Mixed Messages from Tom Wheeler

[Commentary] There was a lot to like in Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler’s first major speech.

A former top lobbyist for the cable and wireless phone industries, Chairman Wheeler acknowledged that he had “seen enough about how markets operate to know that they don’t always, by themselves, solve every problem.” He described himself as an “an unabashed supporter of competition.” He committed to ensuring that multiple carriers (read: not just AT&T and Verizon) have access to the airwaves -- which could prove crucial in the upcoming auction of valuable spectrum. He declared that the “right of access also means the ability of users to access all lawful content” on the open Internet. And he emphasized the crucial importance of “interconnection,” a bedrock principle of the Communications Act that makes competition possible.

So far, so good. But then the chairman took a few questions -- and his answers were more than a little troubling. As the New York Times reported, Chairman Wheeler’s answers were the opposite of everything he pledged to protect in his speech. Allowing usage-based Internet pricing would be antithetical to his promises to police market abuses and promote competition. Letting incumbent phone and cable companies exploit their dominant position by charging people more to use certain websites and services is a disastrous idea. Chairman Wheeler insists that in his new job as FCC chairman, he sees himself as the “public’s advocate in the midst of an historic revolution.” The public does indeed need such an advocate -- not another sales pitch for new price-gouging schemes from the already powerful phone and cable giants. So if the new FCC chairman really means what he said in his speech, he should use the next one to correct the record and commit to staying on the side of the Internet-using, cable-watching, competition-loving public.