Tag Archives: FCC

FCC Set Top Box Hearing – Move Towards Good Direction

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This week, WIPP kept a close eye on the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s oversight hearing of the Federal Communications Commission.  The hearing had a major focus on the Commission’s proposal to regulate set-top boxes which has received much criticism from since its release earlier this year.

More than 190 Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle and several advocacy groups and industry leaders have spoken out against how the proposal could negatively affect media diversity and consumer privacy. We at WIPP expressed our own concerns about how the proposal could specifically harm women and minority programmers in the media marketplace.

Under the FCC’s proposal, the playing field would be stacked against minority programmers in tilted in favor of tech giants.  These large companies would be able to take content from independent and minority programmers and redistribute it without having to pay the content creator.  As a result, these programmers would lose revenue that is necessary to maintaining and funding the creation of new quality content for their audiences.

This past February, 18 independent programmers and content creators wrote a letter to Congress expressing concern about the “devastating and lasting harm” the proposed regulations could have on media diversity and their businesses.  They stated that “It’s clear that the independent programming landscape would quickly become a ‘race to the bottom’ if this rule were to pass.

Fortunately, the video industry recently came up with an alternative to the FCC’s proposal that would protect the copyrights of programmers’ original content. Under this plan, pay-TV providers would offer apps that can be used on third-party boxes or streaming devices.  This way, content creators remain in control of how their programming is distributed and consumers are able to access their favorite shows on the device of their choice.

It seems that after months of debate, the Commission is moving forward in a positive direction.  During this week’s House hearing, Rep. Marsha Blackburn asked the FCC Commissioners if they believe their original proposal to regulate set-top boxes is flawed.  All Commissioners acknowledged that the original proposal needs improvement and that the video industry’s proposal is potentially a better approach.

Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioner Mignon Clyburn further stated that the Copyright Office voiced concerns with the FCC’s proposal and that copyright security and privacy must be put in place.

We strongly encourage the FCC to move forward with this apps approach.  This alternative offers a constructive solution for all content creators, especially women and minority businesses enabling them to continue doing what they do best: providing consumers the diverse content they demand.

Did You Really Mean That FCC?

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This week, the House Energy and Commerce Committee held a hearing on a bill, HR 2666, which would prevent the FCC from regulating broadband rates. In fact, the FCC’s Chairman Tom Wheeler is quoted as saying “Let me be clear, the FCC will not impose ‘utility style’ regulation…” when
issuing the Commission’s decision to subject broadband service providers to regulations that govern telecommunications services – Title II of the Communications Act.

 

That begs the question, why pass a bill that reiterates what the Chairman promised? There are a couple of reasons why. First, FCC Commissioners do not have permanent appointments—they arinternet.jpge appointed by the President and serve five-year terms. While we doubt anyone questions Chairman Wheeler’s integrity, the next set of Commissioners may not hold the same view. Second, regulating rates in utility- style fashion does not really fit the fast moving technological changes that come with the industry providing internet services. Third, talk about a damper on investment – subjecting broadband networks to the government’s slow ratemaking process would surely have a negative effect.

 

As we understand this issue, no one is purporting to restrict the FCC’s ability to protect the consumer with respect to broadband access or technology companies who rely on an open internet to conduct business. Women-owned businesses have much to lose if the government does not properly balance internet access with regulation.

 

We are keenly aware that according to the SBA Office of Advocacy, “Small businesses, defined as firms employing fewer than 20 employees, bear the largest burden of federal regulations. As of 2008, small businesses face an annual regulatory cost of $10,585 per employee, which is 36 percent higher than the regulatory cost facing large firms (defined as firms with 500 or more employees).” Small businesses are usually the losers when it comes to more regulation.

 

The Congress ought to pass this bill. Broadband access is a critical lifeline to all businesses. Business certainty resonates throughout our economy—especially small companies. Putting the FCC intent into law with respect to broadband rate regulation is a good idea.

Regulation or Innovation? Congress Will Weigh In On FCC Regs That Can Impact Advances In Technology And Wireless Access

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19109887010_40b0dfa987_mOn November 17th, all five FCC commissioners are scheduled to appear at a Congressional hearing during which they will discuss the Commission’s work including the upcoming incentive auction and the open Internet order passed earlier this year.  This hearing is a very important opportunity for Congress to ensure the FCC’s recent actions on these issues serve the interests of the American people and our economy.

The economic landscape has changed drastically over the past few decades.  Advances in technology and broadband are changing consumer demand, and businesses and entrepreneurs must evolve in order to compete and thrive in today’s marketplace.  However, current FCC regulations are failing to keep up with these changes, and as a result are interfering with competitive industries’ efforts to innovate and grow.

For business owners, access to high-speed broadband enables increased efficiency of business operations, improved customer service, reduced cost, and the ability to reach new customers and markets.  Entrepreneurs also gain the flexibility to start and grow their businesses, whether they are working from an office, their home, or on the move.

The benefits of today’s broadband technology exist because of the hands-off regulatory approach the government applied to the Internet over twenty years ago.  This framework has a proven record of increasing private investment in new networks, enabling innovation to thrive, and expanding access to the highest quality broadband services to more consumers and businesses.

Unfortunately, the FCC could hurt this track record of success by changing course and adopting old regulations that were meant for the old telephone monopoly.  By saddling the Internet with price regulation micromanagement, among other things, the FCC is discouraging companies from building out their broadband infrastructures.  Similar policies have failed in Canada and the European Union.

The FCC’s regulatory overreach is a high-risk gamble. It puts consumers and businesses in harm’s way, risking the choice and lower costs we have experienced and benefitted from in the modern, broadband-connected world. Instead, we need to maintain the long-held, light touch policy. This approach will generate even more innovation and investment in our broadband infrastructure, crucial for business owners throughout the country.

Congress needs to hold the FCC to a high standard this Tuesday and ensure its actions help foster an innovative and competitive business environment.  This is the only way wants to provide consumers and business owners with access to the high-quality, affordable broadband services they need, while helping to grow our overall economy.

What is Spectrum and Why it Matters to Your Business?

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How much do you use mobile technology in your business?  Smartphones, tablets, wireless internet…if you use any or all of these then spectrum will matter to you.

Learn more from this video from CTIA – the Wireless Association.

More information can be found at myWireless.org:

Time for Congress to Move a Neutral Net into Drive

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WIPP infographic II

Capital investment is a solid predictor of economic health. That’s why recent news in the communications policy arena deserves Congress’ attention.

Last week, a new regulatory regime over the Internet took effect. But before these rules came to life, a half-dozen small Internet providers in the Midwest, South and Pacific Northwest told federal officials that they had been forced to cut back on expanding faster broadband service because of the FCC’s recent decision to begin micromanaging the Internet.

All six of these Internet providers specialize in serving small towns and underserved areas; none have the size or scale to accommodate the new regulations’ expenses without budget cuts elsewhere. Moreover, their statements were made under threat of perjury.

For women in particular, this issue should raise serious concerns. Almost half of women-owned businesses are home-based. Anything that slows home broadband deployment has a potential to impact the full economic participation of women.

These verified reports about higher regulatory costs and less money for investment are a clear “canary in the coal mine” warning to Congress about the FCC’s decision to regulate the Internet with Title II regulations written in 1934. That 3-2 party line vote on February 26 overturned decades of successful experience about the benefits of “light touch” rules for the Internet.

Prior to that ill-fated FCC vote, federal Internet policy was both an area of broad agreement and a shining example of successfully encouraging an important new industry. The lack of federal micromanagement that was a hallmark of federal policy since Bill Clinton’s Presidency was key to unleashing a tidal wave of communications investment — $1.3 trillion since 1996 and $75 billion just in 2013.

The results speak for themselves, especially when compared with other countries’ experiences. The U.S. has a huge lead over Europe in both fiber optic deployment and high-speed 4G LTE broadband. Americans spend more time talking on their mobile phones than people in any developed country in the world.

This investment also produced jobs – lots of them. The growth of the mobile app economy, which developed because of America’s high-speed wireless networks, sustains more than 750,000 U.S. jobs, according to the Progressive Policy Institute.

The FCC’s decision to regulate the Internet as a public utility with outdated Title II rules undercuts the very policies that helped spur this success. The FCC’s action is as inexplicable as it is wrongheaded.

Indeed, the Commission’s efforts to explain this action border on the comical. As Hal Singer noted in a recent Forbes commentary, the FCC’s own economic analysis of its action is almost amusing. For example, the agency claimed that the broadband industry’s strong record of investment in 2010 showed that its regulations encourage investment, despite the fact that the Commission’s vote on a more reasonable set of Internet rules occurred on December 21, 2010.

Ultimately, the key reason that Congress must update America’s communications laws is to protect the people who lost an opportunity for better Internet service, because the FCC’s action added pointless new expenses and legal uncertainties to broadband deployment.

The 8,000 St. Louis-area residents served by Wisper ISP, a Missouri-based Internet provider, have felt the negative impact of these utility style regulations. As a result of the FCC’s decision, Wisper estimates that compliance costs will grow to 10% of its operating revenue. It has already had to cut investment, resulting in what the company calls “slower broadband speeds, less dense coverage, and absence of expansion into new areas.”

It is a testament to the bipartisan, light-touch policies implemented back when Internet access meant a 56 KB modem that consumers enjoy so much today. Yet, at just the time when the United States was poised to run the table in a 21st century economy, the FCC pulled the rug out from under small businesses. The FCC’s February vote, and last week’s rules enactment, undid the phenomenal success of the modern Internet.

It is time for Congress to set things right again. We hope that members of both parties come together to enact common-sense legislation that both protects the Internet and reinstitutes the wise telecom policy that has brought us the Internet we use and enjoy today.

Internet Regulation Hurts Instead of Helps

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by Barbara Kasoff, WIPP President

EarlieInternetr this year, the FCC voted to adopt overbearing “Title II” regulations that have already led to legal battles which will likely extend for the next several years.  What is Title II?  Title II of the Communications Act of 1934 would grant the FCC additional regulatory authority; this is the authority they utilize over telecommunications services currently. Plenty of experts and economists, as well as the small business community, warned  against the consequences of applying outdated Title II regulations on our country’s Internet infrastructure.  For small telecom providers especially, it’s quickly becoming clear that Title II is detrimental to growth and investment in their businesses.

According to U.S. Census Bureau data, small businesses are the overwhelming majority in the telecommunications sector.  And in his dissent, FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai pointed out that “today there are thousands of smaller Internet service providers…that don’t have the means or the margins to withstand a regulatory onslaught. Smaller, rural competitors will be disproportionately affected, and the FCC’s decision will diminish competition.”

The FCC’s new regulations would subject those small businesses to uncertainty and costs, slowing innovation and leading to decreased investment.  A new policy memo from the Progressive Policy Institute highlights the investment issue, stating the FCC’s decision to adopt Title II regulations could undermine the FCC’s broadband adoption and expansion goals, as well as cost the economy billions in lost investment—a reduction in annual investment of $4 to $10 billion.

These damaging effects are not mere speculation: As of last week, many of these small broadband operators have gone on record, stating under penalty of perjury that these regulations are forcing them to cut back on investments.  These Internet providers include wireless Internet service providers, small-town cable operators, and others, from all across the country.  These different businesses are united, because they have been directly affected by regulations.  As a result, they are forced to cut back on network upgrades, expansion plans, capacity upgrades, and investment in rural and underserved areas.

For consumers, these cutbacks in investment will cause slower speeds, service delays, and coverage gaps.  Reduced investment means that expansion plans will be scrapped or at least delayed, especially in rural and underserved communities where increased broadband deployment is critical.  Consumers have been clear in their desire for faster speeds, expanded coverage, lower prices, and increased competition—but Title II regulations will result in the opposite, hurting small businesses along the way.

There’s a way out of this mess, one that doesn’t involve legal limbo: bipartisan legislation.  Congress can design bipartisan solutions that will protect the Open Internet and consumers, as well as provide light-touch regulation that prohibits blocking and throttling.  This approach will pave the way for increased investment, innovation, and competition—benefitting American consumers and relieving small businesses and entrepreneurs from an overwhelming regulatory burden.  These legislative efforts are currently underway, and we certainly look forward to a real solution, one that does not harm small businesses or consumers.

Spectrum is vital for wireless – and more is needed! [GUEST POST]

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by Robert Shrum, myWireless.org

Earlier this week, The Brattle Group released a study highlighting the essential value of licensed spectrum to America’s economy, job creation, technological innovation, and most specifically, the wireless sector and consumers.

For a quick refresher, “spectrum” refers to the radio frequencies that allow hundreds of millions of people to use wireless service across the country. Only a finite amount of those frequencies are usable for mobile broadband service today, creating heavy demand for access to this critical resource. The spectrum used by your wireless provider is licensed (meaning dedicated for specific network use.) This licensed spectrum is the crucial highway that all wireless network information travels on – without it, your service wouldn’t exist. Chances are the phone you are using is dependent upon spectrum sold at auction in 2006 and 2008.

Not surprising, the licensed spectrum currently being used by providers is incredibly valuable. In the report, The Brattle Group reveals, “We estimate that the economic value of the 645.5 MHz of licensed spectrum is almost $500 billion.” Even more shocking is the finding that the current value of social welfare from the benefits of wireless services generated by licensed spectrum is 10 to 20 times that of its direct market value (between $5 trillion and $10 trillion).

Additionally, this licensed spectrum has a huge positive impact on the national economy, resulting in over $400 billion in economic activity per year throughout the country due to wireless companies and industry employees. This figure does not even include the economic benefits from innovations in mobile education, mobile health, and other similar business and services now reliant on licensed spectrum. That additional impact is especially evident in states where the booming app economy is a key driver of economic activity and job creation.

As more of these wireless-reliant industries emerge and wireless devices such as smartphones and smart devices continue to advance in functionality, larger amounts of licensed spectrum will be required to operate networks and transport information.What is being done to meet this rising demand? In the paper, the Brattle Group notes that a net of 98.5 megahertz of licensed spectrum has been reallocated for commercial use since the 2010 release of the Federal Communications Commission’s National Broadband Plan, which called for an additional 300 MHz of spectrum to be made available for licensed use by this year and a total of 500 MHz by 2020.

To help meet these targets, the FCC has scheduled an incentive auction for next year where television broadcasters will be able to voluntarily sell their spectrum to the FCC, which will then repackage and auction it off to wireless providers. A similar auction resulted in more than $40 billion in proceeds last winter.These auctions are significant steps forward, but unfortunately won’t meet the full demands of American consumers. It is urgent that Congress, the FCC and NTIA work in collaboration with the private sector to identify a future pipeline of additional spectrum for licensed use before it’s too late and the looming wireless traffic jam brings your smartphone to a screeching halt. We have no plan for after 2020 as a nation to address our mobile needs. It is time to start that dialogue.

 

Net Neutrality: The Solution Lies With Congress

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Last spring, the World Wide Web turned 25.  And in its relatively short lifespan, Internet access has become vital to modern life.  Numerous broadband-enabled devices have been developed, and high-speed connectivity now delivers opportunities to us that we could only imagine not long ago.  This connectivity is an important resource for small businesses, professionals, and entrepreneurs, as well as for families, students, and diverse communities.

For women business owners, high speed Internet has enabled them to increase efficiency of business operations, improve customer service, reduce cost, and grow by reaching new customers and markets.  The most significant impact that high-speed connectivity has provided to women is flexibility, allowing them to start and grow their businesses regardless of whether they are working from an office, their home, or while on the go.

These advancements and innovations happened under a light-touch regulatory approach, which was wisely adopted and adhered to for many years.  This approach increased private investment in new technology and networks, allowed innovations to thrive, and helped increase high speed Internet adoption rates.  Unfortunately, we are now facing a radical change in course by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which regulates interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite and cable.

Later this month, the FCC is expected to pass burdensome net neutrality rules created in the 1930s that reclassify the Internet as a public utility. This approach is guaranteed to slow investment into our country’s networks and jeopardize high speed Internet adoption at a time when encouraging both is especially vital to the success of our economy, our small businesses, and our families.  Net neutrality must be preserved, but the proposed FCC rules will do more harm than good. They call for a drastically altered course, one that would sabotage the approach that has helped the Internet thrive from the beginning.

Fortunately, there’s another solution. Congress can design rules that will protect net neutrality and consumers.  By offering opportunities for bipartisanship, lawmakers can work together to eliminate real threats to the Internet and to establish clear legal guidelines for the FCC.  This solution can also ensure that we get the right level of regulation, more in line with the light-touch framework that has worked so well for the past few decades.

A light-touch legislative solution that prohibits blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization while also protecting consumers and avoiding legal limbo, will lead to even more innovation and investment in our country’s Internet infrastructure.  It will also ensure that that all Americans, such as the fastest growing segment of small businesses – women business owners – have access to high-quality Internet and the technology they need to continue to grow our economy.

Tell Congress We Need #NetLawNow!

Below is a piece by the Multicultural Media, Telecom & Internet Council (MMTC, formerly Minority Media and Telecommunications Council), a national nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting and preserving equal opportunity and civil rights in the mass media, telecommunications and broadband industries, and closing the digital divide. MMTC is generally recognized as the nation’s leading advocate for minority advancement in communications.

 

Bad Choices Can Make Today’s Internet Tomorrow’s Memory.  

Here’s what is happening right now to your Internet:  On Thursday, February 26, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the government’s independent agency that oversees the media and telecommunications industries, is about to deliver a groundbreaking decision that will affect your Internet.

Consumers need to speak up because the FCC’s actions can take away the benefits that we enjoy today and in the future.

Why Should YOU Care?

  • TODAY’S INTERNET GIVES YOU POWER. You choose from all kinds of plans and combinations, from low-cost pre-paid plans, all the way up to that family plan with the special music collection you like.  Tomorrow’s Internet could have all of these programs eliminated under new FCC rules.
  • TODAY’S INTERNET GIVES YOU ACCESS. We all move around the Web, accessing movies, photos, emails, and whatever we want on our smartphones and tablets. Tomorrow’s Internet could negatively impact where and how we use the Internet under new FCC rules.
  • TODAY’S INTERNET IS GETTING CHEAPER. Over the last few years, the price of broadband has been decreasing.  Tomorrow’s Internet costs may increase and make it harder for some of us to pay. New, unnecessary taxes and fees on services could also open up from Thursday’s FCC rules, hitting you and your family in the wallet.

Today’s Internet is OPEN, and after Thursday, consumers won’t get anything that they didn’t have – except more rules, less choice, and the possibility of higher costs.

We are running out of time, and we need everyone to join in on the conversation! Contact your Representative so we can all enjoy the benefits of the Internet today and tomorrow!

Tweet #NetLawNow and tell your Members of Congress that you want them to act now to keep the Internet open!