Record Shows New Neutrality Rules Not Slowing Economy, Wheeler Tells CAC
Friday was a “red letter day” for consumers, innovators and those who build networks, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler told the Consumer Advisory Committee Friday, as February net neutrality rules formally took effect (see 1506120036). Wheeler said, “There have never been rules this extensive and this flexible going forward in existence.” The CAC received a briefing on the role it will play in helping shape how the rules are enforced.
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!
When the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Thursday (see 1506110048) turned down a stay request by a “handful of ISPs,” it was “an historic moment for consumers and for innovators,” Wheeler said. CAC will play an important role, he said. The FCC will be a “referee on the field who can make a call and throw the flag as necessary to address conduct that no one has anticipated,” Wheeler said. “Things evolve.”
The FCC’s position is clear, Wheeler said: “Heavy-handed, monopoly era rules belong in the Smithsonian, not at the FCC.” The three bright line rules -- no blocking, no throttling, no paid prioritization -- are all critical, he said. “Top-down micromanagement of networks by this agency cannot continue to exist because of the very nature of this fast-changing technology.” The rules are written in a way that ensures that old-style regulation won’t return, Wheeler said. “There won’t be retail rate regulation,” he said. “There won’t be unbundling. We’re not going to require charts of accounts and accounting rules.”
The FCC will be "known by its actions," Wheeler said. “Our actions are not to micromanage, to tell companies how they ought to do business.” The agency is responsible to say, “Wait a minute, that’s a foul, throw the flag,” he said. Many still insist the rules will “chill investment,” he said. “Tell that to Charter, which just said, 'We’ll spend $90 billion to acquire Time Warner Cable and Bright House.'”
The net neutrality order directs the CAC to formulate and submit to the FCC a net neutrality enhanced transparency rule disclosure format, accessible to persons with disabilities, by Oct. 15 (see 1503130038).
The net neutrality order requires enhanced transparency from ISPs on performance, commercial and other factors of interest to consumers, Mark Stone, deputy chief of the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, told CAC. Rather than prescribe a specific format, the FCC adopted a “safe harbor” approach to disclosure, Stone said. “Specifically, providers can use a specified format, to be recommended by you, that would be deemed to comply with the transparency rule,” he said. “We’re excited you’re bringing all your expertise to this important project.”
Commissioner Ajit Pai, who stopped by the meeting, asked CAC members to pay particular attention to rural issues. Pai, who spoke before Wheeler, didn't comment on net neutrality. Pai said he's from a small town in Kansas where his parents must rely on the equivalent of dial-up service to access the Internet. “In area after area, folks in rural America feel the brunt of either regulatory neglect or the fact that the communications landscape doesn’t represent them,” he said.
The rate floor, adopted as part of the 2011 USF transformation order, essentially required phone companies to increase their rates in rural America as a condition of getting USF, Pai said. Call completion issues are unique to rural America, he said. “We’ve taken for granted these networks should work,” he said. “But in rural America, there’s all too often a problem because of the way IP networks are structured." AM revitalization is also critical in rural areas but has been neglected by the FCC, he said. Pai recalled a visit he made to remote Ft. Yukon. Alaska. “When I told them about our AM revitalization efforts, they just lit up and said, ‘Wow, how great it would be if we could get a better AM signal up here in Ft. Yukon,’” he said.