Net Action at FCC Shifts Into Neutral

By John Eggerton -- Multichannel News, 9/6/2010 12:01:00 AM

Washington — The Federal Communications Commission has put off any action on expanding and codifying its network-neutrality guidelines until at least December and likely into next year — regardless of what happens with Title II reclassification of broadband service — and the industry might have Google and Verizon Communications to thank for it.

FCC chairman Julius Genachowski last week said the commission would seek more advice on the proposal, specifically looking at how and to what extent to apply those rules to mobile broadband providers, and whether to allow specialized services that could bypass both the public Internet and openness rules.

Some opponents of Title II reclassification read it as a sign the FCC would also delay that effort, which has gotten pushback from Democrats and Republicans in Congress. But public-interest groups pushing the FCC to reclassify said it meant nothing of the sort.

One thing it did seem to officially signal was that industry stakeholders in talks, at the FCC and elsewhere, reached agreement on a regulatory framework addressing the vast majority of issues, a framework they hope supersedes a Title II move.

Genachowski said last fall he wanted to codify the FCC’s existing four principles and add ones on customer transparency — tell subscribers how you are managing their Internet access — and nondiscrimination against content or applications.

The proposal also asked whether wireless broadband should be treated differently — suggesting it might need to be — and whether paid prioritization for specialized services should be allowed — suggesting it shouldn’t.

That effort got sidetracked by the BitTorrent court decision calling into question the FCC’s regulatory authority over those issues.

With industry players close to their own agreement on many of those proposals, the FCC now wants to drill down on mobile broadband, which it sees as a big player in deployment going forward, and specialized services, particularly after Google and Verizon announced they supported exempting mobile from most openness rules and allowing specialized services.

As for the Title II reclassification effort, the FCC sent a signal not to look for it until at least October. The commission issued its tentative agenda for the September public meeting and Title II was nowhere to be seen. Genachowski has proposed reclassifying broadband transmission as a common-carrier service, at least to the extent it can justify Internet openness oversight, like the net-neutrality guidelines he wants to codify.

Advocacy groups continued to push for Title II, arguing last week that the call for comment did not preclude that action. “Nothing in this public notice prevents the FCC from taking prompt action on its ‘Third Way’ proceeding,” Public Knowledge president Gigi Sohn said.

A senior FCC official speaking on background said that “all options are on the table.”

“The FCC staff is busy reviewing and analyzing an extensive record of more than 50,000 comments in the broadband framework proceeding, which only closed a few weeks ago. Securing a solid legal foundation for broadband policy is too important an issue to rush,” the official said.