NARUC Panel Explores Network Neutrality

The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners Committee on Telecommunications convened a panel of industry experts Feb 14 to discuss the Federal Communications Commission’s recently issued Open Internet Order and its legal ramifications.

The panel of experts ranged from industry representatives such as Mike Skerivan from Fairpoint, a local exchange carrier, to Harold Feld from the consumer advocacy group Public Knowledge. All of the participants agreed that while the Open Internet Order is not perfect, the Commission needed to act on the issue of network neutrality. With the Order issued, the FCC can now move onto other issues. Jennie Chandra, Senior Policy Counsel at Windstream a rural broadband provider expressed her disappointment that the Order separated wireline and wireless providers. Chandra claimed that the order forces wireline providers to follow rules from which wireless providers are exempt, such as network management techniques. By separating wireline and wireless, a serious market imbalance will occur, she claimed, adding that while the market for wireless continues to grow, it should face the same regulations as wireline since it provides the same service. Feld stated that the order, while powerful, could have gone further to protect consumers and he would have preferred to see the implementation of Chairman Genachowski’s Third Way proposal. The Third way would have allowed the FCC to forge a middle ground between using ancillary authority under Title I regulation and stricter Title II requirements. In contrast the Open Internet Order relies heavily on Title I.