Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai would have you believe that the network neutrality repeal was of no consequence — the Internet wasn’t destroyed, cute pictures of cats and dogs are still in abundance, Google and Netflix are alive and well. But even in the short 6 months since the Dec 14, 2017 repeal of the net neutrality rules became effective, we have seen how consumers and competitors lose when broadband providers are given license to self-regulate and the FCC discards its responsibility to oversee the market.

The one year anniversary of the repeal of the FCC’s 2015 net neutrality rules is not one to celebrate. It’s now up to the courts, the states or Congress to reinstate the rules and the FCC’s legal authority to protect consumers and competition. Otherwise, we’ll see more consumers, public safety officials and innovators with no place to go when their broadband provider answers to no one.

[Gigi Sohn serves as a Benton Senior Fellow]

While broadband is widely believed to augment productivity, there is little firm-level evidence of a generalised causal effect. In this paper we examine whether the introduction of digital subscriber line (DSL) broadband services increased firms' productivity in nine sub-sectors within the services and distribution sector in Ireland from 2006 to 2012. Firm-level panel data on firms' characteristics are linked to spatial information on the rollout of DSL. While we do not find significant productivity effects in the services sectors taken together, we do find positive and significant effects on firm's total factor productivity in Information & Communication and Administrative & Support Services.

The Federal Communications Commission released a new, 182-page Communications Marketplace Report it claims proves the US broadband industry is awash with vibrant competition. In reality, consumer groups, third-party data and the report itself paint a starkly different picture; one where consumers increasingly only have access to just one Internet service provider: Comcast.

Most DSL providers still fail to deliver the FCC’s base definition of broadband (25 Mbps) to huge swaths of their footprints. Why? Despite billions in subsidies over the years, upgrading these aging networks isn’t profitable enough, quickly enough, for Wall Street’s liking. As a result, many telcos have shifted their focus elsewhere, leaving frustrated users in their wake. As a result, companies like Comcast and Charter Spectrum are quietly securing a greater monopoly over broadband. Less competition means that, contrary to FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr’s claims, American consumers continue to pay some of the highest prices for broadband in the developed world—while receiving some of the worst customer service of any sector in America.  While the FCC insists that broadband is getting cheaper, faster, and more widely available thanks to its recent policies (like killing net neutrality), most American consumers’ first-hand experiences—and the FCC’s own data—continue to paint a dramatically different picture.

On Dec 6, the US Census Bureau released the 2013-2017 American Community Survey (ACS) five-year estimate including data on internet subscription rates. The new data provide powerful insight into the inequity of US broadband adoption, especially among neighboring counties. But the research also re-emphasizes the necessity for more accurate broadband maps.  At Benton, our goal is to bring open, affordable, high-capacity broadband to all people in the U.S. to ensure a thriving democracy. Accurate broadband maps are one necessary step towards realizing this vision. 

Silicon Valley technology firms are known for giving stock to their workers, a form of compensation that often helps employees feel invested in their companies. But tech workers are now starting to use those shares to turn the tables on their employers. As many tech employees take a more activist approach to how their innovations are being deployed and increasingly speak out on a range of issues, some are using the stock as a way to demand changes at their companies. Employee shareholder proposals may ultimately not be effective since shareholder-led proposals are often shot down. And because tech founders often possess a large chunk of the shares in their companies — Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder and its largest shareholder, owns 16 percent of the company; the Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin have about 51 percent of voting shares in Alphabet — the proposals have little chance of passing without founder support. Tech employees said it was worth taking that risk. 

Chinese telecom Huawei has again told the Federal Communications Commission that the commission's proposal to exclude some Chinese companies' technology--Huawei and ZTE-- from Universal Service Fund broadband subsidy support is both legally and factually deficient. Government contractors can't buy equipment from Chinese telecoms ZTE or Huawei as part of those contracts, and must submit a plan for phasing out the use of that equipment from its systems. That came with President Donald Trump's signing on Aug 13 of the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act and after the companies were called out by top US intelligence officials as tied to the Chinese government and thus a national security threat. Huawei says that the Act's prohibition is on government loan or grant programs, not the USF subsidy, and that even if it did, "it would be arbitrary and capricious for the Commission to rely upon it as a basis for its proposed rule banning expenditure of any USF support funds on equipment and services manufactured by specified companies."