The U.S. government is cracking down on digital discrimination in the broadband Internet service industry, and Internet service providers aren’t too happy about it. AT&T, Verizon, Charter and Comcast, along with a few other service providers, are opposing the Federal Communications Commission’s plan to investigate pricing as part of the fight against digital discrimination.
On November 15, 2021, a congressional mandate (the Infrastructure Act) required the FCC to adopt rules that prevent “digital discrimination in access based on income level, race, ethnicity, color , religion or national origin” in a maximum of two years. years. The commission created a draft plan last month, and scheduled a commission vote to adopt the rules on Nov. 15.
The draft plan cites the Infrastructure Act, which would require the FCC to create rules requiring Internet service providers to “display easy-to-understand labels that allow consumers to compare broadband services.” This means that providers should provide consumers with “clear, concise and accurate information about broadband Internet prices and charges, network performance and practices.”
Additionally, when determining digital discrimination, the FCC will look at the rates that Internet service providers charge consumers, saying that “statutory language encompasses discriminatory rates.”
“We emphasize that the rules we are adopting today do not establish rates for broadband Internet access service and are not an attempt to institute rate regulation,” the FCC said in its draft plan.
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Internet service providers have been found to price their services based on neighborhood demographics. Additionally, in some cases, lower-income neighborhoods have poorer quality technology than those in wealthier neighborhoods.
In a report published in 2022 by The Markup, data from 38 cities across the country was analyzed and found that AT&T, Verizon, EarthLink and CenturyLink provided lower-income and less white neighborhoods with slower internet for the same price as whiter, wealthier neighborhoods that were paid nearby for faster speeds.
FCC plan faced opposition from Internet service providers
The FCC’s plan to combat price discrimination faced opposition from AT&T, Verizon, Charter and Comcast. All of the companies expressed concerns about the FCC’s plan in filings and even met with the commission several times to discuss the rules.
In a deposit of Verizon on Nov. 3, the company said the FCC misinterpreted Congressional language in the infrastructure law, saying it did not explicitly mention pricing when it ordered the commission to crack down on digital discrimination.
“The importance of price in a customer’s purchasing decision and Congress’s decision to omit “rates” or “pricing” and use only “terms and conditions” demonstrate that Congress did not want that the Commission’s digital discrimination investigation includes pricing,” Verizon said in the filing. .
Additionally, according to a document filed by the Internet & Television Association on November 7, which understand Charter and Comcast, it said the FCC should “define digital discrimination as disparate treatment and should limit the standard to policies and practices involving the deployment of broadband network facilities.”
Association challenges wording of FCC plan
The association also said language in the FCC’s proposed plan would regulate prices, although the commission said it had no plans to do so.
“Regulation of prices or non-technical elements, such as marketing, advertising, discounts or credit checks, would represent for the Commission a radical change in regulation which would be inconsistent with the law,” the Commission said. association in the file.
The FCC has already rejected arguments against its proposed pricing investigation in its proposed plan.
“We reject arguments that we should limit the scope of covered service elements to deployment practices or technical terms of service, or that we would exclude certain terms, such as pricing,” the FCC said.