House Commerce Committee Gets Plenty Of Advice On Comlaw Revamp

The House Commerce Committee is getting a sense of what the Federal Communications Commission faces as it processes a boatload of comments solicited in the ongoing communications regulations rewrite initiative launched by Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) and Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR).

If the Broadband for America submission is any gauge, cable operators have a lot to say about revamping regulations, much of it about not presumptively applying legacy regulations to Internet protocol delivery and not singling out one stakeholder for special regulatory treatment. Here is a sample of the input coming into the committee, according to filings provided by the parties. The committee has not yet posted these and others on its site, but plans to. Broadband for America (Comcast, AT&T, Time Warner Cable, Charter are members) offers proposals such as: "A global Internet cannot be subject to balkanized regulation” and “technological differences are not an appropriate basis for regulatory or jurisdictional distinction.” Mobile Future and CenturyLink are also getting in on the act, offering advice, including “relying on dynamic competitive forces” and gearing legislation more toward public interest rather than detailed prescriptive regulation.