Internet/Broadband

Mountain View's (CA) tech startups are girding themselves for a big political fight over the data vital to their businesses. Smaller web companies say they could be crippled by slower bandwidth while premium data service is reserved for the large tech giants. The issue is network neutrality, the principle that all internet traffic should be treated equally. If the proposed changes go forward, the internet as we know it would come to resemble cable TV, said Gigi Sohn, a Mozilla fellow who previously served as an Federal Communications Commission attorney.

[Commentary] Two years ago, the Federal Communications Commission placed controversial, sweeping regulations on the internet. The goal was worthwhile – to establish universal net neutrality rules to protect consumers and content alike. However, rather than construct a modern regulatory framework for ever-evolving services, regulators simply jammed the internet into ill-suited public utility regulations, known as Title II.

If we want equal opportunity for students in Montana, if we want to encourage the use of technology in more sectors of our local economies to spur job creation, and if we want our burgeoning tech industry to continue to grow, we need to encourage broadband deployment and investment. Congress needs to step in and codify open internet principles into law. This would provide certainty, encourage innovation and finally put the issue to rest.

[Senator Fred Thomas is the Senate Majority Leader in the Montana State Senate.]

Legal challenges to the Federal Communications Commission's business data services (BDS) reforms have been consolidated in the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. Petitions to deny some or all of the FCC's BDS report and order updating the framework for regulating business data services had been filed in three separate federal appeals courts. Those appeals came from CenturyLink, Citizens Telecommunications Company of Minnesota and a consortium of telecoms including Sprint.

The DC Circuit is the one with primary jurisdiction over telecommunications, but in the case of multiple filings, the US Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation holds a lottery to determine the venue. CenturyLink told the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit that the FCC's regulation of rates on DS1 and DS3 service in areas deemed noncompetitive was arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion and otherwise illegal. It said the FCC forced those price caps on competitive carriers despite evidence the cost of service had actually gone down.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai was spotlighting the news that Sen Chris Coons (D-DE) has signed on as a cosponsor of the Gigabit Opportunity (GO) Act. The bill was introduced in May by Sen Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV). The bill would give tax breaks to companies for investing in gigabit-capable expansion into those communities; direct the FCC to release a framework that encourages states, counties and cities to voluntarily adopt streamlined broadband laws and be designated as a “Gigabit Opportunity Zone;" and defer capital gains for upgrades and allow companies to expense the cost of creating those zones, as well as allow states to more easily issue tax-exempt bonds.

In a statement released after the news of Sen Coons' support, Chairman Pai said: “Closing the digital divide is a top national priority. Gigabit Opportunity Zones would go a long way toward meeting that priority. By streamlining regulations to encourage broadband deployment and establishing targeted tax incentives for entrepreneurs to build those networks, we can empower millions of Americans, rural and urban alike. This is a common sense idea, and I’m excited to see it gaining bipartisan support."

Top AT&T DC executive Robert Quinn said his company is "very, very" supportive of a bill (The BROWSER Act) from House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) that would "harmonize" the enforcement of online privacy by Internet service providers and edge providers like Google and Facebook.

He said AT&T backed the bill for three main reasons. First, he said, it said everyone has to live under the same rules. Second, was putting all the regulation at the Federal Trade Commission, so it would be the same rules and the same regulator, rather than dividing it up between the FCC and FTC. Third, he said, the bill preempts state privacy laws, which means there aren't 50 different state regimes around privacy. "There is a rule that everyone has to live with" rather than a "patchwork" of rules.

[Commentary] As the battle around net neutrality rages again, we need to take stock, and ask ourselves: What is the debate really about, and why should business leaders and entrepreneurs care?

Businesses of all sizes create value, jobs and investment opportunities online. Their innovation and value creation are wholly dependent on access to internet connectivity. Net neutrality is the principle that all content must be treated without discrimination, be it commercial or political. Neutral networks are critical to ensuring fair, open competition in the content market and driving America’s growth in the digital era. Net neutrality allowed me to invent the World Wide Web without having to ask anyone for permission or pay a fee to ensure that people could use my idea.

Now imagine what would happen if internet service providers—usually a handful of big cable companies that control the connectivity market—were allowed to violate net neutrality. Their gatekeeping powers could be used to require businesses and individuals to pay a premium to ensure their content is delivered on equal terms—or even at all. This would create barriers that disadvantage small businesses and startups across all sectors that rely on the internet in any way.

[Berners-Lee is inventor of the World Wide Web and founding director of the World Wide Web Foundation]

Nearly a quarter of the city-dwelling population in the US isn’t connected to broadband internet, according to a recent IHS Markit and Wireless Broadband Alliance study charted for us by Statista. To be clear, the US is doing a better job at making the internet available to its urban population than many other large nations. But the disconnect that does exist is what happens when you mix the relatively high costs of entry for broadband in America with the number of lower-income people living in cities in the first place. As the study notes, this simply makes it difficult for those people to participate in society at the same level.

President Donald Trump vowed to cut back on "job-killing" regulations on the tech industry in a meeting with business executives. President Trump met with leaders from the drone and broadband industries at the White House, the latest event in the administration's "tech week." “We want to remain number one in certain areas,” President Trump said. “We’re going to give you the competitive advantage that you need." “My administration has been laser focused on removing government barriers to job growth and prosperity. We’ve created a deregulation task force to find wasteful, intrusive and job-killing regulations, which there are many,” he continued.

Execs from AT&T, Sprint, Verizon and General Electric joined representatives from drone and venture capital firms attended the meeting, titled “American Leadership in Emerging Technology.” The administration has been soliciting recommendations on tech policy and modernizing government IT from industry CEOs. The execs discussed drones, 5G wireless broadband, the so-called Internet of Things and financing emerging technology in three breakout sessions prior to their meeting with the president in the East Room of the White House.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai says he did not discuss his proposal to roll back Title II classification of Internet service providers at a meeting at the White House but did talk about the building blocks of a wireless future—spectrum and infrastructure. Asked about the meeting by a reporter following the FCC's public meeting—particularly given Chairman Pai's criticism of what he thought as too close ties between the White House and Tom Wheeler on that issue—the chairman said they had an "excellent conversation" with tech and telecom leaders and his input was sought on the rollout of 5G and the Internet of Things.He called it a "very fruitful" conversation about spectrum and infrastructure and the like and that he looked forward to working with all interested parties.

As to FCC independence, he said the FCC was still an independent agency, but there were ways to collaborate with others in the Administration, before launching into a string of nautical references to make his point. He said he wanted to make sure "we are steering in the right direction," calling them "all sailors in the same boat" and saying that it was an "all hands on deck effort" to make sure wireless innovators have the necessary tools.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai issued the following statement following the President’s announcement that he will include expanding rural high-speed Internet access in his infrastructure proposal. “I am grateful to President Trump for his leadership on expanding high-speed Internet access in rural America. Far too many families and businesses in rural communities do not have access to adequate broadband, limiting their opportunities in the digital age. Closing the digital divide needs to be a national priority, and the President’s decision to include rural broadband in his infrastructure plan holds great promise for creating more jobs and prosperity in our nation’s rural areas.”