Muni ISPs Cheering Pai's Title II Rollback Not Necessarily Representative

Nineteen municipal ISPs cheering the net neutrality draft NPRM​ up for a vote at Thursday's FCC commissioners' meeting are "not representative entirely" since while local governments generally abhor federal or state government directives on how to operate, those local networks were built to avoid the harms that have come from large providers "and the lack of market discipline or regulation that allows them to harm communities," he said. "Most of these networks are from smaller, more conservative rural communities that are particularly opposed to federal action in any arena." In a letter to be filed in docket 17-108, the 19 signatories to the American Cable Association-submitted document said that "returning to light-touch regulation of broadband service" will incentivize investments in their networks and future service deployments. They said that since the 2015 imposition of Communications Act Title II regulation on common carriers, their spending on lawyers and consultants to comply with the "complex and ... difficult to fathom" rules has increased and they often delay introductions of new services or features out of caution about facing a complaint or enforcement action. Muni ISP signatories included Monroe, Georgia; Bagley (Minnesota) Public Utilities; Oberlin (Ohio) Cable Co-Op and Auburn (Indiana) Essential Services. Chairman Ajit Pai in a statement Friday said that "the fact that ISPs lacking any profit motive agree that eliminating Title II regulation will benefit consumers and promote innovation and investment is a powerful endorsement of reversing the FCC’s 2015 Title II Order.” Mitchell said he questioned how many of the 19 can point to a direct harm from Title II regulation. The FCC is going full steam ahead toward Thursday's vote (see 1705120052).