FCC’s Title II Order Would Reduce Broadband Availability and Quality

WASHINGTON—Following the FCC’s release of a draft Order that would regulate broadband under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), the leading think tank for science and technology policy, released the following statement from Joe Kane, ITIF’s director of broadband and spectrum policy:

The FCC’s draft Order would saddle the competitive broadband marketplace with regulations that will reduce the long-term availability and quality of broadband. The free and open Internet thrived before the aberration of Title II regulations in 2015 and has thrived since they were repealed in 2018. Now, the FCC is grasping at straws to justify another round of this partisan exercise that is contrary to the public interest.

The draft Order claims to forbear from the most obviously harmful portions of Title II, but such forbearance is a matter of discretion only and places the broadband ecosystem under the threat of micromanagement. This threat would replace broadband dynamism with sclerosis that would harm consumers and national security.

The draft Order would also sweep beneficial conduct into expansive bans, including leaving developing technologies like network slicing in regulatory limbo. If the FCC adopts this Order, consumers should expect to see less investment in broadband technology and deployment as the threat of regulation erodes incentives to innovate.

An FCC that believed broadband is a necessity and wants to put consumers first would reject this Order.