FCC

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski Calls for Network Neutrality and Transparency Rules

WASHINGTON, September 21, 2009 – The Federal Communications Commission must be a “smart cop on the beat” to preserve a free and open internet, Chairman Julius Genachowski said Monday during a speech at the Brookings Institution.

Published

14 years ago

September 21, 2009

Andrew Feinberg

While acknowledging the 30th birthday of ARPANet – the predecessor to today’s internet, Genachowski announced his intent to launch a proceeding which would extend and formalize the “Four Principles” of the commission’s 2005 Internet Policy Statement through a formal rule making – as well as introduce two new principles: non-discrimination and transparency in network management.

Genachowski’s plans to formally codify “network neutrality” into federal regulations come as the commission’s 2008 ruling against Comcast for blocking peer-to-peer traffic remains under the cloud of a court challenge. Comcast has alleged the FCC’s 2005 policy statement does not have the force of law – nor does the commission have the authority to regulate broadband providers in the first place.

Legislation is already pending in the House of Representatives that would give the FCC this explicit authority.

But Genachowski has no plans to wait for legislative action, he said, and plans to introduce a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking at the commission’s October open meeting.

Action is needed because as Americans have shifted to broadband services from dial-up internet access, the number of provider choices has “narrowed substantially,” he said. But no one should infer any conclusions from that statement, Genachowski added cautiously. “It is simply a fact about today’s marketplace that we must acknowledge and incorporate into our policymaking.

And the convergence of entertainment providers with broadband service providers means that those companies often compete with services that are delivered over their own networks – creating a situation in which “broadband providers’ rational bottom-line interests may diverge from the broad interests of consumers in competition and choice,” he said.

The explosive growth of internet traffic is yet a third reason for clear regulatory principles, Genachowski added. He noted that internet traffic has roughly doubled every two years, and with them have come a plethora of sophisticated network management tools that are often opaque to the end-user. These tools “cannot by themselves determine the right answers to difficult policy questions – and they raise their own set of new questions,” he said.

These questions are difficult, Genachowski acknowledged. But “we have an obligation to ask and to answer correctly for our country,” he said. Ignoring the issues and leaving them to the whims of the market would “deprive innovators and investors of confidence” that the internet will remain open, he said.

And retreating from the internet’s core principle of openness would be dangerous to the medium that has become “stunningly successful as a platform for innovation, opportunity, and prosperity,” he said. “Saying nothing – and doing nothing – would impose its own form of unacceptable cost.”

Genachowski outlined two specific additions to the 2005 policy statement which he intends to circulate next month. The “fifth principle” would state that broadband providers may not discriminate against particular Internet applications by degrading or blocking lawful traffic.

This would not prevent enforcement of any existing laws — nor hamper network providers from managing their networks, Genachowski stressed. “This principle will not constrain efforts to ensure a safe, secure, and spam-free Internet experience, or to enforce the law. It is vital that illegal conduct be curtailed on the Internet,” he said. “The enforcement of copyright and other laws and the obligations of network openness can and must co-exist.”

And the “sixth principle” would mandate broadband providers be transparent about their network management practices. Because the internet evolved from open standards, it should be managed with tools and practices that are disclosed so their effects can be known, he said. Such openness will “help facilitate discussion among all the participants in the Internet ecosystem, which can reduce the need for government involvement in network management disagreements,” he said.

Mobile broadband will be held to the same standards as traditional broadband, Genachowski said. “Even though each form of Internet access has unique technical characteristics, they are all are different roads to the same place. It is essential that the Internet itself remain open, however users reach it,” he urged.

Genachowski will circulate these six principles in a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to his colleagues to be introduced at next month’s open meeting. The proposed rules are being drafted by commission staff.

But the proposal is “not about government regulation of the internet,” Genachowski stressed emphatically. “It’s about fair rules of the road for companies that control access to the internet.” And the commission’s approach will be limited and only exercised on a case-by-case basis, he said. “We will do as much as we need to do, and no more.”

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Related Topics:FCC Julius Genachowski Net Neutrality

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Andrew Feinberg

Andrew Feinberg was the White House Correspondent and Managing Editor for Breakfast Media. He rejoined BroadbandBreakfast.com in late 2016 after working as a staff writer at The Hill and as a freelance writer. He worked at BroadbandBreakfast.com from its founding in 2008 to 2010, first as a Reporter and then as Deputy Editor. He also covered the White House for Russia's Sputnik News from the beginning of the Trump Administration until he was let go for refusing to use White House press briefings to promote conspiracy theories, and later documented the experience in a story which set off a chain of events leading to Sputnik being forced to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Andrew's work has appeared in such publications as The Hill, Politico, Communications Daily, Washington Internet Daily, Washington Business Journal, The Sentinel Newspapers, FastCompany.TV, Mashable, and Silicon Angle.

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Broadband's Impact

FCC Pushes Congress on Spectrum Auction Authority, ACP Funding at Oversight Hearing

Commissioners from both parties emphasized the issues to the House Communications and Technology Subcommittee.

Published

5 hours ago

November 30, 2023

Jake Neenan

Screenshot of FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel at the hearing Thursday.

WASHINGTON, November 30, 2023 – The Federal Communications Commission asked Congress to move on renewing the agency’s auction authority and funding the Affordable Connectivity Program at a House oversight hearing on Thursday.

“We badly need Congress to restore the agency’s spectrum auction authority,” said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel at the hearing. “I have a bunch of bands that are sitting in the closet at the FCC.”

Rosenworcel pointed to 550 megahertz in the 12.7-13.25 GHz band. The commission would “be able to proceed to auction on that relatively quickly” if given the go ahead, she said.

The commission’s authority to auction spectrum expired for the first time in March after Congress failed to extend it. Auction authority lets the commission auction off and issue licenses allowing the use of certain electromagnetic frequency bands for wireless communication.

Repeated pushes to restore the ability, first handed to the commission in 1996, have stalled in the face of gridlock on Capitol Hill.

Opening up spectrum is becoming more necessary as emerging technologies and expanding networks compete for finite airwaves. The Joe Biden administration unveiled a plan this month to begin two-year studies of almost 2,800 MHz of government spectrum for potential commercial use.

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said that’s not fast enough. “I would have had the spectrum plan actually free up more than zero megahertz of spectrum,” he said.

Rosenworcel said the FCC was in talks with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the agency that wrote up the plan, during the drafting process. When asked if the NTIA followed her recommendations, she said she would “like everyone to move faster and have a bigger pipeline in general.”

Commissioners expressed support for a House bill that would give the FCC temporary authority to issue the licenses it already auctioned off for 5G networks in the 2.5 GHz band. An identical bill passed the Senate in September.

T-Mobile took home more than 85 percent of the 8,000 total licenses in the band for $304 million, but the company and other winners cannot legally use their spectrum until the FCC issues the licenses.

Affordable Connectivity Program

Also at the top of commissioners’ minds was the Affordable Connectivity Program. Set up with $14 billion from the Infrastructure Act, the program provides a monthly internet subsidy for 22 million low-income households.

The program is expected to run out of money in April 2024.

“We have come so far, we can’t go back,” Rosenworcel said. “We need Congress to continue to fund this program. If it does not, in April of next year we’ll have to unplug households.”

The Biden administration asked Congress in October for $6 billion in the upcoming appropriations bill to keep the ACP afloat through December 2024. The government has been funded since September by stop-gap measures, with House Republicans ousting former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-CA, over his unwillingness to cut spending and making similar demands of his replacement.

A coalition of 26 governors joined the chorus of calls to extend the program on November 16. Lawmakers, activists, and broadband companies have been sounding the alarm on the program’s expiration for months as the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment effort gets underway. Without the subsidy, experts have said, households could be unable to access the new infrastructure built by BEAD.

Representative Yvette Clarke, D-NY, said of the ACP shortfall that she is “looking forward to introducing legislation on that very subject before Congress concludes its work for the year.”

FCC

FCC to Consider ‘Rapid Response Team’ for Pole Attachment Disputes at December Meeting

Proposed rules would also put more limits on when utilities can pass full replacement costs to telecom companies.

Published

2 days ago

November 28, 2023

Jake Neenan

Photo of a utility pole by Scott Akerman.

WASHINGTON, November 28, 2023 – The Federal Communications Commission is considering setting up a “rapid response team” to resolve pole attachment disputes, according to a public draft of the proposed rules.

The Rapid Broadband Assessment Team, or RBAT, would be available to resolve disagreements that “impede or delay broadband deployment,” according to the proposed rules. The team would be responsible for quickly engaging both sides of a pole attachment dispute and working to find a solution, which can include staff-supervised mediation.

If the parties cannot come to an agreement, the RBAT can place their dispute on the commission’s “Accelerated Docket,” meaning the FCC would adjudicate the issue in under 60 days. Not all disputes are eligible for the Accelerated Docket, as the tight time constraint makes it difficult to resolve novel or complex cases.

The commission is also considering requiring utility companies to provide attachers with their most recent pole inspection information. That’s an effort to avoid disputes before they start, according to the proposed rules.

Expanding broadband networks often involves attaching equipment to poles owned by utility companies. The arrangement has led to ongoing disputes on replacement costs and other issues between telecommunications and utility companies.

The FCC has authority under the 1996 Communications Act to set the terms of those pole attachment deals and is looking to have a system in place for expediting disputes ahead of the Biden administration’s $42.5 billion broadband expansion effort. That authority only stretches to the 26 states that have not passed their own laws on pole attachments.

Pole replacement costs

On pole replacement costs, one of the more contentious pole attachment issues, the proposed rules place more limits on when a utility can force an attacher to pay in full for a replacement pole. The commission’s standing policy prevents pole owners from passing off replacement costs if the new pole is not “necessitated solely” by an attacher’s equipment.

Since the commission first sought comment on the issue in 2022, telecommunications companies have argued that utilities unfairly pass the entire cost of replacement on to them, even when poles are already unsafe and would need to be replaced regardless. Utilities say they would not normally replace the poles being used by telecom companies, either because they are structurally sound or to phase out old lines, and don’t benefit from the installation of newer poles.

The draft rules would expand the commission’s definition of a “red tagged” pole, the replacement of which cannot be allocated entirely to an attacher. Under current FCC rules, a red tagged pole is one that is out of compliance with safety regulations and has been placed on a utility’s replacement schedule.

The updated definition would do away with the compliance requirement, defining a red tagged pole as one flagged for replacement for any reason other than its inability to support extra telecom equipment.

The proposed rules also explicitly clarify some situations in which replacements are not “necessitated solely” by new telecom equipment, including when a pole fails engineering standards or is already on a replacement schedule.

In addition, the rules specify that when an already defective pole needs to be replaced with a larger pole to accommodate new equipment, the attacher would only be responsible for the extra cost of the larger pole, not the cost of an equivalent pole.

If the proposed rules are approved, the FCC would also look for comments on processing bulk pole attachment applications and on changing rules on when attachers can do their own work to prepare a pole for attachments.

The measures will be voted on at the commission’s December 13 meeting.

FCC

FCC Aims to Combat Video Service ‘Junk’ Fees

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel proposes a new way to eliminate junk fees.

Published

1 week ago

November 22, 2023

Hanna Agro

Photo of Jessica Rosenworcel courtesy the FCC

November 21, 2023 – The head of the Federal Communications Commission announced Tuesday a proposal to eliminate video service junk fees incurred by cable operators and direct broadcast satellite service providers.

The proposal by Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel would prohibit cable operators and DBS providers from charging subscribers early contract termination fees and require those providers to issue a prorated credit or rebate for remaining days in a monthly billing cycle after cancellation.

It will be voted on at the commission’s open meeting next month.

“Because these fees may have the effect of limiting consumer choice after a contract is enacted, it may negatively impact competition for services in the marketplace,” said a press release.

“No one wants to pay junk fees for something they don’t want or can’t use. When companies charge customers early termination fees, it limits their freedom to choose the service they want,” said Rosenworcel.

In October, President Joe Biden addressed his administration’s effort to combat junk fees, part of a larger goal to provide consumers choice by way of cost reduction outlined in an executive order on which was signed into effect in July of 2021.