FCC Bureau Chief Promises Clutter-Free Broadband Labels
Commissioner Anna Gomez has been a vocal opponent of the proposed changes.
WASHINGTON, July 10, 2026 – The Federal Communications Commission says its proposal to redesign broadband labels will make the disclosures simpler and more accessible.
In a blog Thursday, FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau Chief Ed Bartholme said the proposed redesign would remove unnecessary details, make monthly costs more prominent, and eliminate outdated information.
“Those first labels were just a start. And our experience over the last few years shows us that we can do better to make sure consumers get actionable information that is easier to digest,” Bartholme wrote.
Still, the proposal has drawn pushback from consumer advocates and some lawmakers, who warn that simplifying the labels could weaken a key transparency tool mandated by the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
The consumer disclosure requires ISPs to display prices, speeds, and other service terms in the style of a nutrition label at the point of sale.
Critics, including FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, a Democrat, have said the proposal would alter several existing disclosure requirements intended to make the cost and performance of high-speed internet services more transparent.
The FCC is scheduled to vote July 22 on its order removing certain label requirements adopted under former Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in April 2024.
“If these proposals are adopted, all the information that Congress wanted to ensure consumers had to make informed decisions about the cost of their [Internet] service would no longer be available to them via their online consumer portal,” Gomez said in October. She called the FCC’s effort to scale back label requirements “one of the most anti-consumer proposals” she had seen during her tenure.
Under the draft order, providers would no longer be required to itemize discretionary, recurring monthly fees, which represent the costs they choose to pass through to consumers and which vary by consumer location.
The FCC says this would simplify pricing comparisons, while opponents have argued it could make it harder for consumers to understand their actual costs.
Providers would also be allowed to provide broadband labels through hyperlinks, QR codes, or icons rather than displaying the full disclosure during the purchase process, potentially making pricing information less visible.
The proposal would also remove requirements for labels to remain available through customer account portals, eliminate machine-readable label data used by researchers and third parties to track broadband pricing trends, and end the requirement for providers to archive discontinued labels for two years, limiting access to historical pricing records.
The final proposal keeps some disclosure requirements that had been under review. For example, the FCC retained the requirement that providers display broadband labels in English and in any other languages in which they market their services.
Gomez warned that removing requirements around fee disclosures, online availability and machine-readable data could make it harder for consumers to compare plans.
If adopted on July 22, the FCC’s order will take effect 30 days after publication in the Federal Register.
