Federal Communications Commission’s Net Neutrality Docket Bulges With Initial Deadline Input

Already the Federal Communications Commission’s busiest docket, the effort to restore network neutrality rules saw a rush of new comments on December 14, the deadline for initial submissions by interested parties looking to affect the outcome of the proceeding. Replies to those comments are due January 17, 2024, after which the FCC can schedule a vote on a final rulemaking. A majority of FCC Commissioners support restoring the rules by reclassifying internet access as a Title II telecommunications service subject to FCC regulation as a common carrier. With three out of five votes for restoring the rules, they are likely to return in the new year after the regulator has collected public input on the proposed rulemaking. NCTA: The Internet & Television Association was mincing no words in its opposition. “[A] bare majority of FCC Commissioners are proposing, for no reason other than partisan politics, to impose the most intrusive and overbearing regulatory framework on one of the most dynamic technologies in the history of communications — the internet.” WISPA, which represents fixed wireless internet service providers, said reclassification would hurt small internet service providers and their communities. On the other side, INCOMPAS, which represents competitive carriers and some high-profile edge providers, said the FCC should definitely reclassify internet access as a telecommunications service and reinstitute net neutrality rules “to ensure that residential and small business customers throughout the United States have access to an open internet so that they can access the lawful online content, applications, and services of their choice.”