Providers Urge Restraint On Broadband Regulation
A coalition of most of the nation's biggest cable and telecommunications providers wrote the FCC Monday to oppose rules they say would harm the spread of broadband Internet access and turn the clock back to the days when the agency imposed stringent rules on telecommunications firms that stifled innovation.
The letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski comes as the agency weighs whether to adopt rules barring broadband providers from discriminating against content on their networks and finishes work on a national broadband plan aimed at setting goals for ensuring universal access to high-speed Internet access. The letter argues that groups such as Free Press, Public Knowledge and others are trying to re-open a battle from the late 1990s that occurred under Chairman William Kennard by urging the agency to classify "for the first time" broadband Internet access as a "telecommunications service," which would subject broadband providers to "legacy" common carrier regulations. They noted that the Kennard FCC rejected such a proposal.
The letter was signed by top executives at AT&T, Qwest, Time Warner Cable and Verizon, as well as the wireless group CTIA, the Independent Telephone and Telecommunications Alliance, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, the Telecommunications Industry Association and the U.S. Telecom Association. Notably absent from the letter was the nation's largest cable provider Comcast, which is in a battle to gain regulatory approval of its merger with NBC Universal.
The letter says the coalition favors preserving the "open" nature of the Internet. "Despite ongoing, productive efforts to reach consensus on how to best effectuate this goal, certain groups advocating an extremist form of 'net neutrality' regulation have now asked the commission to steer the debate in a radical new direction," the firms and groups wrote.
"It is difficult to imagine a proposal more at odds with the commission's historical commitment to keeping the Internet unregulated, to our national prospects for economic recovery, and to your own commitment to 'common sense' solutions and to "private enterprise, the indispensable engine of economic growth," according to the letter. It adds that "Congress, the [Obama] administration, and the public are all counting on this commission to produce a pragmatic broadband plan that brings all Americans fully into the 21st century. The commission would betray those expectations if it re-exposed this industry to years of investment-deterring uncertainty and litigation by re-opening a long-settled debate over arcane regulatory classifications."
The letter sparked sharp responses from Free Press and Public Knowledge. Free Press Policy Director Ben Scott disputed the letter's claims, saying his group is not calling for "wholesale" Internet regulation. "In another demonstration of corporate hubris and political bluster, the telephone and cable lobby is telling the Federal Communications Commission that the sky will fall if the agency implements policies that will help bring broadband to all Americans, protect consumers from unfair practices, and guarantee free markets for speech and commerce on the Internet," he said in a statement.
Public Knowledge President Gigi Sohn said the letter "is simply one long argument against the government having any ability to protect consumers from any type of harmful behavior that companies may inflict."
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