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June 11, 2010

According to some observers, in the first quarter of this year, AT&T Mobility and Verizon Wireless spent quite a bit of money lobbying the FCC.

AT&T reported $5.9 million in lobbying efforts at the FCC, while Verizon spent $4.7 million for the same period.

And there is a very good reason for all that lobbying. Next week, the FCC will issue a Notice of Inquiry on its framework for broadband Internet service in light of a federal appeals court ruling that the FCC is not authorized to regulate broadband services.

Nevertheless, the initiative is one of several underway that could alter the regulatory landscape for mobile and wired broadband services. At stake is a lot of money.

There are several proposals currently under development to regulate the Internet, and as you might expect, some are very controversial:

The National Broadband Plan -- A widely encompassing proposal to bring Internet broadband services to all U.S. citizens but that has no less a backer than president Barack Obama. To be sure, it is a policy goal, but the very specifics will determine its success. Not too many think it will happen anytime soon.

The FCC is trying to rewrite some rules so it can lightly regulate Internet broadband services.

Four congressmen have announced they will try to rewrite the Telecom Act of 1996. While this plan is light on details, the legislators said they are not trying to interfere with the FCC's efforts to regulate broadband services.

No less than 74 congressmen are deeply concerned that the FCC's efforts to reclassify Internet services will stall broadband development, and they might have a good point there.

No matter how you look at this, the political rhetoric is being turned up in advance of the wireless spectrum auction. FCC commissioner Michael Copps, speaking at the Stanford School of Law earlier this week, likened the debate to regulate Internet broadband services to war.

“If the Federal Communications Commission fails to reassert its authority – authority that I believe it clearly has – then the days of the open Internet will be succeeded by the age of the gatekeepers. This is not going to be an easy fight. The big telephone and cable companies are doing everything they can to prevent the reclassification of Internet access services. They have redeployed their troops at the FCC and throughout Washington.”

The four congressmen trying to rewrite the telecom act have perhaps the most difficult road ahead because there is no specific order that these issues face Congress: unemployment remains high, there's a war going on, healthcare issues, immigration issues and oil is still gushing thousands of barrels a day into the Gulf of Mexico, in case you forgot.

FCC Commissioner Meredith Baker, who disagrees with the FCC's attempt to reclassify Internet broadband services, said this yesterday "at the outset, I have concerns that this second debate is really about putting potential Net Neutrality rules on firmer ground."

"An effort to first adopt a desired list of regulatory authority and then define broadband to fit into the corresponding re-classification is not an easy task for the FCC," added Baker.

"Only Congress should make such a fundamental decision. If the existing classification fails to provide the necessary regulatory results, then legislation is the only appropriate remedy," said Baker.

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Source: The FCC.