FCC Explains Decisions on Broadband, Net Neutrality

The Federal Communications Commission explained its recent rulings on municipal broadband and network neutrality in a specialized briefing for state and local governments on Monday, March 30. The hour-long presentation detailed the FCC’s rationale and authority in vacating state restrictions on broadband and its controversial decision to regulate Internet access using Title II of the Communications Act of 1934. Focus was placed on how those decisions could potentially affect local regions in the country.

Daniel Kahn, deputy chief of the Commission’s Competition Policy Division, noted that the FCC’s Feb. 26 decision to vacate state laws that restricted muni-broadband expansion only applied to North Carolina and Tennessee. The FCC relies on Section 706 of the 1996 Telecommunications Act for its authority to pre-empt state laws that enact barriers to broadband infrastructure investment and competition. If cities and counties want to offer their own Internet service, but are prevented from doing so because of state restrictions, they need to file their own petitions with the FCC, Kahn said. Gregory Vadas, chief of the Intergovernmental Affairs Office of the Commission’s Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, echoed Kahn’s comments, emphasizing the need for local governments to come forward if they feel they are unjustly blocked from expanding Internet access.