A federal court decision last week will allow California to enforce its own net neutrality rules. As other states follow suit, the desire for a more uniform approach could lead to federal legislation clarifying the scope of FCC regulatory authority over broadband Internet access service.
On February 23, Judge John Mendez of the U.S. District
After an extended deliberative process and pursuant to issuance of a Request for Proposals (“RFP”), the First Responder Network Authority, commonly known as FirstNet, selected AT&T as its partner to build, operate and maintain the Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network (“NPSBN”). The actual terms of the agreement between FirstNet and AT&T remain unavailable to the
The nation watched President Trump take the oath of office last Friday. On the same day, but to considerably less fanfare, it was widely reported that President Trump would appoint Commissioner Ajit Pai as Chairman of the FCC. It became official on January 23, 2017.
Chairman Pai is joined by current Commissioners O’Reilly (a Republican) and Clyburn (a Democrat). The Republican majority should make it easier for Chairman Pai to quickly act on his priorities.
What are his priorities? To get a sense, we examine then-Commissioner Pai’s public statements in several high-profile – and sometimes contentious – FCC proceedings.
Continue Reading FCC Priorities Under Republican Leadership
The FCC’s Monthly Meeting scheduled for 26 February 2015 is both widely-anticipated and one in series of continuing events. The FCC will likely adopt its net neutrality order and order preempting certain state restrictions on municipal broadband by 3-2 votes. Both decisions will be appealed.
The immediate questions are whether the net neutrality rules will
At the CES Conference earlier this month, Chairman Wheeler signaled the FCC would adopt net neutrality rules, including a ban on paid prioritization, consistent with President Obama’s blog post from November. These remarks were noteworthy because the Chairman stated he would circulate a draft net neutrality order for adoption at the February Commission Meeting that would rely on Title II of the Communications Act as authority for the anti-blocking and anti-discrimination rules that the D.C. Court of Appeals struck down last January in Verizon v. FCC.
Continue Reading Draft Legislation Targets Title II-Based Net Neutrality Rules
As 2015 begins, the FCC has reportedly chosen Title II with forbearance as the basis for targeted Net Neutrality rules. Other headline issues are the incentive auction, re-assessing whether the Communications Act empowers the FCC to pre-empt state laws limiting municipal broadband networks, and redefining broadband as 25 MBPS downstream/3 MBPS downstream.
Few FCC issues have elicited the sustained attention of the general public, public interest groups of all persuasions, the media, and the cable, telco and wireless industries as Net Neutrality. It is one of those rare issues that can drive a united front among the major Internet services providers.
In parallel, the Commission, guided by the Chairman and with the Office of Strategic Planning & Policy Analysis doing the heavy lifting, is in the midst of significant, though less widely reported, efforts to address a far more pressing issue for many of the country’s rural communities: For all intents and purposes, these communities do not have broadband services and find themselves on the wrong side of the “Digital Divide.”
Continue Reading FCC Broadband Policy: More than “Fast Lanes” and “Title II Regulation”— Part I
This is BeyondTelecomLawBlog’s first annual Telecom Legal/Policy Projections for the New Year. While multiple policy and legislative initiatives were launched in 2010 and 2011, we expect the courts, the FCC and Congress to define the scope of these initiatives in 2012.
Net Neutrality Order Heading for Reversal in Court of Appeals. Assuming the D.C. Circuit