Safeguarding and Securing the Open Internet

Two areas in the draft Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Safeguarding and Securing the Open Internet: 

1. If the FCC examines Internet traffic exchange and the broadband marketplace, the NTCA urges the FCC to recognize and seek input on the multi-sided nature of the Internet ecosystem. Given the bilateral or multilateral nature of data transmission and exchange, there is no logical basis to focus solely upon the incentives and ability of [just internet service providers (ISP)] to such arrangements. If the FCC determines to proceed with such inquiries as proposed in the Draft NPRM, NTCA urges a broader exploration with respect to the possession and exercise of dominant market power by participants of all kinds [such as edge providers or an intermediary] in the broadband and Internet ecosystem and the FCC's jurisdictional authority to address such concerns where they arise, rather than focusing arbitrarily on last-mile retail ISPs as a purportedly monolithic class with the singular capability to give rise to such concerns.
2. If the FCC proceeds with this rule-making, NTCA urged the use of open-ended questions to develop a meaningful and balanced record regarding the potential benefits and costs of proposed forbearance from contribution obligations that would arise under Section 254(d) of the Communications Act, as amended, if broadband Internet access services were to be reclassified as proposed in the Draft NPRM. NTCA observed that the Draft NPRM articulates neither basis nor rationale for its tentative conclusion that such forbearance is warranted beyond the mere fact that such forbearance was temporarily applied previously.