#63: Special Prices for Business Broadband

Tech Policy Podcast

TechFreedom

Technology

4.8 • 45 Ratings

🗓️ 18 April 2016

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

While the FCC chooses not to regulate the prices that consumers pay for residential broadband — for now — the same isn’t true for businesses. Special access services are dedicated connections used by businesses to transmit voice and data. The FCC regulates the price of special access lines to ensure they’re provided at “reasonable” rates and terms and conditions. The Commission is looking at updating these regulations, and a new study from Hal Singer, Senior Fellow at GW Institute for Public Policy, warns that the new rules could depress investment in fiber technology. Evan and Singer discuss the study, whether the FCC should be in the rate-regulation business, and what this all means for consumers.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Tech Policy Podcast.
0:09.6	I'm Evan Schwarzenstraber, your host.
0:11.4	On today's show, regulating the price of internet access.
0:15.3	Should the FCC be in the business of regulating the prices that businesses pay for broadband. Should they be regulating the
0:22.6	prices that you and I pay for broadband? Joining me to discuss this is Hal Singer, senior fellow
0:27.6	at the GW Institute for Public Policy. Hal, thank you for joining me. Well, thanks, Evan,
0:32.1	so much for having me here. Well, back in 2015, February of 2015, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said he was not interested in regulating the rates charged by Internet service providers.
0:43.2	And this was in response to concerns over his net neutrality regulations that would actually give the agency the authority to regulate broadband rates by reclassifying broadband as a common carrier service.
0:54.7	Now, the only thing stopping the agency from doing that right now is their word.
0:58.7	They say that they have forborne from the regulations, meaning they're picking and choosing
1:03.7	what regulations they want to enforce, and that's only as good as this commission, a future
1:08.0	commission, maybe under President Hillary Clinton, could totally just
1:10.9	unforebear.
1:12.3	But he also left out an important caveat.
1:14.9	He says he wasn't interested in regulating broadband rates, but he should have added in
1:18.7	another word there, right, Hal?
1:20.3	Yeah, what he meant to say, but it just wouldn't have been as catchy and as powerful,
1:24.1	is that he was going to forbear from regulating the rates for residential
1:29.1	internet offerings. What he neglected to say and what he should have said just to be clear
1:34.0	was that he intended fully to preserve the agency's right to regulate the offerings for business
1:42.0	customers. And why would regulate, why would business broadband be treated differently than the broadband
1:49.5	that you and I have at our homes in terms of regulation?
	...

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