FCC reinstates net neutrality

The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday revived Obama-era net neutrality rules, setting up another clash with the telecom industry and Republicans.

Key details

The 3-2 vote along partisan lines is a victory for Democrats, who have pushed for this type of regulation for the last two decades and say it’s necessary for consumer protection, fair competition and national security.

The rules, which prevent broadband providers from blocking and throttling consumers’ internet traffic, were repealed in 2017 during the Trump era. The order also reclassifies broadband as a telecom service, as the 2015 rules did, expanding the agency’s authority to regulate internet networks. An earlier version of the rules was struck down by a court in 2014.

“I think in a modern digital economy we should have a national net neutrality policy and make clear the nation’s expert on communications has the ability to act when it comes to broadband,” FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel said ahead of the vote. “In our post-pandemic world, we know that broadband is a necessity, not a luxury.”

Democratic commissioners stressed that the plan is not an effort to regulate the prices that broadband providers charge consumers, which has been a source of telecom industry anxiety for years.

President Joe Biden called for reviving net neutrality in his 2021 executive order on competition, and his administration endorsed the regulatory plans in March. Senior Democratic lawmakers also back the new rules, while senior Republicans are pledging to fight them.

Partisan sparring

The Republican commissioners opposed the proposal during Thursday’s meeting and challenged the idea that it would offer any benefits.

“It’s all just shifting sands,” Brendan Carr, the senior GOP commissioner, said of Democrats’ net neutrality rationales. “All fall apart under casual scrutiny.”

He blamed Democrats’ pursuit of the regulatory framework on 2014 pressure from then-President Barack Obama and said the issue has become “civic religion for activists on the left.”

The telecom industry has largely made the same criticisms and opposed the plans throughout the rulemaking, which began in October. USTelecom, a trade association representing broadband providers, on Thursday blasted net neutrality as a “harmful regulatory land grab.”

“These 400-plus pages of relentless regulation are proof positive that old orthodoxies die hard — even when the cost is failing to achieve internet for all,” USTelecom CEO Jonathan Spalter said. “Our nation has a stark choice: Do we move forward together and connect everyone or dial it all back?”

We've got some edits

During Thursday’s meeting, commissioners revealed they had negotiated some changes to the net neutrality draft proposal that Rosenworcel circulated early this month. Democratic Commissioner Geoffrey Starks thanked Rosenworcel for working with him “to clarify our throttling rule to ensure that we avoid loopholes in our net neutrality framework.”

Some net neutrality advocates have pressed the FCC in recent weeks on how to refine language around the open internet safeguards, particularly in dealing with novel 5G wireless technology and some of its network management practices.

The FCC clarification changed some of the initial draft's language to make clear that indiscriminate speeding up of content would also violate the order’s prohibition on throttling, agency staff told reporters after the vote. Text of the final order was not immediately available.

What's next

The order will go into effect 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.

But the future of the rules is less certain given a variety of threats on the horizon. If former President Donald Trump wins reelection, a GOP-led FCC would likely repeal the rules. The telecom industry is also expected to file a legal challenge, although Rosenworcel has defended the plan as court-tested given an earlier legal victory involving the 2015 rules.

There will also be pushback from top Republicans on Capitol Hill. Rosenworcel and her fellow commissioners will testify May 7 before the House Energy and Commerce telecom subcommittee, which will likely feature much discussion of net neutrality.