HOUSE MEMBERS PRESS FCC TO ACT ON BROADBAND PARITY

A bipartisan group of House members echoed cable and ILEC witnesses Mon. in calling for parity in broadband regulation by the FCC. The House Telecom Subcommittee held a hearing late Mon. on broadband regulation, specifically on an FCC rulemaking that would classify DSL broadband as an information service.

Several members of the subcommittee urged the FCC to promote “deregulatory parity” of broadband services. Members on both sides of the aisle argued that cable and DSL broadband services should be treated equally, although there was some dispute on the regulatory requirements for the services. The members discussed the implications of broadband’s being treated as “information services” with the resulting fewer regulations as opposed to “telecom services” and the regulatory requirements that accompany that classification.

Commerce Committee Chmn. Tauzin (R-La.) said regulation of broadband services had implications for free speech because the services were viewed as platforms for speech. He said broadband should be subject to few regulations in order to spur growth. Subcommittee Chmn. Upton (R-Mich.) implored the FCC to give DSL the same information service classification that cable broadband enjoys. Upton said he would call the Commission before the committee after the Aug. recess and ask them “to explain if they had not acted by then.” Full Committee ranking Democrat Dingell (Mich.) said if cable broadband deserved treatment as an information service, so did wireline broadband. He also said the FCC should adjust the TELRIC pricing formula, which he called “destructive” to ILECs.

Both Dingell and Subcommittee ranking Democrat Markey (Mass.) said the FCC and other regulatory bodies had disregarded Congress’s intent with the Telecom Act. Markey said the FCC had used “regulatory fiat” to create a level of deregulation that Congress did not intend. He said the FCC, by classifying broadband services as “information services,” was exempting providers from universal service, privacy and law enforcement requirements.

NCTA Pres. Robert Sachs and Verizon Senior Vp Thomas Tauke both argued for regulatory parity, with Tauke emphasizing the need for a national broadband policy. David Baker, EarthLink vp, said regulation of network transmission equipment as an information service would be anticompetitive to competitive ISPs. Paul Misener, Amazon.com vp, said he worried that broad deregulation of broadband would give providers the ability to impair consumer access to Internet content.