Comcast: Title II Would Be Destabilizing, Counterproductive

Comcast told the Federal Communications Commission that attempting to "reclassify" Internet access -- Comcast's term -- as a common carrier service would deter billions in investment needed for broadband deployment and would subject the industry and the FCC alike to "years of debilitating litigation."

In a FCC filing dated May 12, Comcast pointed out that it was already subject to network neutrality rules under its NBCUniversal deal condition and that while it remains committed to Internet openness, Title II is definitely the wrong way to go. "Title II would spark massive instability, create investor and marketplace uncertainty, derail planned investments, and slow broadband adoption. It is hard to imagine a more perilous recipe for pursuing the critical national objectives set forth in the National Broadband Plan." "Just ten years ago, the Commission and the Department of Justice expressly recognized these risks and went to considerable lengths to avoid the imposition of common carrier regulation precisely because [t]he effect of the increased regulatory burdens” likely would have been to prompt ISPs to “postpone or forego plans to deploy new broadband infrastructure, particularly in rural or other underserved areas." Comcast said now that the court has signaled the FCC has the authority to regulate access under existing authority, and showed it the way to do that, Title II should be off the table.