Sen Markey: FCC Should Still Target State Muni Broadband Barriers

While a federal court has ruled that Congress did not give the Federal Communications Commission explicit authority to preempt state laws it sees as impeding broadband buildouts, the will of one member of Congress is clear on that point. Reacting to the decision by the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reversing the FCC's preemption of Tennessee and North Carolina municipal broadband expansions, Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), a supporter of FCC preemption, said he was "disappointed with the court's ruling," but suggested the FCC should not treat it as a stop sign on the road to more muni broadband buildouts. "Congress intended to provide the FCC the tools needed to encourage deployment of advanced telecommunications networks," he said, "and when states impose barriers to that very deployment, the FCC should act." The court say it, instead, as an FCC intrusion into state sovereignty that lacked a clear congressional mandate.