Making the Internet a utility -- what's the worst that could happen?

[Commentary] There seems to be nothing the broadband industry fears more than Title II of the Communications Act. One big requirement Title II could bring is regulation of rates charged by Internet providers, either imposing a uniform limit on what all providers can charge or forcing each one to get permission for price increases and justify them based upon the amount they invest in their networks.

The Federal Communications Commission could also enforce “local loop unbundling”, but the National Cable and Telecommunications Association is confident the FCC won’t enforce that. "I think the thing that worries people the most is probably rate regulation,” said Steve Morris, NCTA's associate general counsel. More likely than rate regulation, though, is regulation of the interconnection deals Internet service providers strike with other large network operators such as Level 3 and Cogent and online content providers such as Netflix. “There’s no one who provides Internet access who said, ‘you know, I would invest more under Title II, this would help me introduce new services,’” Morris said. “It’s clear we’re talking about levels of bad and there’s no upside…For what consumers are getting today, they’re not going to get anything better under Title II, but it will get worse because their prices are going to go up, our cost of providing it is going to go up, our incentive to invest in it is going to go down. Let’s leave with that thought.”