FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler
This is shaping up to be a big week for the Federal Communications Commission, and a good week for the internet. Chairman Tom Wheeler is expected to release his net neutrality proposal to the other commissioners this week, which will almost certainly include the reclassification of broadband providers as common carriers in order to enforce net neutrality rules. The vote on that will happen at a February 26 meeting. But so will another big vote, one to
pre-empt state laws that harm municipal broadband.
The Federal Communications Commission this week will begin considering a draft decision to intervene against state laws in Tennessee and North Carolina that limit Internet access operated and sold by cities, according to a senior FCC official. The agency's chairman, Tom Wheeler, could circulate the draft to his fellow commissioners as early as Monday and the decision will be voted on in the FCC's public meeting on Feb. 26.
If approved, the FCC would find that the states have erected barriers to the timely and reasonable deployment of high-speed Internet access in Chattanooga, Tenn. and Wilson, N.C. It would effectively knock down the state laws that the cities say inhibit them from building viable competitors to the likes of Comcast and Verizon.
The draft decision targets legal hurdles that make it more difficult for city- or community-run Internet services to get off the ground. Tennessee, for example, has passed rules forbidding cities from building high-capacity networks beyond a certain geographic area. Publicly run broadband in North Carolina may not offer service at prices below what a private carrier offers. And in their petitions to the FCC filed last year, the cities point to other regulatory challenges that, they argue, tilt the playing field in favor of incumbent Internet providers such as Comcast and Verizon.
Nearly two dozen states have the same kinds of laws on their books, giving the likes of Comcast and Verizon a stranglehold on broadband. While the ruling will likely be limited to Chattanooga and Wilson, it will likely open up challenges to the state laws in those other states. The FCC will apparently decide that its authority under Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act to promote the deployment of broadband is hampered by the state laws that restrict municipal governments from creating networks. The FCC has already found that roughly 55 million Americans—17 percent of the country—doesn't have access to adequate broadband speeds and most of the country has no more than two broadband providers to choose from.
That, of course, is how big telecom and Republicans want it. In the sham net neutrality legislation Republicans have introduced, they propose to roll back the FCC's Section 706 authority, barring the agency from ruling on municipal broadband at all.