Is good broadband news for consumers bad news for the FCC?

[Commentary] The 2015 Measuring Fixed Broadband Report the Federal Communications Commission released Dec 30 contains much overwhelmingly positive data. One top result is that Internet service providers (ISP) in the United States deliver better average performance than advertised: that is, you pay for 20 Mbps per month, and your ISP gives you speeds of 25, 30, or even 50 Mbps instead. That’s a nice surprise for consumers — and it’s one that contradicts the pervasive perception that ISPs under-deliver on promised service.

FCC Chairman Wheeler’s aggressive plans are built on fears that the broadband market offers too few consumers too few options of too little quality for too much money. This report paints a very different picture: the market is consistently giving consumers increasingly better service at ever-lower prices. Importantly, the data for this report are from September 2014, so they predate the FCC’s recent efforts to “protect and promote” competition. Indeed, one of the most important — and underreported — developments in 2015 was AT&T’s deployment of 75 Mbps DSL service to its U-Verse customers in 70 markets around the country. Competition, it seems, is alive and well in the broadband market. Perhaps this is why the FCC chose to release the report on one of the slowest news days of the year. While the report is great news for the American consumer, it may not be so welcome for the FCC.

[Gus Hurwitz is an assistant professor at the University of Nebraska College of Law]