Tall Tales and Title II

At a House hearing on net neutrality, the claims of Joseph Franell — the general manager and CEO of Eastern Oregon Telecom (“EOT”) — stood out like a sore thumb. He said, “The application of Title II as part of Net Neutrality had a dramatic chilling effect on rural telecom in the Pacific Northwest and I suspect the same could be said about the rest of the country.” He also said that since the repeal of the 2015 Federal Communications Commission order, “investors have been much more willing . . . to invest in rural telecommunications,” asserting that his company “has been able to focus on continuing to provide exceptional telecommunications and is currently expanding into other markets that are underserved.” But the numbers on Eastern Oregon Telecom — and his own prior statements to the media — don’t match up with the far-fetched claims he made at the hearing.

When the FCC used Title II authority to ensure net neutrality in 2015, Eastern Oregon Telecom significantly expanded its broadband deployment. Despite its CEO’s claims of a chilling effect, his company’s deployment data suggests otherwise. In 2015 and 2016, EOT’s CEO repeatedly touted his company’s “model” rural-fiber investment program.