As he said he would, FCC Chairman
Ajit Pai had the Commission release a draft Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking on the Open Internet yeaterday. If passed, the changes
proposed by the Chairman would include re-instating the classification
of all internet access services, including both fixed and broadband, as
information services. That means they’d revert back to being treated as
private, rather than commercial services, an FCC official explained to
reporters.
In 2015, the internet access services were re-defined as common carrier services, Inside Towers
reported. The Chairman said this week the change stifled broadband
investment and deployment, especially in low-income urban and rural
areas.
The Small Business Administration
considers the majority of the some 1,368 wireless telecom carriers to be
small because most of them employ less than 1,000 people, according to
the NPRM, citing U.S. Census Bureau data from 2012. Pai said smaller
ISPs told the agency the re-classification introduced regulatory
uncertainty into the broadband rollout, making it harder for them to get
funding. Continue Reading
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