FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler
This looks very much like a win. A very big win. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler just announced, via an
op-ed in Wired that he will propose reclassifying broadband service under Title II of the Telecommunications Act, giving the FCC the strongest possible authority to preserve net neutrality. He writes,
Originally, I believed that the FCC could assure internet openness through a determination of "commercial reasonableness" under Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. While a recent court decision seemed to draw a roadmap for using this approach, I became concerned that this relatively new concept might, down the road, be interpreted to mean what is reasonable for commercial interests, not consumers.
That is why I am proposing that the FCC use its Title II authority to implement and enforce open internet protections.
Using this authority, I am submitting to my colleagues the strongest open internet protections ever proposed by the FCC. These enforceable, bright-line rules will ban paid prioritization, and the blocking and throttling of lawful content and services. I propose to fully apply—for the first time ever—those bright-line rules to mobile broadband. My proposal assures the rights of internet users to go where they want, when they want, and the rights of innovators to introduce new products without asking anyone's permission.
All of this can be accomplished while encouraging investment in broadband networks. To preserve incentives for broadband operators to invest in their networks, my proposal will modernize Title II, tailoring it for the 21st century, in order to provide returns necessary to construct competitive networks. For example, there will be no rate regulation, no tariffs, no last-mile unbundling. Over the last 21 years, the wireless industry has invested almost $300 billion under similar rules, proving that modernized Title II regulation can encourage investment and competition.
That statement answers the critics of this potential move, the big telecoms that argued that real net neutrality would stifle investment and innovation and those who said that using the same antiquated framework that regulates telephone service would result in huge tariffs and costs for the consumer. Net neutrality advocates have argued all along that it was in the FCC's power to tailor and apply these regulations to broadband, which Wheeler is going to do.
Until we get the full rules proposal from Wheeler, all of the details aren't completely clear. But this looks very good at the top level. There is the possibility that problems arise in the details of the proposal or in what the proposal leaves out. But for now, this is the statement Wheeler is making: "The internet must be fast, fair and open. That is the message I’ve heard from consumers and innovators across this nation."
We spoke. He listened.
