FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler may be in the crosshairs of Capitol Hill Republicans after President Barack Obama’s direct endorsement Monday for Communications Act Title II reclassification of broadband, possibly derailing the course of telecom priorities next Congress. House Republicans want an FCC oversight hearing in the lame-duck session, industry officials told us, with several predicting increased scrutiny and partisan tension next Congress. FCC officials have also ventured to the Hill this week to discuss net neutrality with lawmakers from both parties.
The FCC is moving “as expeditiously as possible” to allow for more Wi-Fi use in the upper 5 GHz band, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler reassured Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Cory Booker, D-N.J., along with Reps. Bob Latta, R-Ohio, and Anna Eshoo, D, Darrell Issa, R, and Doris Matsui, D, all of California, in a letter the agency released last week. They all back the Wi-Fi Innovation Act, calling for shared spectrum use in that band. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers “is actively reviewing two leading proposals submitted by the Wi-Fi industry to address interference issues within the upper 5 GHz band,” Wheeler said. "Commission staff has encouraged and monitored the group's progress. At the same time, the Commission continues to work collaboratively with other federal stakeholders, including NTIA, the Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, to encourage the development of viable solutions to protect incumbent users from harmful interference, while maximizing the potential shared use of this spectrum.”
Comcast backs “open Internet protections similar to those” that Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., outlined in legislation proposing a ban on paid prioritization deals, Comcast Executive Vice President David Cohen told Leahy in a letter. Leahy had asked that Comcast and other major ISPs pledge to forgo paid prioritization deals (see 1410230041). Cohen responded in a letter dated Oct. 24 that Leahy’s office released to us Thursday. Cohen reiterated his confidence that the FCC will have new net neutrality rules in place before 2018, when its net neutrality obligations enacted as a condition of Comcast's NBCUniversal acquisition will expire. The FCC should craft “stable” rules using Communications Act Section 706, Cohen said, saying reclassifying broadband under Title II would be “risky and unnecessary.” Cohen dismissed the idea of an ISP pledge. Net neutrality rules “will only be meaningful if they offer all consumers of all companies the same protections,” Cohen said. “Voluntary pledges by individual ISPs are not an adequate substitute for industry-wide rules -- whether promulgated by the FCC or enacted by Congress.”
Industry groups and companies reacted along already well-established lines to a Wall Street Journalreport that FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is considering a net neutrality order, with some hybrid version of Communications Act Title II, for a vote as early as the Dec. 11 commissioner meeting.
Capitol Hill staffers visited FCC headquarters Monday to learn how the agency’s AWS-3 spectrum auction, scheduled for next month, will work. The House staffers work for members of the Congressional Spectrum Caucus, led by Reps. Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., and Doris Matsui, D-Calif. Those lawmakers created the caucus in February. “We had about 15-20 staffers from Energy and Commerce offices visit the FCC to see a demo of their auction system,” a spokeswoman for Guthrie told us. “We had a briefing on auction procedures and the history of FCC auctions and then were able to utilize the FCC’s auction system to do a ‘real-time’ demo of the auction system.” A Democratic House staffer told us that about 20 staffers from both political parties attended the briefing. “The FCC walked us through the auction process and we participated in auction simulation,” said the Democratic staffer.
Tuesday’s net neutrality forum in College Park, Texas, allowed the FCC to hear voices that weren’t heard during the agency's series of workshops on the issue, including those of smaller ISPs, Commissioner Ajit Pai told us after the event (see 1410210049). Representatives of ISPs had said during the panel that they could not handle Communications Act Title II's administrative burdens if the agency takes that path, and that dealing with high demands require network management. Members of the public, unlike during the workshops held at FCC headquarters, were able to speak at the forum at Texas A&M University, added Pai, who sponsored the event. Many who testified complained about a lack of choice in ISPs and the quality of service. Pai did not explicitly oppose a Title II approach when talking to us, but reiterated his past statements that FCC actions on net neutrality should not undermine “the business case” for deploying more broadband. Pai was the only commissioner at the forum. An aide to Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel noted the commissioner had attended a Sept. 4 net neutrality forum convened by Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., in Sacramento (see 1409250037).
California Public Utilities Commissioner Catherine Sandoval urged the FCC in an ex parte filing posted Friday to rely on both Title II and Section 706 of the Communications Act as it creates new net neutrality rules. Title II and Section 706 are “complementary” but “only Title II, applied with appropriate forbearance and a light regulatory touch, can protect common carriers, broadcasters and other FCC licensees, and Internet speakers from ISP discrimination and high Internet entry barriers,” Sandoval said. She noted she was speaking on her own behalf and not on the behalf of the full CPUC (http://bit.ly/1riVCGA). The CPUC withdrew from consideration possible comments on the FCC’s NPRM ahead of what had been a planned Thursday vote on the issue, prompting criticism from public interest groups in the state (see 1410160054). Sandoval recommended the FCC refer any new proposed net neutrality rules to the Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience Conference, the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service and the Federal-State Joint Conference on Advanced Telecommunications Services, for which Sandoval serves as policy chairwoman. Those bodies can evaluate the proposed rules for federal and state implications related to universal service, Internet access, public safety, security and critical infrastructure issues, Sandoval said. She also noted her concerns about the net neutrality NPRM’s paid prioritization language, which she said would be harmful to consumers, public safety agencies, “content creators” and critical infrastructure sectors. Sandoval said she noted similar concerns during an Oct. 7 meeting with Priscilla Delgado, legal adviser to FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, and during a Sept. 24 forum with Rosenworcel and Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif.
FCC Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel attacked their agency’s approach to net neutrality, as did Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., Wednesday at a net neutrality forum Matsui convened in Sacramento. She styled the meeting like a hearing, with Clyburn and Rosenworcel, both Democrats, sitting alongside her in the role of lawmakers, questioning five witnesses who all strongly defended net neutrality protections. The proceedings will be part of House Commerce Committee record.
Center for Democracy & Technology President Nuala O'Connor prefers a more nuanced application of legal authority for net neutrality rules, involving some but not complete Title II grounding, she plans to tell Congress Wednesday. She and Robert McDowell, a former Republican FCC commissioner now at Wiley Rein, will testify on net neutrality Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee. O'Connor has defended the need for net neutrality rules, while McDowell has questioned them. “I would like to discuss several proposals that draw upon, or are hybrids of, Title II and Section 706, and several implementation issues applicable to any approach,” O'Connor plans to say, according to written testimony. The real question is whether the “commercially reasonable” standard supports the concept of Internet openness, O'Connor’s testimony says. In it she proposes a potential modification of that standard to allow for rules crafted under Communications Act Section 706. She also discusses a “hybrid” authority that takes “some of the strengths of Title II and Section 706” and considers what it would mean to apply Title II reclassification to edge providers. But the FCC needs “clear rules now,” she argues. Other witnesses are Union Square Ventures Managing Partner Brad Burnham, actress Ruth Livier, and Jeff Eisenach, a visiting scholar with the American Enterprise Institute Center for Internet, Communications and Technology Policy. The hearing will be at 10:30 a.m. in 216 Hart. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., also pressed for broader discussion of net neutrality outside of Washington and stronger rules in an op-ed for The Hill Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1m8GMGM). “To make sure they get this right, the FCC should leave Washington and go on the road to hear firsthand from consumers, small-business owners, entrepreneurs, educators and other citizens who will be directly impacted by the policies put in place for the Internet,” Leahy and Matsui said, emphasizing their work to hold events outside D.C. They had partnered to introduce legislation that would ban paid prioritization deals.
Cathy Sandoval, a commissioner on the California Public Utilities Commission, will speak on net neutrality at the Sept. 24 forum convened by Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif. Sandoval was one of two recent CPUC votes in favor of a staff report recommending the FCC reclassify broadband as a Title II telecom service (CD Sept 12 p4). Other speakers at the forum are to be FCC Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel; Chris Kelly, founder of Kelly Investments and Facebook’s former chief privacy officer; Sacramento Public Library Director Rivkah Sass; KVIE Public Television Sacramento President David Lowe; and screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg, responsible for the Twilight film screenplays. The forum will start at 10 a.m. in Hearing Room 4202 of the California State Capitol in Sacramento, a Matsui news release said (http://1.usa.gov/1pgZI0K). Matsui requested public feedback at Matsui_PublicComments@mail.house.gov.