Competition/Antitrust

Apparently, the  Federal Trade Commission opened an investigation into Facebook for possible antitrust violations, an early-stage probe that is examining competition in its oldest business -- social media. The agency has already contacted third parties that could aid in the investigation as it tries to understand competitive dynamics. Though the company has made many acquisitions and expanded into new businesses, including messaging, virtual reality and e-commerce, the FTC’s probe is focused on its most long-standing offering -- social networking.

Half of Americans now have access to broadband at speeds of 500 Mbps or above. But less than half of Americans (48.5%) have wired broadband available at $60 or less per month. Availability of 500 Mbps service varies considerably from one state to another. More than 90% of people in Delaware (97%) and the District of Columbia (99%) have 500 Mbps service available to them, followed by Maryland (89%), Utah (87%) and Illinois (85%).

San Francisco is challenging the Federal Communications Commission’s move to override a city mandate that apartment and office building owners share in-use cable wiring with broadband providers upon request. On July 22, the city asked the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to undo the commission’s decision to preempt part of a San Francisco law, which bars building owners from interfering with an occupant’s right to choose a communications service.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) is the most significant rural infrastructure initiative of our time. At over $20 billion, there is sufficient funding in the RDOF to support the most advanced fiber optic services to every rural home in the nation. The program has the potential to become the Rural Electrification Act of our generation, especially if it fosters the same spirit of local initiative, local ownership and local control.

A CenturyLink fiber expansion plan will see the carrier add 4.7 million miles of fiber across the US and Europe, creating what the company calls the “largest ultra-low-loss fiber network in North America.” CenturyLink reports the first phase of this construction was completed in June, comprising 3.5 million miles of fiber, creating an expansive US inter-city network. The global carrier was able to leverage existing multi-conduit infrastructure for this first phase, connecting more than 50 US.

While the Federal Communications Commission reports that 90 percent of Iowans have access to advanced broadband, others, including Microsoft, argue that measurement of access is grossly overstated, as only about 30 percent of Iowans actually use broadband.  While a state utilities board rules on natural gas and electricity rate increases proposed by investor-owned companies and local officials are accountable for a customer’s water and wastewater bill, Iowa broadband exists largely in the private sector.

In 2012, California decided to deregulate the broadband internet industry until 2020 with the aim of encouraging greater consumer choice, economic growth and innovation. Eight years later, these benefits have not materialized. Instead internet providers have taken advantage of deregulation to increase prices and evade oversight. Now internet providers are pushing Assembly Bill 1366, which would extend this disastrous policy for another decade.

There is a growing divide in Internet quality of service (QoS) between developed and developing countries. With a panel data of 160 countries for the years 2008-2016, we examined whether the adoption of more pro-competition regulation can narrow this quality divide. Internet quality of service, measured as average connection speed, increased by three times greater in developed compared to developing countries during the period studied. We found that a unit increase in the pro-competition score increased the average connection speed in developed but not in developing countries.

The Federal Communications Commission is taking steps to improve broadband deployment and competition in the nation’s apartment buildings, condominium complexes, and office buildings, known as multiple tenant environments (MTEs). For decades, Congress and the FCC have encouraged facilities-based competition by broadly promoting access to customers and infrastructure— including MTEs and their tenants—while avoiding overly burdensome sharing mandates that reduce incentives to invest. Consistent with these principles, the FCC today takes three specific steps to promote facilities-based broadba

Using individual-level Census data this report analyzes the differences in fixed terrestrial broadband subscription rates across occupants of Multi-Tenant Environments (MTEs) and non-MTEs. We find that residential occupants of MTEs are on average slightly less likely to obtain a wireline broadband subscription than residential occupants of non-MTEs.