Copps Urges ‘Explicit’ FCC Process for Net Neutrality Complaints
It’s premature for the FCC to list what forms of network management are unreasonable, Commissioner Michael Copps said Thursday. Keynoting the Broadband Policy Summit, Copps said the FCC instead should create a way to address complaints. Copps called for a national broadband policy and urged the Defense Department and other government bodies to pitch in.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
The FCC needs to see more neutrality complaints to define reasonable network management, Copps said. The agency can’t list unreasonable practices any more than it can list indecent content for broadcasters, he said. Instead, the FCC should have an “explicit” way to treat complaints as they arise, he said. That will build precedent, enhancing the agency’s ability to judge what kind of management is proper, he said.
The FCC still needs enforceable nondiscrimination principles, Copps said, dismissing fears that they would do more harm than good. The commission forced AT&T to adopt nondiscrimination rules when it merged with BellSouth, he said. AT&T doesn’t “seem any worse for wear,” Copps said.
Copps called for rules to hasten U.S. broadband deployment. “Industry cannot and should not be expected to do the job alone,” he said. The U.S. historically has promoted national infrastructure through regulation, but it’s the “road not taken” with broadband, Copps said.
Copps urged the Defense Department to inventory its spectrum for the economy’s sake. DoD shouldn’t be deprived of needed assets, but it might not be using all its spectrum, he said: “If government is hoarding spectrum that could be used to enhance our nation’s competitive strength, then we need to know.”
Other federal departments should work on broadband, Copps said. The Housing and Urban Development Department should make sure every new low-income housing project is wired with high-speed Internet, he said. The Education Department should promote computer literacy, he said. And when the Agriculture Department makes broadband loans, it should add to universal-service efforts, not duplicate them, he said.
The FCC needs to study mergers more closely, Copps said. The FCC used to consider their effect on innovation and still should, he said: “But we don’t.” The commission should “resuscitate” the technological advisory council, Copps said. It hasn’t met for two years but would be helpful in the DTV transition and other matters, he said. That it’s not active “makes zero sense.”
Copps lauded FCC Chairman Kevin Martin for seeking to revamp universal service and intercarrier compensation sooner rather than later, Copps said. But the efforts “must be comprehensive,” he said. “No longer can we just address the anomaly of the hour.”