On May 6, 2010, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski announced that the Commission would soon launch a public process seeking comment on the options for a legal framwork for regulating broadband services.
Regulatory classification
Public Knowledge Files Comments on FCC’s Net Neutrality Public Notice
The court in Mozilla required the Federal Communications Commission to address how its Restoring Internet Freedom Order, which repealed the agency’s net neutrality rules and removed FCC jurisdiction over broadband, impacted public safety, pole attachments, and the Lifeline program. Instead of opening a new rulemaking proceeding, the FCC issued a Public Notice that fails to explain how the agency ultimately intends to proceed on this matter.
Broadband Monopolies Are Acting Like Old Phone Monopolies. Good Thing Solutions to That Problem Already Exist
The future of competition in high-speed broadband access looks bleak. A vast majority of homes only have their cable monopoly as their choice for speeds in excess of 100 mbps and small ISPs and local governments are carrying the heavy load of deploying fiber networks that surpass gigabit cable networks. Research now shows that these new monopolies have striking similarities to the telephone monopolies of old.
Coronavirus Crisis Vindicates the FCC’s ‘Net Neutrality’ Rollback
The European Union has embraced a heavy-handed regulatory scheme designed to allocate access to the existing network, while the US has emphasized private investment to expand network capacity. As the internet emerged and developed, the work of European regulators was guided by the legal system developed to govern traditional telephone service largely built with taxpayer funds. This approach presumed that significant parts of the phone network were likely to remain monopolies.
Answering the DC Circuit's Remand of the Pole Attachment Question
According to the DC Circuit’s logic, the Federal Communications Commission’s jurisdiction over broadband Internet access services now resides in some sort of regulatory purgatory.
ISPs' COVID Response Said To Negate Net Neutrality Rules
Generous actions from internet service providers during the coronavirus pandemic prove that broad, now-repealed net neutrality rules were always unnecessary, said Roslyn Layton, a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Layton said that service providers’ offers to waive cancellations and fees while many Americans are struggling financially demonstrate that ISPs are acting with customers’ best interests in mind and do not require close government oversight.
Last year, the D.C. Circuit issued its opinion in Mozilla v. Federal Communications Commission in which the court largely upheld the Commission’s 2017 Restoring Internet Freedom Order that reversed the Obama Administration’s 2015 decision to apply common carrier regulation to the Internet. While the court upheld the bulk of the agency’s actions as reasonable under the Supreme Court’s rulings in Chevron and Brand X, the court also found that the agency lacked plenary preemption authority over state efforts to regulate the Internet under the FCC’s theory of the case.
Coronavirus Sparks New Interest in Bridging Digital Divides
Amid the homebound social isolation of the coronavirus, society as a whole has never had so stark a reminder of why broadband matters and what life looks like for those who lack access. With that in mind, Government Technology recently spoke with experts, advocates and those working on broadband initiatives in both state and local government. What emerged is a picture of a resurging interest in closing the digital divide, as well as a host of predictions and suggestions around fast-tracking efforts.
Faster Internet Is on the Way
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai is taking steps to boost Wi-Fi across the country. He proposed to make 1,200 megahertz of the 6 GHz mid-band spectrum available for unlicensed use. This will effectively increase Wi-Fi spectrum capacity by a factor of five, enabling more inter-operable 5G devices such as smart appliances not to mention faster speeds so Americans can do more things online.
Senators Call on FCC to Evaluate How Net Neutrality Repeal Negatively Impacts Public Safety, Universal Access, and Broadband Competition
Twenty-eight senators wrote a letter to the Federal Communications Commission demanding that it consider how repealing net neutrality could negatively impact public safety, universal access, and broadband competition. In October 2019, the US Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld the Trump FCC’s repeal of the Open Internet Order as lawful but also ruled that the FCC failed to adequately consider public safety, the Lifeline program for low-income consumers, and competitive broadband providers’ access to poles needed to deploy their networks.