Smaller Manufacturers Take Aim at Title II

A group of small and mid-sized manufacturers of broadband network products has told the Federal Communications Commission to roll back Title II, just one in a wave of comments coming in to the FCC by July 17, the deadline for initial comments in FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's net neutrality proposal. The makers of modems and routers, switching equipment and semiconductors—which included Blonder Tongue Labs, FiberSource, Infinera and more than a dozen others—say their input should get "special weight" since the D.C. appeals court that has principal jurisdiction over FCC issues has said those who sell goods and services have an "incentive to make a completely unbiased judgment on the matter." Their judgment, they told the FCC, is that there is a "serious and substantial risk" that continuing to regulate broadband under Title II "will have a negative impact on the economic well-being of the numerous small and medium size companies that make hardware and software used to provide Internet services."