Lawmakers: FCC may need to regulate broadband

Two senior lawmakers ask the FCC to consider reclassifying broadband service

Two powerful Democratic members of Congress have called on the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to consider reclassifying broadband as a regulated common-carrier service in order to protect network neutrality rules and implement parts of its national broadband plan.

The letter from Representative Henry Waxman, a California Democrat and chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Senator Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat and chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, called on the FCC to consider "all viable" options, including reclassifying broadband as a common-carrier service, to move the national broadband plan forward.

Rockefeller and Waxman wrote in a letter to the FCC, released Wednesday, that they are concerned about the agency's ability to implement large parts of the broadband plan and create net neutrality rules following a decision last month by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, in which the court ruled the FCC did not have the authority to enforce informal net neutrality principles against Comcast.

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Two powerful Democratic members of Congress have called on the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to consider reclassifying broadband as a regulated common-carrier service in order to protect network neutrality rules and implement parts of its national broadband plan.

The letter from Representative Henry Waxman, a California Democrat and chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Senator Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat and chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, called on the FCC to consider "all viable" options, including reclassifying broadband as a common-carrier service, to move the national broadband plan forward.

Rockefeller and Waxman wrote in a letter to the FCC, released Wednesday, that they are concerned about the agency's ability to implement large parts of the broadband plan and create net neutrality rules following a decision last month by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, in which the court ruled the FCC did not have the authority to enforce informal net neutrality principles against Comcast.

Several communications law experts have questioned the commission's authority, with broadband now classified as a largely unregulated information service, to create programs to fund broadband deployment to unserved areas, to create net neutrality rules, and to require broadband providers to provide consumers with accurate information about connections speeds, the two lawmakers wrote in their letter.

"We believe that it is essential for the Commission to have oversight over these aspects of broadband policy, because they are vitally important to consumers and our growing digital economy," the two chairmen wrote. "For this reason, in the near term, we want the agency to use all of its existing authority to protect consumers and pursue the broad objectives of the National Broadband Plan."

The letter from Waxman and Rockefeller comes after a Washington Post report on Monday saying that FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski appears to be backing away from calls by net neutrality advocates that the FCC reclassify broadband as a common-carrier service, regulated under Title II of the Communications Act.

If Genachowski refuses to shift broadband service to Title II, it would lead to multiple lawsuits, with court challenges every time the FCC tries to enact rules affecting broadband, representatives of Free Press, a media reform group and net neutrality supporter, said Wednesday. Without reclassifying broadband, the FCC would be abandoning the longtime pledge by U.S. President Barack Obama to pass net neutrality rules, said University of Nebraska law professor Marvin Ammori, a senior adviser to Free Press.

If the FCC tries to pass net neutrality rules without reclassifying broadband as a Title II service, "that means they're abandoning net neutrality," Ammori said. "It's a sham, essentially."

Others have questioned the need for the FCC to reclassify broadband. Even without acting to reclassify broadband, the FCC has already begun to move forward on several items in the national broadband plan, released in March, said Barbara Esbin, a senior fellow at the Progress and Freedom Foundation, a free market think tank.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.