FCC Seeks Comment on Small Business Exemption from Open Internet Enhanced Transparency Requirements

In the 2015 Open Internet Order, the Federal Communications Commission adopted certain enhancements to the existing transparency rule that governs the content and format of disclosures made by providers of broadband Internet access service. These enhanced transparency requirements build on the original transparency rule the FCC adopted in 2010 to provide critical information to end-user consumers, edge provides, and the Internet community. These enhancements apply to provider disclosures required by the existing transparency rule regarding commercial terms, performance characteristics, and network practices.

In response to concerns from smaller providers about the compliance burden of the enhancements, the FCC temporarily exempted those providers "with 100,000 or fewer broadband subscribers as per their most recent Form 477, aggregated over all the provider's affiliates." At the same time, the FCC stated that "both the appropriateness of the exemption and the subscriber threshold require further deliberation," and directed the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau to seek comment on the exemption and to "adopt an order announcing whether it is maintaining an exemption and at what level by no later than December 15, 2015." This public notice seeks comment on these issues, as well as whether the enhancements to the transparency rule raise compliance burden concerns that warrant making permanent the exemption.