It's Now Clear None of the Supposed Benefits of Killing Net Neutrality Are Real

In the months leading up to the Federal Communications Commission assault on net neutrality, big telecom and FCC Chairman Ajit Pai told anybody who’d listen that killing net neutrality would boost broadband industry investment, spark job creation, and drive broadband into underserved areas at an unprecedented rate. As it turns out, none of those promises were actually true. Despite the FCC voting to kill the popular consumer protections in Dec 2017, Comcast’s latest earnings report indicates that the cable giant’s capital expenditures (CAPEX) for 2018 actually decreased 3 percent. The revelation comes on the heels by similar statements by Verizon and Charter Spectrum that they’d also be seeing lower network investment numbers in 2018. 

It’s not expected to get any better in 2019. “The cornerstone of Ajit Pai’s net neutrality repeal order has quickly crumbled,” said Benton Senior Fellow and Public Advocate Gigi Sohn. “The broadband industry's reduction in investment and CAPEX in the wake of Ajit Pai’s repeal of the net neutrality rules proves what advocates for Internet openness have known all along—neither the rules nor Title II authority had any effect on broadband investment.”