Conservative Group Fights Possible FCC Data Caps Ban

WASHINGTON, Oct. 30, 2024 – A free-market organization is opposing a possible federal effort to regulate data caps by limiting or banning usage-based billing in consumer broadband plans.

Digital Liberty – a project of Americans for Tax Reform, a lobbying group for conservative causes  – asserted in comments filed with the Federal Communications Commission that data caps would foster competition among Internet Service Providers while lowering prices for consumers.

“While usage-based billing offers an abundance of benefits for both ISPs and American consumers, banning the practice would exact irreparable damage upon the broadband industry. Through universal access to unlimited data, ISPs would be stripped of the ability to bar high-level broadband users from monopolizing network resources," James Erwin, Executive Director of Digital Liberty, said in the Oct. 29 filing.

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said she launched a Notice of Inquiry on Oct. 15 in response to complaints from "3,000 people [who] have gotten so aggravated by data caps.”

Erwin’s filing noted the consumer benefits of data caps. He cited data from USTelecom that broadband costs for popular speed tiers fell by 54.7 percent in inflation-adjusted terms between 2015 and 2023 while high speed broadband costs fell by 55.8 percent in the same period.

However, a recent U.S. News survey noted that price remains a significant frustration among consumers.

Broadband data caps also offered competitive benefits to ISPs, Erwin said. He pointed to the ability of ISPs to recover costs associated with building and maintaining broadband infrastructure. The funds derived from usage based billing could be used by providers to continually reinvest in better broadband offerings, he said.