House Leaders Tell FCC to Support Net Neutrality
March 15th, 2007 by Tim KarrMembers of the House on Wednesday pressed FCC Chairman Kevin Martin to take a stronger position in support of Net Neutrality, calling it “indispensable policy for the future of the Internet.”
Telecommunications and Internet Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) promised that this would be just one among many hearings focused on the Net Neutrality issue.
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Markey, who authored a pro-Net Neutrality bill in 2006, has pledged to protect Net Neutrality in the 110th Congress.
Over the course of Wednesday’s often contentious hearing, representatives grilled the FCC chairman on a range of issues – from caps on cable ownership to an overhaul of the Universal Service Fund – but they frequently returned to the issue of Net Neutrality as fundamentally important to the progress of the Internet.
Net Neutrality Good for Business
Markey criticized Martin’s efforts to paint a rosy picture of broadband in America, noting the global decline of the U.S. in broadband penetration rates and speed of services compared to other developed countries. One ranking, the “Digital Opportunity Index,” placed the U.S. 21st in the world — behind Estonia.
Markey attributed this decline to the phone and cable industry’s grip on policymaking at the FCC. Reports in InformationWeek and Foreign Affairs echo Markey’s concerns, finding that forward-looking Internet policy — and not wholesale “deregulation” — is the way to save America from becoming a broadband backwater.
“It seems to me industry is setting the agenda [at the FCC],” Markey told Martin, adding that stronger Net Neutrality provisions “indispensable policy for the future of the Internet.”
 Investors Inspired by a Neutral AT&T |
Martin expressed concern that subjecting ISPs to Net Neutrality rules “would impede some investment” in the sector.
But the market performance of AT&T since it accepted Net Neutrality conditions to its BellSouth merger doesn’t bear out the chairman’s concern.
In the month following the company’s agreement to respect Net Neutrality, the value of AT&T stock price jumped by more than 10 percent (see chart), defying industry claims that Net Neutrality rules would result in a loss of confidence in their ability to build out broadband services.
Wednesday’s hearing was the first time in three years that commissioners had appeared before the subcommittee — a lapse that Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) said has had “unwelcome consequences.”
“We intend to have them here as frequent guests,” added Markey.
