal access to all content, without someone else deciding what they can and cannot see -- with a price tag sometimes attached to that as well.

Tom Wheeler, Federal Communications Commission chairman, champions that concept as well.

In a June 26 address at the Brookings Institution in Washington, "The Future of Broadband in the 21st Century," Wheeler said, "Broadband is the most popular and pervasive network on the planet." As such, it needs to be regulated, he added.

"Suggestions that that kind of platform, that kind of pervasiveness, that kind of network can exist without oversight are unthinkable," Wheeler said. "The kinds of oversight designed by the (FCC's) Open Internet Order are a new regulatory model designed for these new network times. I keep describing this as a referee who can throw the flag."

Thanks to broadband, Wheeler said, "the unimaginable of today becomes the reality of tomorrow. We only have to look at a couple of facts that we now accept as common to see that. The largest taxicab company in the world has no cars. The largest overnight-stay company doesn't own any hotels," he said, referring to Uber and Airbnb, respectively.

Wheeler could just as easily have said the fastest-growing television network isn't on TV at all. That would be Netflix, which, according to some estimates, accounts for 37 percent of all Internet traffic. And that doesn't even take into account all of the other "TV" or TV-style viewing also being done online.

"We should not overlook as well that broadband is also the igniter of more broadband," Wheeler said. "As the success of broadband services increase, the demand for broadband also increases the incentive for competitive broadband. It is because of this two-pronged impact," he added, that the FCC's policy goals are to "assure that our broadband resources are fully utilized. That means we want to expand broadband geographically into areas where it doesn't exist."

He said, "We should not, and will not, let up on our policies to make broadband more available." Wheeler cited rural America as just one example. "We're working with the affected carriers to explore the best approach. We've been exploring a consensus proposal," he noted. But "time is not our friend," Wheeler added. In the absence of consensus, "we will put forth our own proposal," he declared.

While broadband access has skyrocketed in the nation's schools and libraries, "learning isn't confined to the classroom," Wheeler said, taking note of a "homework gap" after school.

"Five million students, nearly 20 percent of all students between ages 6 and 17, do not have high-speed Internet service at home. It is simply unacceptable in an era when learning opportunities have never been richer or more available, students should not have to go to McDonald's or some other Wi-Fi-equipped location to do their homework assignments."

Wheeler also offered a different take on the longstanding "Lifeline" program. "Half of Americans who rely on smartphones for broadband access have had to cancel their subscription" due to cost, he said. It has been well documented that racial and ethnic minorities, which are on average poorer than the majority white population, use smartphones as their primary -- if not only -- form of Internet access.

The FCC chairman called for "an overhaul of the Lifeline program to make it relevant for the 21st century," a task that would "refocus Lifeline from voice service to broadband. We have recently adopted a proposed notice of rulemaking to reform Lifeline."

Wheeler also advocated initiatives that would make broadband more relevant to those with physical and intellectual disabilities. Noting the silver anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act in July, he said the FCC would take "the simple but significant step of harnessing online video to help those who speak with their hands and hear with their eyes."

"We've been through closed-captioning, we've been through text," he said. "We've put out a program for people who cannot hear and see, but can still use broadband, this open platform in the federal government. We're going to keep on pressing that agenda. If we are fortunate enough to exist in a time when we can break down barriers that Americans have not been able to overcome, and we do not seize that opportunity, then shame on us."

Pattison is media editor for Catholic News Service.