fcc

Net neutrality pinky swear from ISPs is good enough, says FCC chair

9 April 2017 by Steve Blum
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Network neutrality rules that prohibit Internet service providers from speeding up or slowing down subscriber’s traffic based on what it is or whether or not it’s profitable appear to be on the way out. Federal Communications Commission chairman Ajit Pai reportedly met with lobbyists last week and floated the idea of a voluntary system that would have ISPs write net neutrality commitments into their terms of service, which in turn would be overseen by the Federal Trade Commission, and not the FCC.… More

FCC wholesale word games will kill retail competition

7 April 2017 by Steve Blum
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Looked at one way, the draft decision to lighten regulation of wholesale broadband services that’s been floated by the new chair of the Federal Communications Commission isn’t a lot different from the one proposed by the old chairman. Both versions backed away from regulating prices or terms for higher speed, dedicated industrial-grade connections – those faster than 45 Mbps – while keeping some controls on slower services based on legacy copper technology.

Current chairman Ajit Pai wants to back further away than Tom Wheeler, the guy he replaced, did.… More

FCC set to preempt local right of way and permit authority

3 April 2017 by Steve Blum
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A sweeping review of how cities and counties manage public roads and approve construction permits for wired and wireless broadband infrastructure is on the table at the Federal Communications Commission. If approved, two draft decisions would, among other things, start the process of setting tighter limits on how and when local governments can establish standards for digging trenches or planting poles and boxes in public rights of way, and make wireless permit shot clocks absolute with an automatic deemed granted decision once time limits have expired and a ban on court challenges by local governments.… More

Dark fiber will disappear if CenturyLink buys Level 3

2 April 2017 by Steve Blum
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CenturyLink’s proposed acquisition of Level 3 continues to rumble through the review process at the Federal Communications Commission. Very little organised opposition has surfaced. Some market-based opposition has come from Incompas, a lobbying group that represents competitive carriers and similar network and system operators. They’re challenging the merger because, among things, it would roll the major independent fiber company in the U.S. – Level 3 – into an incumbent telco – CenturyLink – with a traditional monopoly mindset…

As it stands, the applicants have not provided evidence—or even a statement—of an intent to build vigorously outside CenturyLink’s [incumbent local exchange carrier] region.

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FCC concedes broadband lifeline decisions to state regulators

30 March 2017 by Steve Blum
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Let the professionals do it.

Companies that want to offer subsidised broadband service to low income households will have to seek approval from state regulators, and not the Federal Communications Commission. That will be the result of a decision made public yesterday by FCC chair Ajit Pai. In effect, he’s conceding an appeals court challenge to the broadband lifeline program approved by the FCC in 2016 and, instead, will have the current commission – a very different beast from a year ago – rework it.… More

Your ISP now owns your information.

29 March 2017 by Steve Blum
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Congress opened your kimono.

Privacy rules for Internet service providers are heading straight from limbo into oblivion. Last year, the Federal Communications Commission adopted rules that put strict limits on what ISPs can do with the data that customers transmit on their networks, significantly stricter than the restrictions on what most online businesses can do with consumer data.

Earlier this month, a much different FCC voted to put those rules on hold. Now, the U.S.… More

FCC chair needs to upgrade his competitive thinking

23 March 2017 by Steve Blum
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For a smart guy, Federal Communications Commission chairman Ajit Pai can be awfully obtuse at times. Particularly where telecommunications competition is concerned.
On the one hand he extolls its virtues, saying to a Pittsburgh audience last week that “a competitive free market is crucial to unleashing private-sector ingenuity”. Just so. But in that same speech, he endorsed giving government subsidies to incumbent telephone companies, called for less regulation of those monopolies and ripped the idea that spending money on building competitive infrastructure or supporting new competitors has any value.… More

Give me the money, then I'll give it to AT&T says Pai

16 March 2017 by Steve Blum
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In his “first major policy address” as chair of the Federal Communications Commission, Ajit Pai urged congress to channel broadband infrastructure spending through him. Pai spoke at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh yesterday, and focused almost entirely on broadband, with particular emphasis on the mobile variety.

Broadband infrastructure is at the top of his policy agenda. If congress decides to fund it, Pai thinks that the FCC should run the program and channel the money through its existing, incumbent-centric subsidy programs…

Any direct funding for broadband infrastructure appropriated by Congress as part of a larger infrastructure package should be administered through the FCC’s Universal Service Fund (USF) and targeted to areas that lack high-speed Internet access…

…our track record is frankly better than that of other agencies.

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CenturyLink gets extortionate pricing bonus from Level 3 deal

15 March 2017 by Steve Blum
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Level 3 is engaging in “extortionate pricing” for the middle mile fiber connections it leases to broadband companies, and the problem will only get worse if CenturyLink is allowed to buy it. That’s the claim made by Windstream, a relatively small incumbent telephone company, based in Arkansas, that also offers data networking and other telecommunications services to businesses outside of its primary coverage area.

Windstream filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission, as it decides whether CenturyLink’s proposed purchase of Level 3 will go forward.… More

FCC preps a bipartisan bigfoot for cities and counties

12 March 2017 by Steve Blum
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But only the bad actors. Honest.

Local governments will have even less to say about how and where broadband infrastructure will be built. That was the clear and bipartisan message from two members of the Federal Communications Commission when they testified in front of a U.S. senate committee on Wednesday. Michael O’Rielly, who reliably takes conventional republican positions, went straight for the jugular…

Standing in the way of greater Internet access nationwide are barriers imposed by state, local, and tribal entities.

… More