Bloomberg Law: Net Neutrality Tops To-Do List for FCC Democrats in Biden Era

Bloomberg Law: Net Neutrality Tops To-Do List for FCC Democrats in Biden Era

“You can’t have net neutrality without Title II,” Yosef Getachew, media and democracy program director at Common Cause, said. To reclassify broadband under Title II, a Democratic-led FCC may reverse an order adopted in October by the GOP-led FCC that affirmed its repeal of the Obama-era net neutrality rules.

The Federal Communications Commission is expected to move to restore net neutrality rules after President-elect Joe Biden takes office, undoing the agency’s deregulation of the broadband industry during the Trump administration.

The key regulatory underpinning would be a reclassification of broadband as a service under Title II of the Communications Act. That reclassification would enable the agency to reinstate rules requiring that companies like AT&T Inc. and Comcast Corp. treat all internet traffic equally, and take other actions to regulate broadband providers’ business practices amid the pandemic.

Internet service providers “should plan for their broadband service to be regulated as a Title II service via Obama-era-like net neutrality rules,” Matt Schettenhelm, a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst, said in a recent note.

How fast Democrats can move to restore broadband as a Title II service and enact new net neutrality rules will depend on how quickly Democrats can install a majority at the FCC. …

Without the reclassification, the FCC can’t enact rules to prevent broadband providers from slowing or blocking internet traffic and charging companies like Netflix Inc. extra for so-called fast lanes to reach consumers.

“You can’t have net neutrality without Title II,” Yosef Getachew, media and democracy program director at Common Cause, said.

To reclassify broadband under Title II, a Democratic-led FCC may reverse an order adopted in October by the GOP-led FCC that affirmed its repeal of the Obama-era net neutrality rules.

Under that scenario, net neutrality advocates would file a petition asking the agency to reconsider the October order. The agency would then consider the petition and issue a declaratory ruling to reclassify broadband services under Title II. Pai used this approach in 2017 to undo Obama-era changes to media ownership rules.