Late last week the FCC released a report highlighting how the United States is still lagging when it comes to broadband, especially when it comes to rural markets. AT&T has played a not-so-small role in that; it has been hanging up on millions of unwanted DSL customers in markets it deems unprofitable.

Many of these state laws hinder community broadband operations from expanding, or in some states even from partnering with private companies to improve their broadband fortunes. In short, AT&T lobbyists have taken away a local community's right to vote for itself what its best path forward is when it comes to broadband.

That's why it's a little disingenuous to see AT&T top lobbyist Jim Cicconi whining about the FCC's latest report in a blog post.

"It’s bad enough the FCC keeps moving the goal posts on their definition of broadband, apparently so they can continue to justify intervening in obviously competitive markets," complains AT&T's top policy man. "But now they are even ignoring their own definition in order to pad their list of accomplishments."

AT&T's of course sore because the FCC bumped the minimum definition of broadband to 25 Mbps just about a year ago. As a result, AT&T provides millions of DSL customers heavily capped, expensive Internet service that can no longer even technically be considered broadband.

AT&T's actually fortunate the FCC has historically been lax when it comes to accurate data. At industry behest, the FCC fails to publish broadband pricing data, which would highlight the severe lack of competition in many markets. The FCC's data also relies heavily on ISP claims about coverage that is not independently verified. Given that mega-ISPs like AT&T having a vested interest in convincing everyone there's no broadband industry market failure, you can be fairly certain that the real statistics are probably notably worse than what the FCC's report found.