netneutrality

FCC bases big decisions on small facts spooned out by big telecoms companies

16 November 2017 by Steve Blum
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The Federal Communications Commission jumped in on the side of Charter Communications in a dispute with the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission. The case was bumped to a federal appeals court – the MPUC lost the first round – and now the FCC has moved in to protect its turf.

The question is whether Minnesota can regulate voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) phone service the same way it does old style analog service. There’s a great article by Jon Brodkin in ArsTechnica that goes through the details of the case, so I won’t repeat it here.… More

Court challenge to common carrier status for broadband chugs on

11 October 2017 by Steve Blum
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The usual suspects took their case to the U.S. supreme court last week, asking that the Federal Communications Commission’s decision to classify Internet access as a common carrier service be thrown out. Several lobbying groups, including a couple of cable industry front organisation and telco hired guns, and companies such as AT&T want the supreme court to declare that Internet access is an information service, rather than a telecommunications service.

The basic argument is that since Internet access involves a lot of background routing and (extremely brief) caching of data, broadband providers are producing and/or processing information, rather than just delivering it from point A to point B for subscribers.… More

New FCC rules kick telegraph service into the 21st century

30 September 2017 by Steve Blum
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The Federal Communications Commission isn’t giving up on the telegraph. In fact, it’s giving telegraph companies a turbo-charged boost of free market competition. But don’t worry, it isn’t going completely crazy. The FCC is making it very clear that telegraph service is still subject to common carrier rules. In a lighter touch sort of way, of course, since this new and improved FCC is gung ho about light touch common carrier regulation.

In a wonderfully circular bit of reasoning, the FCC has decided that since there aren’t any telegraph companies, it’s okay for them to discontinue service without giving notice, because that will promote telegraph competition…

No entities filing [service reports] in the past five years indicated that they provide telegraph service, and we are not aware of any interstate telegraph service providers today.

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Federal court says cable and telcos can pay the same rate for pole access

2 August 2017 by Steve Blum
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Federal law does not require telephone companies to be treated differently from cable companies, when it comes to attaching cables to utility poles. That’s the ruling of a federal appeals court (h/t to Omar Masry at the City and County of San Francisco for the pointer). It rejected a challenge from electric utilities to a 2015 decision by the Federal Communications Commission that equalised the standard charge for utility pole access, and trimmed back an irrelevant distinction.… More

CPUC support for broadband common carrier rules stops short of the best reason

20 July 2017 by Steve Blum
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The California Public Utilities Commission made the Monday deadline for commenting on the Trump administration’s move to scrap common carrier rules for broadband service. The filing more or less followed along with a rough draft approved by commissioners last week, and argues that reversing course would strengthen incumbent monopolies…

[Broadband service] providers must receive nondiscriminatory access to utility support structures, including poles and conduits, at just and reasonable rates, terms and conditions. Last year, the CPUC conducted a comprehensive review of the California telecommunications market, and analyzed the state of competition in various state sub-markets.

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Net neutrality, San Bernardino FTTH endorsed by CPUC

13 July 2017 by Steve Blum
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A $28 million grant for the Gigafy Phelan fiber to the home project in San Bernardino County and a statement opposing plans to roll back net neutrality rules were approved this morning by the California Public Utilities Commission. The exact comments to the FCC as it considers scrapping common carrier status for broadband service are still to be determined. After first trying to delay the filing, commission president Michael Picker opted for another round of editing before Monday’s deadline.

CPUC considers common carrier, net neutrality advice for FCC

9 July 2017 by Steve Blum
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Once again, the California Public Utilities Commission is being asked to weigh in on whether or not broadband should be regulated as a common service. The current Federal Communications Commission is asking for comments on its presumed plans to reverse the decision made during the Obama administration to classify broadband as a telecommunications service under “Title II” of federal communications law and regulate the way Internet service can be provided.

The recommendation in front of the CPUC is to come down on the side of keeping common carrier rules in effect…

Staff recommends the Commission comment that in order for the existing Open Internet Rules to remain viable, the FCC would need to retain the “telecommunications services” classification for BIAS, providing Title II as a legal foundation for the rules.

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Sometimes, telecoms lobbyists can't help telling the truth

18 June 2017 by Steve Blum
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When I see a headline like "Broadband speeds have soared under net neutrality rules, cable lobby says", I gotta click on it. So I did and landed on an article by Jon Brodkin on Ars Technica.

There’s no Damascene conversion involved, though. What Brodkin is highlighting is how cable lobbyists, such as the National Cable Television Association (or whatever they say the acronym stands for these days), brag about faster Internet speeds, while at the same time bemoaning the infrastructure investment apocalypse that must surely follow the FCC’s 2015 decision to regulate broadband as a common carrier service…

As we can see, the NCTA has flexible messaging and applies conflicting arguments to different situations.

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Pai drives FCC with eyes on rear view mirror

14 June 2017 by Steve Blum
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During a rural broadband road trip through the midwestern U.S., Federal Communications Commission chairman Ajit Pai shared time with a republican senator on a Milwaukee talk radio program (h/t to Phillip Dampier at Stop the Cap for tracking the interview down and getting the word out). Although he professed an open mind regarding the repeal of common carrier rules for broadband service – it’s under consideration at the FCC, so he has to say that – he dismissed net neutrality as a "slogan".… More

FCC votes to kill net neutrality, after a fair trial of course

19 May 2017 by Steve Blum
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Common carrier rules for broadband service are on the way out. As expected, the Federal Communications Commission voted along party lines to begin a rulemaking process that, in theory, is a neutral, technocratic assessment of current regulations that might lead to any outcome. But there’s never been any pretence that the result will be anything but a repeal of the FCC’s 2015 decision to bring broadband – wired and wireless – under the common carrier umbrella.… More