Court Dismisses Challenge of FCC Phone Deregulation

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied a legal challenge from Public Knowledge, The Greenlining Institute and other groups to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai’s 2017 rollback of certain Obama-era requirements for phone companies angling to transition off of legacy copper networks. “This is a victory for American consumers, who will benefit from faster fiber deployment and the increased availability of next-generation services,” Chairman Pai said. He has touted the deregulation as critical for allowing the transition to more advanced, IP-based networks. The court ruled that the petitioners lacked standing to challenge Pai’s actions, prompting disappointment from these advocates. “As the California wildfires demonstrated, the deregulation of our telephone network can have devastating consequences,” said Public Knowledge’s Harold Feld. “We will confer with our co-petitioners and consider what other avenues to pursue to ensure that all Americans have affordable, reliable access to critical communications infrastructure.”