The FCC assertion that Chairman Tom Wheeler’s draft net neutrality order would impose no taxes or fees was disputed Friday by Commissioner Ajit Pai, who claimed in a statement it “explicitly opens the door to billions of dollars in new taxes on broadband.” An economist also claimed in a Forbes op-ed that the plan would lead to at least $500 million in federal fees and potentially more in state charges. An FCC spokesman Friday stood by a Wednesday fact sheet’s assertion, telling us the Internet Tax Freedom Act (ITFA) applies to broadband, even at the state and federal level.
The FCC portrayed the reclassification of broadband in Chairman Tom Wheeler’s net neutrality proposal as a modernized Title II. But pledges from senior agency officials not to impose traditional Communications Act common-carriage regulations like rate regulation didn't ease the concerns of reclassification’s opponents.
The FCC portrayed the reclassification of broadband in Chairman Tom Wheeler’s net neutrality proposal as a modernized Title II. But pledges from senior agency officials not to impose traditional Communications Act common-carriage regulations like rate regulation didn't ease the concerns of reclassification’s opponents.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler may be moving toward basing net neutrality rules on Title II (see 1501070054), but how he goes about it has become intertwined with another controversial issue -- whether to require broadband customers to begin paying into the USF. If the FCC approves reclassification, and forbearance from Section 254, the agency could block its own ability to require broadband to contribute to the fund, an NTCA official told us. The group made the case to the agency last week. ITTA, which like NTCA has called for requiring broadband providers to begin contributing to the fund, also opposes forbearing from the section, said ITTA President Genny Morelli in an interview.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler may be moving toward basing net neutrality rules on Title II (see 1501070054), but how he goes about it has become intertwined with another controversial issue -- whether to require broadband customers to begin paying into the USF. If the FCC approves reclassification, and forbearance from Section 254, the agency could block its own ability to require broadband to contribute to the fund, an NTCA official told us. The group made the case to the agency last week. ITTA, which like NTCA has called for requiring broadband providers to begin contributing to the fund, also opposes forbearing from the section, said ITTA President Genny Morelli in an interview.
The revolving door rotates freely in government public relations. At just one federal agency with about 1,700 total employees, at least 14 public relations experts and lawyers who advise on issues including PR came or left during the Obama administration. Careers of PR practitioners exiting the FCC since about Jan. 21, 2009, spanned the gamut. Some job changes resembled the traditional revolving door, with officials leaving for the industries their employer used to regulate, others were so-called reverse revolvers coming to the agency from entities that lobbied the FCC, while other career paths were less orthodox and don't fall under the revolving door rubric at all. That is according to Communications Daily Freedom of Information Act requests, other records and interviews with those who reviewed our database.
In a move FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and the commission's Democratic majority said would bring more broadband and Wi-Fi connections to schools and libraries, commissioners on a party-line 3-2 vote Thursday raised E-rate’s annual spending cap by $1.5 billion. They signaled their intent to approve another reform aimed at giving people more access to the Internet, adding broadband to Lifeline (see 1411120026). Republican commissioners, while backing the aim of E-rate, opposed raising the spending cap.
In a move FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and the commission's Democratic majority said would bring more broadband and Wi-Fi connections to schools and libraries, commissioners on a party-line 3-2 vote Thursday raised E-rate’s annual spending cap by $1.5 billion. They signaled their intent to approve another reform aimed at giving people more access to the Internet, adding broadband to Lifeline (see 1411120026). Republican commissioners, while backing the aim of E-rate, opposed raising the spending cap.
In what Communications Act Title II opponents say illustrates a split among progressives on net neutrality, Rev. Jesse Jackson urged FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler at a meeting Thursday not to base rules on Title II, according to an as yet still unposted ex parte notice. Jackson, echoing concerns by minority groups as well as by broadband providers like AT&T, told Wheeler and top agency aides he feared reclassification “would harm investment in broadband infrastructure, which would reduce broadband deployment … in minority communities,” said TechFreedom’s ex parte report on the meeting given to us. The meeting included what one of the participants, Minority Media and Telecommunications Council Vice President Nicol Turner-Lee, called a group of “strange bedfellows” that included net neutrality groups and free market advocates like the Free State Foundation.
In what Communications Act Title II opponents say illustrates a split among progressives on net neutrality, Rev. Jesse Jackson urged FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler at a meeting Thursday not to base rules on Title II, according to an as yet still unposted ex parte notice. Jackson, echoing concerns by minority groups as well as by broadband providers like AT&T, told Wheeler and top agency aides he feared reclassification “would harm investment in broadband infrastructure, which would reduce broadband deployment … in minority communities,” said TechFreedom’s ex parte report on the meeting given to us. The meeting included what one of the participants, Minority Media and Telecommunications Council Vice President Nicol Turner-Lee, called a group of “strange bedfellows” that included net neutrality groups and free market advocates like the Free State Foundation.