Verizon chief: Congress needs to ‘re-take responsibility’ for Internet from FCC
WASHINGTON – Verizon Communications CEO Lowell McAdam recently pressed federal lawmakers to rein in the Federal Communications Commission, the regulatory influence of which he wrote has reached “absurd new levels.”
McAdam, in a three-page letter to senior members of the U.S. House and Senate, called on Congress “to re-take responsibility for policymaking in the Internet ecosystem.”
“The existing legal regime and its accompanying regulatory processes are outdated and broken,” McAdam wrote. “As a result, regulators are applying early 20th century tools to highly dynamic 21st century markets and technologies. Inefficiencies and collateral damage are inevitable.”
McAdam makes the case that Congress has shirked its responsibility in not updating the Federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 and giving the five appointed FCC commissioners too much latitude.
The Verizon CEO also calls out Dish Network for receiving a discount on spectrum licenses acquired in the recent Auction 97 by taking advantage of its ownership in a Native American-owned provider based in Alaska.
Specifically, he points out that “a company with a market cap of $33 billion tried to take advantage of vaguely written regulations to claim a $3.3 billion subsidy from taxpayers that was intended for small businesses.”
McAdam also cites the recent Open Internet Order as a source of aggravation not only for his company but for the industry as a whole.
McAdam wrote: “It is worth pondering how what began several years ago as a single page principles supported and followed by every major [Internet Service Provider] morphed into a 313-page order with almost 1,800 footnotes that will spawn years of uncertainty and litigation. This uncertainty is all the more troubling in this case because it is both unnecessary and unusually consequential.”
Verizon was at the center of the recent Open Internet moves at the FCC as an appeals court decision last year sided with the company in its net neutrality fight, saying that ISPs are not subject to rules that require them to deliver all content at the same speeds.
McAdam’s letter was received the same day the Senate approved an open Internet order co-sponsored by Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL.), the chairman and ranking Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee, respectively.
The amendment stated the need for Congress to “protect the open Internet in a manner that provides clear and certain rules and does not jeopardize public safety, universal service, privacy, accessibility, consumer protection, competition, innovation or investment.”
Thune said in a statement: “This amendment underscores that Congress has a role and responsibility to set policy for protecting an open Internet. Passage of this amendment is a good omen that Congress can come together, on a bipartisan basis, to address uncertainty facing the Internet and consumers. I am grateful to my colleague Sen. Nelson for his efforts on this amendment and his continued engagement to establish certainty for the Internet through bipartisan legislation.”
As of now there has been no movement on an update to the Federal Communications Act.
McAdam noted in his letter “it has been two decades since the last meaningful update of the laws governing the communication sector. That’s too long.”