NCTA: No Internet Role for Cities
By Ted Hearn -- Multichannel News, 2/20/2002 1:00:00 PM
In its boldest statements yet, the cable industry is urging federal regulators to block local governments from imposing numerous regulations on high-speed cable-modem service.
The National Cable & Telecommunications Association said local governments should be barred from collecting franchise fees and imposing public-access and customer-service obligations on cable-modem service.
The NCTA articulated its position in a five-page letter sent Feb. 19 to the Federal Communications Commission, which is reviewing the regulatory classification of cable-modem service in the wake of conflicting federal court rulings.
The FCC is expected to classify cable-modem service as an information service, and not as a cable service subject to a host of local regulatory conditions.
Last week, the commission tentatively concluded that phone company-provided broadband Internet-access service is an information service, and not a telecommunications service subject to traditional common-carrier regulation.
'If the [FCC] finds that cable modem is an information service, there is no legal basis or policy justification for subjecting it to local regulation, including franchise fees,' the NCTA's letter said.
The trade group added that information services have traditionally fallen within the FCC's exclusive jurisdiction and the global characteristics of the Internet suggest that local regulation is inappropriate.
The imposition of the typical 5 percent franchise fee on cable-modem service would require cable operators to collect an additional $2.50 per month (assuming a $50 monthly bill) on cable high-speed-data customers, the association said.
The NCTA suggested that a franchise fee on cable-modem service would be discriminatory because competitors in the same market would not have to collect franchise fees.
Requiring cable operators to sign new franchise agreements to provide information services, while phone companies and other Internet-service providers would be immune from such a requirement, would also place cable operators at a competitive disadvantage, the NCTA said.
The NCTA's letter was intended to be a strong riposte to recent filings at the FCC from the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors and the FCC's Local and State Government Advisory Committee, both of which urged the retention of local controls over cable operators in connection with cable-modem service.
The NCTA urged the FCC to declare that in labeling cable-modem service as an information service, it is also stating that cable-modem service is not a telecommunications service and that no court or government actor may require cable operators to carry competing ISPs involuntarily.
'Cable-modem service is interstate in nature, and the FCC should indicate clearly that it is occupying the regulatory field. Failure to provide a clear answer on this central question will cause continued uncertainty in the marketplace, discouraging further investment in and expansion of cable-modem service,' the NCTA said.
'Further, it will leave the cable industry vulnerable to numerous lawsuits that would inevitably result from the lack of clarity,' the trade group added.
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