Major carriers blasted the FCC and its push to have more authority to regulate broadband and classify it as telecommunications service.
The Federal Communications Commission voted 3 to 2 Thursday to seek public comment on its legal strategy for asserting greater regulatory authority over Internet service providers.
- AT&T’s public policy blog called the FCC’s vote “troubling” and “unsettling.”
- Verizon said, “Reclassifying high-speed broadband Internet service as a telecom service is a terrible idea. The negative consequences for online users and the Internet ecosystem would be severe and have ramifications for decades. It is difficult to understand why the FCC continues to consider this option.”
- The National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) said the FCC’s reclassification effort could “totally sidetrack [the Commission] from getting some pieces of the broadband plan done,” warned Steve Morris, the organization’s VP and associate general.
- Comcast executive vice president David L. Cohen told The Washington Post, “While we remain concerned about unjustified regulation, we are encouraged that the careful balancing the Chairman promised in his public statements since first announcing a ‘third way’ has led to a rational next step as all stakeholders continue to work together to keep the Internet ecosystem growing and open.”
The FCC has examined three different ways to classify broadband Internet service and providers. The vote on Thursday enabled the FCC to look at whether broadband Internet should continue to be classified as an “information service”; as a “telecommunication service”; or a possible “third way” which would leave Internet content and applications unregulated under the Federal Communications Act, identifying wired broadband service as a telecommunications service.
Software and Internet companies such as Google favor the changes, saying the regulations will prevent providers from limiting access to competing online services.
