This document is scheduled to be published in the

Federal Register on 02/22/2018 and available online at

https://federalregister.gov/d/2018-03464, and on FDsys.gov

6712-01

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

47 CFR Parts 1, 8, and 20

[WC Docket No. 17-108; FCC 17-166]

Restoring Internet Freedom

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Final rule.

SUMMARY: In this document, the Federal Communications Commission

(Commission) returns to the light-touch regulatory scheme that enabled the Internet to

develop and thrive for nearly two decades. The Commission restores the classification of

broadband Internet access service as a lightly-regulated information service and reinstates

the private mobile service classification of mobile broadband Internet access service.

The Restoring Internet Freedom Order requires Internet service providers (ISPs) to

disclose information about their network management practices, performance

characteristics, and commercial terms of service. Finding that transparency is sufficient

to protect the openness of the Internet and that conduct rules have greater costs than

benefits, the Order eliminates the conduct rules imposed by the Title II Order.

DATES: Effective date: [insert date 60 days after publication in the Federal Register],

except for amendatory instructions 2, 3, 5, 6, and 8, which are delayed as follows. The

FCC will publish a document in the Federal Register announcing the effective date(s) of

the delayed amendatory instructions, which are contingent on OMB approval of the

modified information collection requirements in 47 CFR 8.1 (amendatory instruction 5).

The Declaratory Ruling, Report and Order, and Order will also be effective upon the date

announced in that same document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ramesh Nagarajan, Competition

Policy Division, Wireline Competition Bureau, at (202) 418-2582,

[email protected]. For additional information concerning the Paperwork

Reduction Act information collection requirements contained in this document, send an

email to [email protected] or contact Nicole Ongele at (202) 418-2991.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a summary of the Commission’s

Declaratory Ruling, Report and Order, and Order (“Restoring Internet Freedom Order”)

in WC Docket No. 17-108, adopted on December 14, 2017 and released on January 4,

2018. The full text of this document is available at

https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-17-166A1.pdf. The full text is also

available for public inspection during regular business hours in the FCC Reference

Information Center, Portals II, 445 12th Street, SW, Room CY-A257, Washington, DC

20554. To request materials in accessible formats for people with disabilities (e.g.

braille, large print, electronic files, audio format, etc.) or to request reasonable

accommodations (e.g. accessible format documents, sign language interpreters, CART,

etc.), send an email to [email protected] or call the Consumer & Governmental Affairs

Bureau at (202) 418–0530 (voice) or (202) 418–0432 (TTY). The language following the

DATES caption of this preamble is provided to ensure compliance with 1 CFR 18.17.

Synopsis

In this Declaratory Ruling, Report and Order, and Order, the Commission restores

the light-touch regulatory scheme that fostered the Internet’s growth, openness, and

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freedom. Through these actions, we advance our critical work to promote broadband

deployment in rural America and infrastructure investment throughout the nation,

brighten the future of innovation both within networks and at their edge, and move closer

to the goal of eliminating the digital divide.

I. ENDING PUBLIC-UTILITY REGULATION OF THE INTERNET

1. We reinstate the information service classification of broadband Internet

access service, consistent with the Supreme Court’s holding in Brand X. Based on the

record before us, we conclude that the best reading of the relevant definitional provisions

of the Act supports classifying broadband Internet access service as an information

service. Having determined that broadband Internet access service, regardless of whether

offered using fixed or mobile technologies, is an information service under the Act, we

also conclude that as an information service, mobile broadband Internet access service

should not be classified as a commercial mobile service or its functional equivalent. We

find that it is well within our legal authority to classify broadband Internet access service

as an information service, and reclassification also comports with applicable law

governing agency decisions to change course. While we find our legal analysis sufficient

on its own to support an information service classification of broadband Internet access

service, strong public policy considerations further weigh in favor of an information

service classification. Below, we find that economic theory, empirical data, and even

anecdotal evidence also counsel against imposing public-utility style regulation on ISPs.

The broader Internet ecosystem thrived under the light-touch regulatory treatment of Title

I, with massive investment and innovation by both ISPs and edge providers, leading to

previously unimagined technological developments and services. We conclude that a

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return to Title I classification will facilitate critical broadband investment and innovation

by removing regulatory uncertainty and lowering compliance costs.

A. Reinstating the Information Service Classification of Broadband

Internet Access Service

1. Scope

2. We continue to define “broadband Internet access service” as a mass-

market retail service by wire or radio that provides the capability to transmit data to and

receive data from all or substantially all Internet endpoints, including any capabilities that

are incidental to and enable the operation of the communications service, but excluding

dial-up Internet access service. By mass market, we mean services marketed and sold on

a standardized basis to residential customers, small businesses, and other end-user

customers such as schools and libraries. “Schools” would include institutions of higher

education to the extent that they purchase these standardized retail services. For purposes

of this definition, “mass market” also includes broadband Internet access service

purchased with the support of the E-rate and Rural Healthcare programs, as well as any

broadband Internet access service offered using networks supported by the Connect

America Fund (CAF), but does not include enterprise service offerings or special access

services, which are typically offered to larger organizations through customized or

individually negotiated arrangements.

3. The term “broadband Internet access service” includes services provided

over any technology platform, including but not limited to wire, terrestrial wireless

(including fixed and mobile wireless services using licensed or unlicensed spectrum), and

satellite. For purposes of our discussion, we divide the various forms of broadband

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Internet access service into the two categories of “fixed” and “mobile.” With these two

categories of services—fixed and mobile—we intend to cover the entire universe of

Internet access services at issue in the Commission’s prior broadband classification

decisions, as well as all other broadband Internet access services offered over other

technology platforms that were not addressed by prior classification orders. We also

make clear that our classification finding applies to all providers of broadband Internet

access service, as we delineate them here, regardless of whether they lease or own the

facilities used to provide the service. “Fixed” broadband Internet access service refers to

a broadband Internet access service that serves end users primarily at fixed endpoints

using stationary equipment, such as the modem that connects an end user’s home router,

computer, or other Internet access device to the Internet. The term encompasses the

delivery of fixed broadband over any medium, including various forms of wired

broadband services (e.g., cable, DSL, fiber), fixed wireless broadband services (including

fixed services using unlicensed spectrum), and fixed satellite broadband services.

“Mobile” broadband Internet access service refers to a broadband Internet access service

that serves end users primarily using mobile stations. Mobile broadband Internet access

includes, among other things, services that use smartphones or mobile-network-enabled

tablets as the primary endpoints for connection to the Internet. The term also

encompasses mobile satellite broadband services. We note that “public safety services”

as defined in Section 337(f)(1) would not meet the definition of “broadband Internet

access service” subject to the rules herein given that “such services are not made

commercially available to the public by the provider” as a mass-market retail service.

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 4. As the Commission found in 2010, broadband Internet access service does

not include services offering connectivity to one or a small number of Internet endpoints

for a particular device, e.g., connectivity bundled with e-readers, heart monitors, or

energy consumption sensors, to the extent the service relates to the functionality of the

device. To the extent these services are provided by ISPs over last-mile capacity shared

with broadband Internet access service, they would be non-broadband Internet access

service data services (formerly specialized services). As the Commission found in both

2010 and 2015, non-broadband Internet access service data services do not fall under the

broadband Internet access service category. Such services generally are not used to reach

large parts of the Internet; are not a generic platform, but rather a specific applications-

level service; and use some form of network management to isolate the capacity used by

these services from that used by broadband Internet access services. Further, we observe

that to the extent ISPs “use their broadband infrastructure to provide video and voice

services, those services are regulated in their own right.”

5. Broadband Internet access service also does not include virtual private

network (VPN) services, content delivery networks (CDNs), hosting or data storage

services, or Internet backbone services (if those services are separate from broadband

Internet access service), consistent with past Commission precedent. The Commission

has historically distinguished these services from “mass market” services, as they do not

provide the capability to transmit data to and receive data from all or substantially all

Internet endpoints. We do not disturb that finding here. Consistent with past

Commissions, we note that the transparency rule we adopt today applies only so far as the

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limits of an ISP’s control over the transmission of data to or from its broadband

customers.

6. Finally, we observe that to the extent that coffee shops, bookstores,

airlines, private end-user networks such as libraries and universities, and other businesses

acquire broadband Internet access service from an ISP to enable patrons to access the

Internet from their respective establishments, provision of such service by the premise

operator would not itself be considered a broadband Internet access service unless it was

offered to patrons as a retail mass market service, as we define it here. Although not

bound by the transparency rule we adopt today, we encourage premise operators to

disclose relevant restrictions on broadband service they make available to their patrons.

Likewise, when a user employs, for example, a wireless router or a Wi-Fi hotspot to

create a personal Wi-Fi network that is not intentionally offered for the benefit of others,

he or she is not offering a broadband Internet access service under our definition, because

the user is not marketing and selling such service to residential customers, small business,

and other end-user customers such as schools and libraries.

2. Broadband Internet Access Service Is an Information Service

Under the Act

7. In deciding how to classify broadband Internet access service, we find that

the best reading of the relevant definitional provisions of the Act supports classifying

broadband Internet access service as an information service. Section 3 of the Act defines

an “information service” as “the offering of a capability for generating, acquiring,

storing, transforming, processing, retrieving, utilizing, or making available information

via telecommunications, and includes electronic publishing, but does not include any use

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of any such capability for the management, control, or operation of a telecommunications

system or the management of a telecommunications service.” Section 3 defines a

“telecommunications service,” by contrast, as “the offering of telecommunications for a

fee directly to the public, or to such classes of users as to be effectively available directly

to the public, regardless of the facilities used.” Finally, Section 3 defines

“telecommunications”—used in each of the prior two definitions—as “the transmission,

between or among points specified by the user, of information of the user’s choosing,

without change in the form or content of the information as sent and received.” Prior to

the Title II Order the Commission had long interpreted and applied these terms to classify

various forms of Internet access service as information services—a conclusion affirmed

as reasonable by the Supreme Court in Brand X. Our action here simply returns to that

prior approach.

8. When interpreting a statute it administers, the Commission, like all

agencies, “must operate ‘within the bounds of reasonable interpretation.’ And reasonable

statutory interpretation must account for both ‘the specific context in which . . . language

is used’ and ‘the broader context of the statute as a whole.’” Below, we first explore the

meaning of the “capability” contemplated in the statutory definition of “information

service,” and find that broadband Internet access service provides consumers the

“capability” to engage in all of the information processes listed in the information service

definition. We also find that broadband Internet access service likewise provides

information processing functionalities itself, such as DNS and caching, which satisfy the

capabilities set forth in the information service definition. We then address what

“capabilities” we believe are being “offered” by ISPs, and whether these are reasonably

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viewed as separate from or inextricably intertwined with transmission, and find that

broadband Internet access service offerings inextricably intertwine these information

processing capabilities with transmission.

9. We find that applying our understanding of the statutory definitions to

broadband Internet access service as it is offered today most soundly leads to the

conclusion that it is an information service. Although the Internet marketplace has

continued to develop in the years since the earliest classification decisions, broadband

Internet access service offerings still involve a number of “capabilities” within the

meaning of the Section 3 definition of information services, including critical capabilities

that all ISP customers must use for the service to work as it does today. While many

popular uses of the Internet have shifted over time, the record reveals that broadband

Internet access service continues to offer information service capabilities that typical

users both expect and rely upon. Indeed, the basic nature of Internet service—

“[p]rovid[ing] consumers with a comprehensive capability for manipulating information

using the Internet via high-speed telecommunications”—has remained the same since the

Supreme Court upheld the Commission’s similar classification of cable modem service as

an information service twelve years ago.

10. A body of precedent from the courts and the Commission served as the

backdrop for the 1996 Act and informed the Commission’s original interpretation and

implementation of the statutory definitions of “telecommunications,”

“telecommunications service,” and “information service.” The classification decisions in

the Title II Order discounted or ignored much of that precedent. Without viewing

ourselves as formally bound by that prior precedent, we find it eminently reasonable, as a

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legal matter, to give significant weight to that pre-1996 Act precedent in resolving how

the statutory definitions apply to broadband Internet access service, enabling us to resolve

statutory ambiguity in a manner that we believe best reflects Congress’s understanding

and intent. Our analysis thus is not at odds with the statement in USTelecom that the

1996 Act definitions were not “intended to freeze in place the Commission’s existing

classification of various services.” Consistent with this approach as a traditional tool of

statutory interpretation, we reject arguments that suggest that we should disregard this

precedent largely out-of-hand. More generally, of course, this precedent—Brand X in

particular—demonstrates that the Act does not compel a telecommunications service

classification.

a. Broadband Internet Access Service Information

Processing Capabilities

11. We begin by evaluating the “information service” definition and conclude

that it encompasses broadband Internet access service. Broadband Internet access service

includes “capabilit[ies]” meeting the information service definition under a range of

reasonable interpretations of that term. In other contexts, the Commission has looked to

dictionary definitions and found the term “capability” to be “broad and expansive,”

including the concepts of “potential ability” and “the capacity to be used, treated, or

developed for a particular purpose.” Because broadband Internet access service

necessarily has the capacity or potential ability to be used to engage in the activities

within the information service definition—“generating, acquiring, storing, transforming,

processing, retrieving, utilizing, or making available information via

telecommunications”—we conclude that it is best understood to have those

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“capabilit[ies].” The record reflects that fundamental purposes of broadband Internet

access service are for its use in “generating” and “making available” information to

others, for example through social media and file sharing; “acquiring” and “retrieving”

information from sources such as websites and online streaming and audio applications,

gaming applications, and file sharing applications; “storing” information in the cloud and

remote servers, and via file sharing applications; “transforming” and “processing”

information such as by manipulating images and documents, online gaming use, and

through applications that offer the ability to send and receive email, cloud computing and

machine learning capabilities; and “utilizing” information by interacting with stored data.

These are just a few examples of how broadband Internet access service enables

customers to generate, acquire, store, transform, process, retrieve, utilize, and make

available information. These are not merely incidental uses of broadband Internet access

service—rather, because it not only has “the capacity to be used” for these “particular

purpose[s]” but was designed and intended to do so, we find that broadband Internet

access is best interpreted as providing customers with the “capability” for such

interactions with third party providers.

12. We also find that broadband Internet access is an information service

irrespective of whether it provides the entirety of any end user functionality or whether it

provides end user functionality in tandem with edge providers. We do not believe that

Congress, in focusing on the “offering of a capability,” intended the classification

question to turn on an analysis of which capabilities the end user selects. Further, we are

unpersuaded by commenters who assert that in order to be considered an “information

service,” an ISP must not only offer customers the “capability” for interacting with

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information that may be offered by third parties (“click-through”), but must also provide

the ultimate content and applications themselves. Although there is no dispute that many

edge providers likewise perform functions to facilitate information processing

capabilities, they all depend on the combination of information-processing and

transmission that ISPs make available through broadband Internet access service. The

fundamental purpose of broadband Internet access service is to “enable a constant flow of

computer-mediated communications between end-user devices and various servers and

routers to facilitate interaction with online content.”

13. From the earliest decisions classifying Internet access service, the

Commission recognized that even when ISPs enable subscribers to access third party

content and services, that can constitute “a capability for generating, acquiring, storing,

transforming, processing, retrieving, utilizing, or making available information via

telecommunications.” As the Commission explained in the Stevens Report,

“[s]ubscribers can retrieve files from the World Wide Web, and browse their contents,

because their service provider offers the ‘capability for . . . acquiring, . . . retrieving [and]

utilizing . . . information.’” Attempts to distinguish the Commission’s classification

precedent thus are unfounded insofar as they fail to account for this aspect of the

Commission’s analysis in those orders. Thus, even where an ISP enables end-users to

access the content or applications of a third party, the Commission nonetheless found that

constituted the requisite information service “capability.” When the Title II Order

attempted to evaluate customer perception based on their usage of broadband Internet

access service, it failed to persuasively grapple with the relevant implications of prior

Commission classification precedent. The Title II Order argued that broadband Internet

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access service primarily is used to access content, applications, and services from third

parties unaffiliated with the ISP in support of the view that customers perceive it as a

separate offering of telecommunications. The Title II Order offers no explanation as to

why its narrower view of “capability” was more reasonable than the Commission’s

previous, long-standing view (other than seeking to advance the classification outcome

that Order was driving towards). Consequently, the Title II Order essentially assumed

away the legal question of whether end-users perceive broadband Internet access service

as offering them the “capability for . . . acquiring, . . . retrieving [and] utilizing . . .

information” under the broader reading of “capability” in prior Commission precedent.

14. But even if “capability” were understood as requiring more of the

information processing to be performed by the classified service itself, we find that

broadband Internet access service meets that standard. Not only do ISPs offer end users

the capability to interact with information online in each and every one of the ways set

forth above, they also do so through a variety of functionally integrated information

processing components that are part and parcel of the broadband Internet access service

offering itself. In particular, we conclude that DNS and caching functionalities, as well

as certain other information processing capabilities offered by ISPs, are integrated

information processing capabilities offered as part of broadband Internet access service to

consumers today. In addition to DNS and caching, the record reflects that ISPs may also

offer a variety of additional features that consist of information processing functionality

inextricably intertwined with the underlying service. These additional features include,

and are not limited to: email, speed test servers, backup and support services,

geolocation-based advertising, data storage, parental controls, unique programming

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content, spam protection, pop-up blockers, instant messaging services, on-the-go access

to Wi-Fi hotspots, and various widgets, toolbars, and applications. While we do not find

the offering of these information processing capabilities determinative of the

classification of broadband Internet access service, their inclusion in the broadband

Internet access service, and the capabilities and functionalities necessary to make these

features possible, further support the “information service” classification.

15. DNS. We find that DNS is an indispensable functionality of broadband

Internet access service. While we accept that DNS is not necessary for transmission, we

reject assertions that it is not indispensable to the broadband Internet access service

customers use—and expect—today. DNS is a core function of broadband Internet access

service that involves the capabilities of generating, acquiring, storing, transforming,

processing, retrieving, utilizing and making available information. DNS is used to

facilitate the information retrieval capabilities that are inherent in Internet access. DNS

allows “‘click through’ access from one web page to another, and its computer processing

functions analyze user queries to determine which website (and server) would respond

best to the user’s request.” And “[b]ecause it translates human language (e.g., the name

of a website) into the numerical data (i.e., an IP address) that computers can process, it is

indispensable to ordinary users as they navigate the Internet.” Without DNS, a consumer

would not be able to access a website by typing its advertised name (e.g., fcc.gov or

cnn.com). The Brand X Court recognized the importance of DNS, concluding that “[f]or

an Internet user, ‘DNS is a must. . . . [N]early all of the Internet’s network services use

DNS. That includes the World Wide Web, electronic mail, remote terminal access, and

file transfer.’” While ISPs are not the sole providers of DNS services, the vast majority

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of ordinary consumers rely upon the DNS functionality provided by their ISP, and the

absence of ISP-provided DNS would fundamentally change the online experience for the

consumer. We also observe that DNS, as it is used today, provides more than a

functionally integrated address-translation capability, but also enables other capabilities

critical to providing a functional broadband Internet access service to the consumer,

including for example, a variety of underlying network functionality information

associated with name service, alternative routing mechanisms, and information

distribution.

16. The treatment of similar functions in MFJ precedent bolsters our

conclusion. Despite the fact that the telecommunications management exception (and

information service definition more broadly) was drawn most directly from the MFJ, the

Title II Order essentially ignored MFJ precedent when concluding that DNS fell within

the statutory telecommunications management exception. In addition, even the Title II

Order’s limited use of Computer Inquiries precedent focused mostly on relatively high-

level Commission statements about the general sorts of capabilities that could be basic

(or adjunct-to-basic) or drew analogies to specific holdings that are at best ambiguous as

to their application to broadband Internet access service. When analyzing “gateway”

functionalities by which BOCs would provide end-users with access to third party

information services, the MFJ court found that “address translation,” which enabled “the

consumer [to] use an abbreviated code or signal . . . in order to access the information

service provider” such as through “the translation of a mnemonic code into [a] telephone

number,” rendered gateways an information service. We recognize that gateway

functionalities and broadband Internet access service are not precisely coextensive in

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scope. We do, however, find similarities between functionalities such as address

translation and storage and retrieval to key functionalities provided by ISPs as part of

broadband Internet access service, and we conclude the court found such gateway and

similar functionalities independently sufficient to warrant an information service

classification under the MFJ. The “address translation” gateway function appears highly

analogous to the DNS function of broadband Internet access service, which enables end

users to use easier-to-remember domain names to initiate access to the associated IP

addresses of edge providers. That MFJ precedent, neglected by the Title II Order, thus

supports our finding that the inclusion of DNS in broadband Internet access service

offerings likewise renders that service an information service. We rely on this analogy

between DNS and particular functions classified under pre-1996 Act precedent not

because the technologies are identical in all particulars, but because they share the same

relevant characteristics for purposes of making a classification decision under the Act.

Given the close fit between DNS and the address translation function classified as an

information service under the MFJ coupled with the fact that the statutory information

service definition (and telecommunications management exception) was drawn more

directly from the MFJ, we find the MFJ precedent entitled to more weight than analogies

to Computer Inquiries precedent. We thus are not persuaded by arguments seeking to

analogize DNS to directory assistance, which the Commission classified as “adjunct-to-

basic” under the Computer Inquiries.

17. We thus find that the Title II Order erred in finding that DNS

functionalities fell within the telecommunications systems management exception to the

definition of “information service.” That exception from the statutory information

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service definition was drawn from the language of the MFJ, and was understood as

“directed at internal operations, not at services for customers or end users.” The court’s

definition of information services excluded capabilities “for the management, control, or

operation of a telecommunication system or the management of a telecommunications

service.” Under the Communications Act, the definition of “information services”

includes an identically-worded “telecommunications management” exception.

Commission precedent and legislative history likewise recognize that the definition was

drawn from the MFJ. We interpret the concepts of “management, control, or operation”

in the telecommunications management exception consistent with that understanding.

Applying that interpretation, we find the record reflects that little or nothing in the DNS

look-up process is designed to help an ISP “manage” its network; instead, DNS

functionalities “provide stored information to end users to help them navigate the

Internet.” As AT&T explains: “When an end user types a domain name into his or her

browser and sends a DNS query to an ISP, . . . the ISP . . . converts the human-language

domain name into a numerical IP address, and it then conveys that information back to

the end user . . . [who] (via his or her browser) thereafter sends a follow-up request for

the Internet resources located at that numerical IP address.” DNS does not merely

“manage” a telecommunications service, as some commenters assert, but rather is a

function that is useful and essential to providing Internet access for the ordinary

consumer. We are persuaded that “[w]ere DNS simply a management function, this

would not be the case.” Comparing functions that would fall within the exception

illustrates the distinction. For example, in contrast to DNS’s interaction with users and

their applications, “non-user, management-only protocols might include things such as

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Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), Network Control Protocol

(NETCONF), or DOCSIS bootfiles for controlling the configuration of cable modems.”

These protocols support services that manage the network independent of the

transmission of information initiated by a user. Other functions that would fall into the

telecommunications systems management exception might include information systems

for account management and billing, configuration management, and the monitoring of

failures and other state information, and to keep track of which addresses are reachable

through each of the interconnected neighboring networks.

18. The Title II Order drew erroneous conclusions from Computer Inquiries

precedent and too quickly rejected objections to its treatment of DNS as meeting the

telecommunications management exception. The same shortcomings are present in the

Title II Order’s analysis of caching, as well. Under the Computer Inquiries framework,

the Commission held that some capabilities “may properly be associated with basic

[common carrier] service without changing its nature, or with an enhanced service

without changing the classification of the latter as unregulated under Title II of the Act.”

These commonly came to be known as “adjunct” capabilities. The Commission has held

that functions it had classified as “adjunct-to-basic” under the Computer Inquiries

framework will fall within the statutory telecommunications management exception to

the information service definition. Drawing loose analogies to certain functions

described as adjunct-to-basic under Commission precedent, the Title II Order held that

DNS fell within the telecommunications management exception.

19. The Title II Order incorrectly assumed that so long as a functionality was,

in part, used in a manner that could be viewed as adjunct-to-basic, it necessarily was

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adjunct-to-basic regardless of what the functionality otherwise accomplished. In addition

to the MFJ precedent, Bureau precedent similarly has observed that adjunct-to-basic

capabilities do not include functions “useful to end users, rather than carriers.” Given the

lack of ambiguity in the MFJ’s holding in this regard, we find it more reasonable to

interpret this precedent to call for a similar requirement that “adjunct to basic” services

do not include services primarily useful to end-users, and reject arguments to the

contrary. Although confronted with claims that DNS is, in significant part, designed to

be useful to end-users rather than providers, the Title II Order nonetheless decided that it

fell within the telecommunications management exception. The same is true of the Title

II Order’s treatment of caching. While conceding that DNS, as well as other functions

like caching, “do provide a benefit to subscribers,” the Title II Order held that they

nonetheless fell within the telecommunications management exception because it found

some aspect of their operation also was of use to providers in managing their networks.

This expansive view of the telecommunications management exception—and associated

narrowing of the scope of information services—is a transposition of the analytical

approach embodied in the MFJ and Computer Inquiries; under the approach in the pre-

1996 Act precedent, the analysis would instead begin with the broad language of the

information service or enhanced service definitions, generally excluding particular

functions only if the purpose served clearly was narrowly focused on facilitating bare

transmission. The Commission and the courts made clear the narrow scope of the

‘adjunct-to-basic’ or ‘telecommunications management’ categories in numerous

decisions in many different contexts. ). Notably, the focus remains on the purpose or use

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of the specific function in question and not merely whether the resulting service, as a

whole, is useful to end-users.

20. The Title II Order also put misplaced reliance on Computer Inquiries

adjunct-to-basic precedent from the traditional telephone service context as a comparison

when evaluating broadband Internet access service functionalities. Because broadband

Internet access service was not directly addressed in pre-1996 Act Computer Inquiries

and MFJ precedent, analogies to functions that were classified under that precedent must

account for potentially distinguishing characteristics not only in terms of technical details

but also in terms of the regulatory backdrop. The 1996 Act enunciates a policy for the

Internet that distinguishes broadband Internet access from legacy services like traditional

telephone service. The 1996 Act explains that it is federal policy “to preserve the vibrant

and competitive free market that presently exists for the Internet and other interactive

computer services, unfettered by Federal or State regulation.” The application of

potentially ambiguous precedent to broadband Internet access service should be informed

by how well—or how poorly—it advances that deregulatory statutory policy. We find

that our approach to that precedent, which results in an information service classification

of broadband Internet access service, better advances that deregulatory policy than the

approach in the Title II Order, which led to the imposition of utility-style regulation

under Title II.

21. The regulatory history of traditional telephone service also informs our

understanding of Computer Inquiries precedent, further distinguishing it from broadband

Internet access service. Given the long history of common carriage offering of that

service by the time of the Computer Inquiries, it is understandable that some precedent

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started with a presumption that the underlying service was a “basic service.” But similar

assumptions would not be warranted in the case of services other than traditional

telephone service for which there was no similar longstanding history of common

carriage. Thus, not only did the Title II Order rely on specific holdings that are at best

ambiguous in their analogy to technical characteristics of broadband Internet access

service, but it failed to adequately appreciate key regulatory distinctions between

traditional telephone service and broadband Internet access service. Thus, for example,

the fact that the adjunct-to-basic classification of directory assistance arose in the

traditional telephone context likewise persuades us to give it relatively little weight here

as an analogy to DNS, and we reject arguments to the contrary.

22. Caching. We also conclude that caching, a functionally integrated

information processing component of broadband Internet access service, provides the

capability to perform functions that fall within the information service definition. As the

record reflects, “[c]aching does much more than simply enable the user to obtain more

rapid retrieval of information through the network; caching depends on complex

algorithms to determine what information to store where and in what format.” This

requires “extensive information processing, storing, retrieving, and transforming for

much of the most popular content on the Internet,” and as such, caching involves storing

and retrieving capabilities required by the “information service” definition. The Court

affirmed this view in Brand X, finding “reasonable” the “Commission’s understanding”

that Internet service “facilitates access to third-party Web pages by offering consumers

the ability to store, or ‘cache,’ popular content on local computer servers,” which

21
constitutes “the ‘capability for . . . acquiring, [storing] . . . retrieving [and] utilizing

information.’”

23. We find that ISP-provided caching does not merely “manage” an ISP’s

broadband Internet access service and underlying network, it enables and enhances

consumers’ access to and use of information online. The record shows that caching can

be realized as part of a service, such as DNS, which is predominantly to the benefit of the

user (DNS caching). We disagree with assertions in the record that suggest that ISP-

provided caching is not a vital part of broadband Internet access service offerings, as it

may be stymied by the use of HTTPS encryption. Caching can also be realized in terms

of content that can be accumulated by the ISP through non-confidential (i.e., non-

encrypted) retrieval of information from websites (Web caching). In this case, the user

benefits from a rapid retrieval of information from a local cache or repository of

information while the ISP benefits from less bandwidth resources used in the retrieval of

data from one or more destinations. DNS and Web caching are functions provided as

part and parcel of the broadband Internet access service. When ISPs cache content from

across the Internet, they are not performing functions, like switching, that are

instrumental to pure transmission, but instead storing third party content they select in

servers in their own networks to enhance access to information. The record reflects that

without caching, broadband Internet access service would be a significantly inferior

experience for the consumer, particularly for customers in remote areas, requiring

additional time and network capacity for retrieval of information from the Internet. Thus,

because caching is useful to the consumer, we conclude that the Title II Order erred in

22
incorrectly categorizing caching as falling within the telecommunications system

management exception to the definition of “information service.”

24. In addition, the Title II Order’s failure to consider applicable MFJ

precedent led to mistaken analogies when it concluded that caching fell within the

statutory telecommunications management exception. In relevant precedent, the MFJ

court observed that the information service restriction generally “prohibits the [BOCs]

from ‘storing’ and ‘retrieving’ information,” but identified “quite distinct settings in

which storage capabilities of the [BOCs] could be used in the information services

market.” One of the categories of storage and retrieval identified by the court appears

highly comparable to caching. That category involved BOC provision of “storage space

in their gateways for databases created by others” such as “information service providers

and end users,” making “communication more efficient by moving informatio n closer to

the end user, thereby reducing transmission costs.” This functionality—recognized as an

information service by the MFJ court—appears highly analogous to caching, and lends

historical support to our view that the caching functionality within broadband Internet

access service is best understood as rendering broadband Internet access service an

information service. The first category the court identified was “very short term storage,”

including, among other things, “the basic packet switching function,” which “involves the

breakdown of data or voice communications into small bits of information that are then

collected and transmitted between nodes,” involving “constant storage, error checking,

and retransmission, as required for accurate transmission.” Although the court was not

entirely clear, it seemed to suggest that such functions were not information services

under the MFJ. This category appears to bear little similarity to caching, however. The

23
third category of “storage and retrieval” information service functions identified by the

court would include the BOC’s provision of “voice messaging, voice storage and

retrieval, and electronic mail.” Because that category does not appear as analogous to

caching as the category identified by the court and described above, nor was it relied

upon in the Title II Order’s discussion of caching, we do not focus on that third category

in our discussion here.

25. Ignoring that MFJ precedent, the Title II Order erred in seeking to

analogize caching to “‘store and forward technology [used] in routing messages through

the network as part of a basic service’” mentioned in the Computer II Final Decision. In

fact, consistent with the MFJ court’s identification of distinct uses of storage and

forwarding, the cited portion of the Computer II Final Decision recognized that “the kind

of enhanced store and forward services that can be offered are many and varied.” In that

regard, the Computer II Final Decision distinguished “[t]he offering of store and forward

services” from “store and forward technology,” explaining that “[m]essage or packet

switching, for example, is a store and forward technology that may be employed in

providing basic service.” Reading that discussion in full context and in harmony with

subsequent MFJ precedent, the reference in the Computer II Final Decision to “store and

forward technology” appears better understood as mirroring a category of storage and

retrieval of information that the MFJ court suggested was not an information service—in

particular, “the basic packet switching function, . . . [which] involves the breakdown of

data or voice communications into small bits of information that are then collected and

transmitted between nodes.” That category of activity relied upon in the Title II Order

thus actually appears to be barely or not at all analogous to caching. We instead find

24
more persuasive the MFJ court’s information service treatment of BOC provision of

“storage space in their gateways for databases created by others” such as “information

service providers and end users”—a distinct category of storage and retrieval

functionality that is a close fit to caching. We are unpersuaded by claims that this MFJ

precedent only is analogous to CDNs and not “transparent caching” based on asserted

differences in how it is determined what content will be stored in each

scenario. Although the factual scenario discussed in the MFJ anticipated end-users or

information service providers electing what information to store, and that fact may have

partially informed the court’s decision whether to ultimately allow BOCs to provide that

capability notwithstanding its classification as an information service, we do not read the

underlying classification as turning on that issue. Further, in addition to the distinctions

between caching and store-and-forward technology acknowledged even in this filing,

Peha Dec. 7, 2017 Ex Parte Letter at 4, we find additional shortcomings in how the Title

II Order relied on adjunct-to-basic precedent.

b. ISPs’ Service Offerings Inextricably Intertwine

Information Processing Capabilities with Transmission

26. Having established that broadband Internet access service has the

information processing capabilities outlined in the definition of “information service,” the

relevant inquiry is whether ISPs’ broadband Internet access service offerings make

available information processing technology inextricably intertwined with transmission.

Below we examine both how consumers perceive the offer of broadband Internet access

service, as well as the nature of the service actually offered by ISPs, and conclude that

25
ISPs are best understood as offering a service that inextricably intertwines the

information processing capabilities described above and transmission.

27. We begin by considering the ordinary customer’s perception of the ISP’s

offer of broadband Internet access service. As Brand X explained, “[i]t is common usage

to describe what a company ‘offers’ to a consumer as what the consumer perceives to be

the integrated finished product.” ISPs generally market and provide information

processing capabilities and transmission capability together as a single service.

Therefore, it is not surprising that consumers perceive the offer of broadband Internet

access service to include more than mere transmission, and that customers want and pay

for functionalities that go beyond mere transmission. As Cox explains, “[w]hile

consumers also place significant weight on obtaining a reliable and fast Internet

connection, they view those attributes as a means of enabling these capabilities to interact

with information online, not as ends in and of themselves.” Indeed, record evidence

confirms that consumers highly value the capabilities their ISPs offer to acquire

information from websites, utilize information on the Internet, retrieve such information,

and otherwise process such information. NHMC’s argument, based on what it asserts to

be a representative sample of consumer complaints filed with the Commission, is not

persuasive. NHMC’s methodology relied on Natural Language Processing (NLP) to

determine words that co-occur in such complaints, and then used “iterative clustering

algorithms” to “ma[p] connections among them.” Neither NHMC’s methodology nor the

representative extracts of the complaints NHMC submitted demonstrate that individual

complaints about particular aspects of service reflect how a customer would perceive

service offerings as a whole. Indeed, the sample of complaints attached by NHMC

26
features a broad set of issues, ranging widely from questions about speed to “losing my

Internet connection,” “charg[ing] extra for your services,” “interrupt[ing] the service,”

“bully[ing] me into share plans,” “Google arbitrarily engag[ing] in monopolistic

practices,” “charg[ing] me modem rental fee,” or “basically no technical support.” We

further note that to the extent that perceived speed is a common complaint, that does not

mean consumers view broadband Internet access service as a pure transmission service.

A consumer’s perceived speed for many activities (such as web browsing) depends on

information-processing elements of the service like DNS and caching; indeed, caching’s

primary consumer benefit is allowing a more rapid retrieval of information from a local

cache (increasing the perceived speed of a consumer’s connection). Moreover, the

Commission has never relied on such complaints to identify what a service is. And for

good reason: We expect consumer complaints about problems with a service—not every

aspect of it. Indeed, applying such a methodology would lead to absurd results: Should

we redefine the public switched network based on the millions of robocall complaints we

get each year or the rural-call-completion problems that we know are too prevalent? Of

course not.

28. This view also accords with the Commission’s historical understanding

that “[e]nd users subscribing to . . . broadband Internet access service expect to receive

(and pay for) a finished, functionally integrated service that provides access to the

Internet. End users do not expect to receive (or pay for) two distinct services—both

Internet access service and a distinct transmission service, for example.” While the Title

II Order dwells at length on the prominence of transmission speed in ISP marketing, it

makes no effort to compare that emphasis to historical practice. In fact, ISPs have been

27
highlighting transmission speed in their marketing materials since long before the Title II

Order. The very first report on advanced telecommunication capability pursuant to

Section 706(b) of the 1996 Act, released in 1999, cited ISPs’ marketing of their Internet

access service speed. ISPs’ inclusion of speed information in their marketing also was

acknowledged by the Court in Brand X, which nonetheless upheld the Commission’s

information service classification as reasonable. Indeed, consideration of ISP marketing

practices has been part of the backdrop of all of the Commission’s decisions classifying

broadband Internet access service as an information service and thus cannot justify a

departure from the historical classification of broadband Internet access service as an

information service.

29. The Title II Order’s reliance on ISP marketing also assumes that it

provides a complete picture of what consumers perceive as the finished product. First,

the record reflects that ISP marketing of broadband encompasses features beyond speed

and reliability. Further, because all broadband Internet access services rely on DNS and

commonly also rely on caching by ISPs, to the extent that those capabilities, in

themselves, do not provide a point of differentiation among services or providers, it

would be unsurprising that ISPs did not feature them prominently in their marketing or

advertising, particularly to audiences already familiar with broadband Internet access

service generally. Indeed, speed and reliability are not exclusive to telecommunications

services; rather, the record reflects that speed and reliability are crucial attributes of an

information service. As such, we reject assertions that speed and reliability are only

characteristics of telecommunications services and further note that ISPs market these

aspects because they can be differentiated, unlike DNS or caching. Consequently, the

28
mere fact that broadband Internet access service marketing often focuses on

characteristics, such as transmission speed, by which services and providers can be

differentiated sheds little to no light on whether consumers perceive broadband Internet

access service as inextricably intertwining that data transmission with information service

capabilities. Neither the discussion of the consumer’s perspective by Justice Scalia nor

that in the Title II Order identifies good reasons to depart from the Commission’s prior

understanding that broadband Internet access is a single, integrated information service.

Justice Scalia contended that how customers perceive cable modem service is best

understood by considering the services for which it would be a substitute—in his view at

the time, dial-up Internet access and digital subscriber line (DSL) service over telephone

networks. However, dial-up Internet access has substantially diminished in marketplace

significance in the subsequent years. In addition, the legal compulsion for facilities-

based carriers to offer broadband transmission on a common carrier basis was eliminated

in 2005. Fixed and mobile wireless broadband Internet access service have grown to play

a much more prominent role in the broadband Internet access service marketplace, along

with satellite broadband Internet access service, none of which ever was under a legal

compulsion to offer broadband transmission on a common carrier basis—nor, prior to the

Title II Order, were they interpreted as voluntarily doing so. Consequently, whatever

might have been arguable at the time of Brand X, the service offerings in the marketplace

as it developed thereafter provide no reason to expect that consumers “inevitabl[y]”

would view broadband Internet access service as involving “both computing functionality

and the physical pipe” as separate offerings based on comparisons to the likely

alternatives.

29
 30. Separate and distinct from our finding that an ISP “offers” an information

service from the consumer’s perspective, we find that as a factual matter, ISPs offer a

single, inextricably intertwined information service. The record reflects that information

processes must be combined with transmission in order for broadband Internet access

service to work, and it is the combined information processing capabilities and

transmission functions that an ISP offers with broadband Internet access service. Thus,

even assuming that any individual consumer could perceive an ISP’s offer of broadband

Internet access service as akin to a bare transmission service, the information processing

capabilities that are actually offered as an integral part of the service make broadband

Internet access service an information service as defined by the Act. As such, we reject

commenters’ assertions that the primary function of ISPs is to simply transfer packets and

not process information.

31. The inquiry called for by the relevant classification precedent focuses on

the nature of the service offering the provider makes, rather than being limited to the

functions within that offering that particular subscribers do, in fact, use or that third

parties also provide. As the Commission recognized in the Cable Modem Order, Internet

access service was appropriately classified as an offering of the capabilities with the

definition of an information service “regardless of whether subscribers use all of the

functions provided as part of the service.” The Title II Order erroneously contended that,

because functions like DNS and caching potentially could be provided by entities other

than the ISP itself, those functions should not be understood as part of a single, integrated

information service offered by ISPs. However, the fact that some consumers obtain these

functionalities from third-party alternatives is not a basis for ignoring the capabilities that

30
a broadband provider actually “offers.” The Title II Order gave no meaningful

explanation why a contrary, narrower interpretation of “offer” was warranted other than,

implicitly, its seemingly end-results driven effort to justify a telecommunications service

classification of broadband Internet access service.

32. Our findings today are consistent with classification precedent prior to the

Title II Order, which consistently found that ISPs offer a single, integrated service.

Although we find the pre-1996 Act classification precedent relevant to our classification

of broadband Internet access service, we reject the view that Congress would have

expected classification under the 1996 Act’s statutory definitions to be tied to the

substantive common carrier transmission requirements imposed under those frameworks.

We conclude that the best view of the text and structure of the Act undercuts arguments

that Congress sought to preserve the substance of pre-1996 Act regulations through the

definitions it adopted. Instead, where Congress sought to address substantive

requirements akin to those in the MFJ and Computer Inquiries, it did so by adopting

subjective obligations in the 1996 Act—even if not identical to the pre-1996 Act

requirements—and subject to their own Congressionally specified standards for when and

to what entities they apply. In addition, the wholesale service focus of substantive MFJ

and Computer Inquiries common carrier transmission obligations also distinguishes them

from the retail service we classify here, likewise undermining any claimed relevance of

those pre-1996 Act transmission requirements to our classification decision. The

Commission recognized, for example, that the transmission underlying broadband

Internet access required by the Computer Inquiries to be offered on an unbundled,

common carrier basis and provided to ISPs was not a “retail” service within the meaning

31
of Section 251(c)(4) resale requirements. Nor did such a common carrier transmission

service itself enable access to the Internet, even if purchased by end-users. By

comparison, under the Computer Inquiries, the finished service offered to end-users

relying on the required common carrier transmission as an input was regulated as an

enhanced service, not a common carrier offering, even when offered by the facilities-

based carrier’s subsidiary. Given our focus here on the finished retail broadband Internet

access service, we see little relevance to prior regulatory requirements that were imposed

to ensure competing providers had access to a wholesale input in the form of a compelled

common carriage offering of bare transmission that did not itself provide Internet access.

Even the early classification analysis in the Stevens Report recognized that “[i]n offering

service to end users” ISPs “do more than resell [] data transport services. They conjoin

the data transport with data processing, information provision, and other computer-

mediated offerings, thereby creating an information service.” In Brand X, the Court

rejected claims that “[w]hen a consumer . . . accesses content provided by parties other

than the cable company” that “consumer uses ‘pure transmission.’” Subsequent

Commission decisions involving other forms of broadband Internet access likewise all

concluded that the broadband Internet access service was a single, integrated service that

did not involve a stand-alone offering of telecommunications. Although parties have,

over time, held various views regarding the proper classification of broadband Internet

access services, the mere fact that a party held such a view in the past, or holds such a

view today, does not render a Commission decision confirming a particular view “moot,”

since a private party’s subjective view is not authoritative. The Court further found that

“the high-speed transmission used to provide cable modem service is a functionally

32
integrated component of that service because it transmits data only in connection with the

further processing of information and is necessary to provide Internet service.” This

distinction makes broadband Internet access service fundamentally different than

standard telephone service, which the Supreme Court noted does not become an

“information service” merely because its transmission service may be “trivially affected”

by some additional capability such as voicemail. Where the addition of some further

capability has appeared to have only a trivial effect on the nature of a service, the

Commission has previously declined requests for reclassification. Due to the functionally

integrated nature of broadband Internet access service, however, we reject claims that

those decisions call for a different approach than we adopt here. Likewise, the outcome

in the Bureau-level Cisco WebEx Order accords with our approach, given the finding that

the information service capabilities more than trivially affected the transmission

capability in the scenario addressed there. Contrary to some arguments, the Bureau had

no need to—and did not—address the classification of other service scenarios, and we

reject arguments for a different classification approach that are premised on assumptions

about how those unaddressed scenarios would have been analyzed or classified. The

core, essential elements of these prior analyses of the functional nature of Internet access

remain persuasive as to broadband Internet access service today. We adhere to that view

notwithstanding arguments that some subset of the array of Internet access uses identified

in the Stevens Report or subsequent decisions either are no longer as commonly used, or

occur more frequently today. Even at the time of the Cable Modem Order the

Commission recognized the role of user-generated content, and its decision in no way

33
hinged on distinctions in how retail customers of cable modem service used that service

in that respect.

33. We disagree with commenters who assert that ISPs necessarily offer both

an information service and a telecommunications service because broadband Internet

access service includes a transmission component. In providing broadband Internet

access service, an ISP makes use of telecommunications—i.e., it provides information-

processing capabilities “via telecommunications”—but does not separately offer

telecommunications on a stand-alone basis to the public. By definition, all information

services accomplish their functions “via telecommunications,” and as such, broadband

Internet access service has always had a telecommunications component intrinsically

intertwined with the computer processing, information provision, and computer

interactivity capabilities an information service offers. We observe that placing

information in IP packets does not change the form of information. We find that the

transmission of IP packets is transmission of the user’s choosing, and also agree that

“[c]hanging the packet structure of an IP packet from IPv4 to IPv6” does not change the

form of the information. As just one example, in support of its classification decision, the

Title II Order notes that it is technically possible for a transmission component

underlying broadband Internet access service to be separated out and offered on a

common carrier basis. The same would be equally true of many information services,

however, given that the information service capabilities are, by definition, available “via

telecommunications.” Indeed, service providers, who are in the best position to

understand the inputs used in broadband Internet access service, do not appear to dispute

that the “via telecommunications” criteria is satisfied even if also arguing that they are

34
not providing telecommunications to end-users. For example, ISPs typically transmit

traffic between aggregation points on their network and the ISPs’ connections with other

networks. Whether self-provided by the ISP or purchased from a third party, that readily

appears to be transmission between or among points selected by the ISP of traffic that the

ISP has chosen to have carried by that transmission link. We reject as overbroad the

claim that “a transmission is ‘telecommunications’ within the meaning of 47

U.S.C. 153(30) only if the transmission is capable of communicating with all circuit

switched devices on the PSTN or has the purpose of facilitating the use of the PSTN

without altering its fundamental character as a telephone network.” This claim appears

premised on incorporating Section 332’s definition of a commercial mobile service

(which must be “interconnected” with the “public switched network”) into Section 3 of

the Act and drawing from pre-1996 Act precedent using an end-to-end analysis to

determine the regulatory jurisdiction of communications traffic to inform the

interpretation of the term “points.” But we find no evidence in the text of the statute that

Congress intended to import the commercial mobile service definition from one section

into another, and our precedent similarly does not countenance such an importation. Nor

is the end-to-end analysis the only pre-1996 Act precedent from which the concept of

“points” in the “telecommunications” definition might have been drawn so as to

unambiguously foreclose our conclusion that “via telecommunications” is satisfied here.

Such inclusion of a transmission component does not render broadband Internet access

services telecommunications services; if it did, the entire category of information services

would be narrowed drastically. Because we find it more reasonable to conclude that at

least some telecommunications is being used as an input into broadband Internet access

35
service—thereby satisfying the “via telecommunications” criteria—we need not further

address the scope of the “telecommunications” definition in order to justify our

classification of broadband Internet access service as an information service. We thus do

not comprehensively address other criticisms of the Title II Order’s interpretation and

applications of the “telecommunications” definition, which potentially could have

implications beyond the scope of issues we are considering in this proceeding.

34. The approach we adopt today best implements the Commission’s long-

standing view that Congress intended the definitions of “telecommunications service”

and “information service” to be mutually exclusive ways to classify a given service. As

the Brand X Court found, the term “offering” in the telecommunications service

definition “can reasonably be read to mean a ‘stand-alone’ offering of

telecommunications.” Where, as in the case of broadband Internet access services, a

service involving transmission inextricably intertwines that transmission with information

service capabilities—in the form of an integrated information service—there cannot be “a

‘stand-alone’ offering of telecommunications” as required under that interpretation of the

telecommunications service definition. This conclusion is true even if the information

service could be said to involve the provision of telecommunications as a component of

the service. The Commission’s historical approach to Internet access services carefully

navigated that issue, while the Title II Order, by contrast, threatened to usher in a much

more sweeping scope of “telecommunications services.”

35. The Title II Order interpretation stands in stark contrast to the

Commission’s historical classification precedent and the views of all Justices in Brand X.

Beginning with the earliest classification decisions, the Commission found that

36
transmission provided by ISPs outside the last mile was part of an integrated information

service. The DSL transmission service previously required to be unbundled by the

Computer Inquiries rules likewise was limited to the “last mile” connection between the

end-user and the ISP. Nor did any Justice in Brand X contest the view that, beyond the

last mile, cable operators were offering an information service. Indeed, the Title II

Order’s broad interpretation of “telecommunications service” stands in contrast to the

views of Justice Scalia himself, on which the Title II Order purports to rely. Justice

Scalia was skeptical that a telecommunications service classification of cable modem

service would lead to the classification of ISPs as telecommunications carriers based on

the transmission underlying their “connect[ions] to other parts of the Internet, including

Internet backbone providers.” Yet the Title II Order reached essentially that outcome.

The Title II Order’s interpretation of the statutory definitions did not merely lead it to

classify “last mile” transmission as a telecommunications service. Rather, under the view

of the Title II Order, even the transmissions underlying an ISP’s connections to other

parts of the Internet, including Internet backbone providers, were part of the classified

telecommunications service. Even if the Title II Order’s classification approach does not

technically render the category of information services a nullity, the fact that its view of

telecommunications services sweeps so much more broadly than previously considered

possible provides significant support for our reading of the statute and the classification

decision we make today. That the Commission previously identified policy concerns

about Internet traffic exchange says nothing about classification, and thus is not to the

contrary. Nor did the Advanced Services proceedings identify interconnection

obligations on providers of xDSL transmission as services necessary to ensure the

37
provision of Internet access. Instead, any interconnection obligations identified there

were limited to interconnection between providers of common carrier xDSL transmission

service and other telecommunications carriers (rather than providers of edge services or

non-common carrier backbone services). The cited portion of the Advanced Services

Remand Order does not even have anything to do with interconnection requirements or

the scope of functions in an xDSL-based advanced service. Rather, it analyzed the

jurisdiction of the traffic being carried over the service, which, under the traditional end-

to-end analysis, was not limited in scope to any given service within a broader

communications pathway.

36. In contrast, our approach leaves ample room for a meaningful range of

“telecommunications services.” Historically, the Commission has distinguished service

offerings that “always and necessarily combine” functions such as “computer processing,

information provision, and computer interactivity with data transport, enabling end users

to run a variety of applications such as e-mail, and access web pages and newsgroups,”

on the one hand, from services “that carriers and end users typically use [] for basic

transmission purposes” on the other hand. Our interpretation thus stops far short of the

view that “every transmission of information becomes an information service.” Thus, an

offering like broadband Internet access service that “always and necessarily” includes

integrated transmission and information service capabilities would be an information

service. The distinction between services that “always and necessarily” include

integrated transmission and information service capabilities and those that do not also

highlights a critical difference between Internet access service and the service addressed

in precedent such as the Advanced Services Order. The transmission underlying Internet

38
access service that, prior to the Wireline Broadband Classification Order, carriers had

been required by the Computer Inquiries to unbundle and offer as a bare transmission

service on a common carrier basis to ensure its availability to competing enhanced

service providers—and which did not itself provide Internet access—is another specific

example of a service that does not “always and necessarily” include integrated

transmission and information service capabilities. The Commission naturally recognized

at the time that the compelled common carriage offering of bare transmission was a

telecommunications service, and we reject the view that such an acknowledgment is

inconsistent with, or undercuts our reliance on, precedent classifying Internet access

service as an integrated information service. In addition, the discussion of xDSL

advanced services in the Advanced Services Order cited by commenters addressed the

transmission service generally. It did not purport to be focused specifically on the use of

xDSL transmission in connection with Internet access service, rather than addressing the

classification of the stand-alone transmission service as a general matter. The

Commission’s historical interpretation thus gives full meaning to both “information

service” and “telecommunications service” categories in the Act.

37. We reject assertions that the analysis we adopt today would necessarily

mean that standard telephone service is likewise an information service. The record

reflects that broadband Internet access service is categorically different from standard

telephone service in that it is “designed with advanced features, protocols, and security

measures so that it can integrate directly into electronic computer systems and enable

users to electronically create, retrieve, modify and otherwise manipulate information

stored on servers around the world.” Further, “[t]he dynamic network functionality

39
enabling the Internet connectivity provided by [broadband Internet access services] is

fundamentally different from the largely static one dimensional, transmission oriented

Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) voice network.” This finding is consistent with past

distinctions. Under pre-1996 Act MFJ precedent, for example, although the provision of

time and weather services was an information service, when a BOC’s traditional

telephone service was used to call a third party time and weather service “the Operating

Company does not ‘provide information services’ within the meaning of section II(D) of

the decree; it merely transmits a call under the tariff.” In other words, the fundamental

nature of traditional telephone service, and the commonly-understood purpose for which

traditional telephone service is designed and offered, is to provide basic transmission—a

fact not changed by its incidental use, on occasion, to access information services. By

contrast, the fundamental nature of broadband Internet access service, and the commonly-

understood purpose for which broadband Internet access service is designed and offered,

is to enable customers to generate, acquire, store, transform, process, retrieve, utilize, and

make available information. In addition, broadband Internet access service includes DNS

and caching functionalities, as well as certain other information processing capabilities.

As such, we reject assertions that, under the approach we adopt today, any telephone

service would be an information service because voice customers can get access to either

automated information services or a live person who can provide information.

38. Additionally, efforts to treat the Stevens Report as an outlier that should

not have been followed in subsequent classification decisions—and should not be

followed here—are ultimately unpersuasive. The clear recognition in the Stevens Report

that the ISPs at issue were themselves providing data transmission as part of their

40
offerings undercuts arguments seeking to distinguish the Stevens Report based on the

theory that the transmission used to connect to ISPs typically involved common carrier

services either directly (via a call to a dial-up ISP using traditional telephone service) or

indirectly (with the ISP using common carrier broadband transmission as a wholesale

input into its retail information service). While the extent of data transmission provided

by the ISPs that were found to be offering information services in the Stevens Report

might be incrementally less than the transmission provided by the ISPs dealt with in

subsequent information service classification decisions, that appears to be at most a

difference in degree, rather than a difference in kind, and the record does not demonstrate

otherwise. Nor can the Stevens Report’s analysis and information service classification

be distinguished on the grounds that the ISPs there generally did not own the facilities

they used. Although the Stevens Report observed that the analysis of whether a single

integrated service was being offered was “more complicated when it comes to offerings

by facilities-based providers,” it did not prejudge the resolution of that question. Thus,

there is no reason to simply assume that it was inappropriate for the Commission to build

upon the Stevens Report precedent when analyzing service offerings from facilities-based

providers beginning in the Cable Modem Order. Nor do commenters identify material

technical differences when facilities ownership is involved that would mandate a

different classification analysis. While the Stevens Report recognized that under

Computer Inquires precedent “offerings by non-facilities-based providers combining

communications and computing components should always be deemed enhanced,” had

its analysis simply been carrying forward that approach most of its analysis would have

been unnecessary (since Internet access clearly did combine communications and

41
computing components). Thus, whether or not the more extensive analysis set forth in

the Stevens Report was necessary to find Internet access provided by non-facilities-based

ISPs to be an information service, that analysis cannot be said to be a mere relic of the

Computer Inquiries approach to non-facilities based providers. Finally, our reliance on

classification precedent does not rest on the Stevens Report alone, but draws from the full

range of classification precedent, both pre- and post-1996 Act. This reliance notably

includes not only the Commission’s classification decisions, but the Supreme Court’s

subsequent analysis in Brand X. And although some commenters criticize the lack of

express consideration of the possible application of the telecommunications management

exception in the Stevens Report, our evaluation of the pre-1996 Act MFJ and Computer

Inquiries precedent better accords with outcome of that Report and the subsequent

classification decisions than it does with the Title II Order in that regard. We reject

similar criticisms of other precedent for the same reason.

3. Other Provisions of the Act Support Broadband’s Information

Service Classification

39. We also find that other provisions of the Act support our conclusion that

broadband Internet access service is best classified as an information service. We do not

assert that the language in Sections 230 and 231 is determinative of the information

service classification; rather, we find it to be supportive of our analysis of the textual

provisions at issue. As such, we find Public Knowledge’s assertions that the

Commission’s reasoning “would overrule the Supreme Court’s holding in Brand X . . .

[in which] the Court ruled that the Communications Act does not make explicit the

correct classification of BIAS” inapposite. For instance, Congress codified its view in

42
Section 230(b)(2) of the Act, stating that it is the policy of the United States “to preserve

the vibrant and competitive free market that presently exists for the Internet and other

interactive computer services, unfettered by Federal or State regulation.” This statement

confirms that the free market approach that flows from classification as an information

service is consistent with Congress’s intent. In contrast, we find it hard to reconcile this

statement in Section 230(b)(2) with a conclusion that Congress intended the Commission

to subject broadband Internet access service to common carrier regulation under Title II.

40. Additional provisions within Sections 230 and 231 of the Act lend further

support to our interpretation. Section 230(f)(2) defines an interactive computer service to

mean “any information service, system, or access software provider that provides or

enables computer access by multiple users to a computer server, including specifically a

service or system that provides access to the Internet and such systems operated or

services offered by libraries or educational institutions.” Thus, on its face, the plain

language of this provision appears to reflect Congress’ judgment that Internet access

service is an information service.

41. Section 230 states that an “information service” includes “a service or

system that provides access to the Internet,” and we disagree with commenters who read

the definition of “interactive computer service” differently. Specifically, we disagree

with commenters asserting that it is unclear whether the clause “including specifically a

service . . . that provides access to the Internet” modifies “information service” or some

other noun phrase, such as “access software provider” or “system.” We think it a more

reasonable interpretation that the phrase “service . . . that provides access to the Internet”

modifies the noun phrase “information service.” Similarly, we disagree that Section

43
230(f)(2) proves only “that there exist information services that provide access to the

internet, not that all services that provide access to the internet are information services.”

On the contrary, we agree with AT&T that “the formula ‘any X, including specifically a

Y,’ does logically imply that all Ys are Xs.”

42. Reliance on Section 230(f)(2) to inform the Commission’s interpretations

and applications of Titles I and II accords with widely accepted canons of statutory

interpretation. The Supreme Court has recognized there is a “natural presumption that

identical words used in different parts of the same act are intended to have the same

meaning.” And there is nothing in the context of either section that overcomes the

presumption. Indeed, the similarity of circumstances confirms the presumption of similar

meaning, as the deregulatory approach to information services embodied in Titles I and

II, as well as the deregulatory policy of Section 230, were all adopted as part of the 1996

Act. Thus, we disagree with the Title II Order’s argument that giving Section 230 its

plain meaning would be “an oblique” way to “settle the regulatory status of broadband

Internet access.” On the contrary, we agree that “it is hardly ‘oblique’ for Congress to

confirm in Section 230 that Internet access should be classified as an unregulated

information service when elsewhere in the same legislation Congress codifies a definition

of ‘information services’ that was long understood to include gateway services such as

Internet access.” And while the USTelecom court did not find this definition

determinative on the issue, we find that “it is nonetheless a strong indicator that Congress

was more comfortable with the prevailing view that provision of Internet access is not a

telecommunications service, and should not be subject to the array of Title II statutory

provisions.” We find inapplicable the USTelecom court’s invocation of the principle that

44
“Congress . . . does not alter the fundamental details of a regulatory scheme in vague

terms or ancillary provisions.” Section 230 did not alter any fundamental details of

Congress’s regulatory scheme but was part and parcel of that scheme, and confirmed

what follows from a plain reading of Title I—namely, that broadband Internet access

service meets the definition of an information service. The legislative history of Section

230 also lends support to the view that Congress did not intend the Commission to

subject broadband Internet access service to Title II regulation. The congressional record

reflects that the drafters of Section 230 did “not wish to have a Federal Computer

Commission with an army of bureaucrats regulating the Internet.” We likewise reject

arguments premised on the theory that we are treating definitions in Section 230 and 231

as dispositive, rather than relying on them to inform our understanding of Congress’

intent as revealed by the text and structure of the Act more broadly.

43. Section 231, inserted into the Communications Act a year after the 1996

Act’s passage, similarly lends support to our conclusion that broadband Internet access

service is an information service. It expressly states that “Internet access service” “does

not include telecommunications services,” but rather “means a service that enables users

to access content, information, electronic mail, or other services offered over the Internet,

and may also include access to proprietary content, information, and other services as

part of a package of services offered to consumers.” Further, the carve-outs in Section

231(b)(1)-(2) differentiate the provision of telecommunications services and the

provision of Internet access service. It is hard to imagine clearer statutory language. The

Commission has consistently held that categories of telecommunications service and

information service are mutually exclusive; thus, because it is an information service,

45
Internet access cannot be a telecommunications service. Our interpretation of

“telecommunications service” and “information service” as mutually exclusive ways to

classify a given service thus demonstrates the relevance of Section 231 notwithstanding

that it does not expressly define broadband Internet access service as an information

service. On its face then, this language strongly supports our conclusion that, under the

best reading of the statute, broadband Internet access service is an information service,

not a telecommunications service. Nothing in the text of Section 231 reveals that the use

of “Internet access service” there is limited to dial-up Internet access. To the contrary, it

would seem anomalous for Congress only to exempt entities providing dial-up Internet

access and not other forms of Internet access from the prohibitions of Section 231(a). We

thus are unpersuaded by arguments advocating a narrower interpretation of “Internet

access service” in Section 231.

44. We also find that the purposes of the 1996 Act are better served by

classifying broadband Internet access service as an information service. Congress passed

the Telecommunications Act to “promote competition and reduce regulation.” Further,

as a bipartisan group of Senators stated, “[n]othing in the 1996 Act or its legislative

history suggests that Congress intended to alter the current classification of Internet and

other information services or to expand traditional telephone regulation to new and

advanced services.” Or as Senator John McCain put it, “[i]t certainly was not Congress’s

intent in enacting the supposedly pro-competitive, deregulatory 1996 Act to extend the

burdens of current Title II regulation to Internet services, which historically have been

excluded from regulation.” It stands these goals on their head for the Commissio n, as

deployment of advanced services reaches the mainstream of Americans’ lives, to

46
perpetuate the very Title II regulatory edifice that the 1996 Act sought to dismantle. An

information service classification will “reduce regulation” and preserve a free market

“unfettered by Federal or State regulation.”

45. Finally, we observe that the structure of Title II appears to be a poor fit for

broadband Internet access service. Indeed, numerous Title II provisions explicitly

assume that all telecommunications services are a telephone service. For example,

Section 221 addresses special provisions related to telephone companies, Section 251

addresses the obligations of local exchange carriers and incumbent local exchange

carriers, and Section 271 addresses limitations on Bell Operating Companies’ provision

of interLATA services. For example, to obtain authority to offer in-region interLATA

services, the BOCs have to offer a number of functions of particular relevance to the

provision of telephone service. Therefore, it is no surprise that the Title II Order found

that many provisions of Title II were ill-suited to broadband Internet access services, and

the Commission was forced to, on its own motion, forbear either in whole or in part on a

permanent or temporary basis from 30 separate sections of Title II as well as from other

provisions of the Act and Commission rules. We find that the significant forbearance the

Commission deemed necessary in the Title II Order strongly suggests that the regulatory

framework of Title II, which was specifically designed to regulate telephone services, is

unsuited for the dissimilar and dynamic broadband Internet access service marketplace.

B. Reinstating the Private Mobile Service Classification of Mobile

Broadband Internet Access Service

46. Having determined that broadband Internet access service, regardless of

whether offered using fixed or mobile technologies, is an information service under the

47
Act, we now address the appropriate classification of mobile broadband Internet access

service under Section 332 of the Act. We restore the prior longstanding definitions and

interpretation of this section and conclude that mobile broadband Internet access service

should not be classified as a commercial mobile service or its functio nal equivalent.

47. Background. Section 332 of Title III, enacted by Congress as part of the

Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 (the Budget Act), provides a specific

framework that applies to providers of “commercial mobile service.” The section defines

“commercial mobile service” as: “any mobile service . . . that is provided for profit and

makes interconnected service available (A) to the public or (B) to such classes of eligible

users as to be effectively available to a substantial portion of the public, as specified by

regulation by the Commission.” “Interconnected service,” in turn, is defined as “service

that is interconnected with the public switched network (as such terms are defined by

regulation by the Commission).” In 1994, the Commission adopted regulations

implementing this section, codifying the definition of “commercial mobile service” under

the term “commercial mobile radio service” (CMRS). Looking at the statute’s text,

structure, legislative history, and purpose, the Commission defined the “public switched

network” as “[a]ny common carrier switched network, whether by wire or radio,

including local exchange carriers, interexchange carriers, and mobile service providers,

that use[s] the North American Numbering Plan in connection with the provision of

switched services.” It defined “interconnected service” as “a service that gives

subscribers the capability to communicate . . . [with] all other users on the public

switched network.”

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 48. Section 332 distinguishes commercial mobile service from “private mobile

service,” defined as “any mobile service . . . that is not a commercial mobile service or

the functional equivalent of a commercial mobile service, as specified by regulation by

the Commission.” In 1994, the Commission established its functional equivalence test,

which starts with a presumption that “a mobile service that does not meet the definition

of CMRS is a private mobile radio service.” Overcoming this presumption requires an

analysis of a variety of factors to determine whether the mobile service in question is the

functional equivalent of commercial mobile service, including “consumer demand for the

service to determine whether the service is closely substitutable for a commercial mobile

radio service; whether changes in price for the service under examination, or for the

comparable commercial mobile radio service would prompt customers to change from

one service to the other; and market research information identifying the targeted market

for the service under review.” Emphasizing the high bar it had set, the Commission

expected that “very few mobile services that do not meet the definition of CMRS will be

a close substitute for a commercial mobile radio service.” We note that, in another Order

adopted today, we are recodifying these factors under Section 20.3 of the Commission’s

rules, but not modifying their substance.

49. The Act treats providers of commercial mobile service as common

carriers, and the legislative history of the 1996 Act suggests that Congress intended the

definition of “telecommunications service” to include commercial mobile service. In

contrast, the Act prohibits the Commission from treating providers of private mobile

service as common carriers.

49
 50. In 2007, the Commission found that wireless broadband Internet access

service was not a commercial mobile service because it did not meet the definition of an

“interconnected service” under the Act and the Commission’s rules. It found that

wireless broadband Internet access was not “interconnected” with the “public switched

network” because it did not use the North American Numbering Plan, which limited

“subscribers’ ability to communicate to or receive communication from all users in the

public switched network.” The Commission concluded that Section 332 and the

Commission’s rules “did not contemplate wireless broadband Internet access service as

provided today” and that a commercial mobile service “must still be interconnected with

the local exchange or interexchange switched network as it evolves.”

51. In the Title II Order, the Commission reversed course. First, the

Commission changed definitions of two key terms within the definition of commercial

mobile service. It broadened the definition of the term “public switched network” to

include services that use “public IP addresses.” And it redefined the term

“interconnected service” by deleting the word “all” from the requirement that the service

give subscribers the capability to communicate with “all other users on the public

switched network,” so that a service would be interconnected even if users of such a

service could not communicate with all other users. By manipulating these definitions,

the Commission engineered a conclusion that mobile broadband Internet access was

interconnected with the public switched network and was an interconnected service under

Section 332.

52. Second, the Title II Order found that even if it had not changed the

definitions, it could change the scope of the service to meet them. Specifically, the

50
Commission found that “users have the ‘capability’ . . . to communicate with NANP

numbers using their broadband connection through the use of VoIP applications.”

Accordingly it found that, by including services not offered by the mobile broadband

Internet access service provider as part of the service, mobile broadband Internet access

service would now meet the regulatory definition of “interconnected service” adopted in

1994.

53. Third, the Title II Order eschewed the functional equivalence test

contained in the Commission’s rules to find that mobile broadband Internet access service

was functionally equivalent to commercial mobile service. Rather than apply that test,

the Commission reasoned that the two were functionally equivalent because “like

commercial mobile service, [mobile broadband Internet access service] is a widely

available, for profit mobile service that offers mobile subscribers the capability to send

and receive communications on their mobile device to and from the public.”

54. In the Internet Freedom Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) (82 FR

25568), the Commission proposed to “restore the meaning of ‘public switched network’

under Section 332(d)(2) to its pre-Title II Order focus on the traditional public switched

telephone network” and “to return to our prior definition of ‘interconnected service.’”

The Commission further proposed to return to the analysis of the Wireless Broadband

Internet Access Order and find that mobile broadband Internet access service was a

private mobile service. Finally, it proposed to reconsider the Title II Order’s departure

from the functional equivalence test codified in our rules.

55. Discussion. We find that the definitions of the terms “public switched

network” and “interconnected service” that the Commission adopted in the 1994 Second

51
CMRS Report and Order reflect the best reading of the Act, and accordingly, we readopt

the earlier definitions. We further find that, under these definitions, mobile broadband

Internet access service is not a commercial mobile service.

56. We find that the Commission’s original interpretation of “public switched

network” was more consistent with the ordinary meaning and commonly understood

definition of the term and with Commission precedent. On multiple prior occasions

before Section 332(d)(2) was enacted, the Commission used the term “public switched

network” to refer to the traditional public switched telephone network. In 1981, for

example, the Commission noted that “the public switched network interconnects all

telephones in the country.” In 1992, the Commission described its cellular service policy

as “encourag[ing] the creation of a nationwide, seamless system, interconnected with the

public switched network so that cellular and landline telephone customers can

communicate with each other on a universal basis.” Courts also used the term “public

switched network” when referring to the traditional telephone network. Based on this

history of usage of the term, the Commission, in 1994, tied its definition of the term

“public switched network” to the traditional switched telephone network. We find this

approach appropriately reflects the fundamental canon of statutory construction that

“unless otherwise defined, words will be interpreted as taking their ordinary,

contemporary, common meaning.” We find that the legislative history of the Budget Act

further supports this view. One commenter notes that the Budget Act conferees chose the

Senate version of the relevant statutory definitions, including the use of the term “public

switched network,” over the House version, which used the term “public switched

telephone network,” and argues that Congress thereby rejected the latter term. We note,

52
however, that the conferees also expressly identified the substantive differences between

the House and Senate versions of the definitions, and notably absent from their list was

any contrast between the Senate’s use of “public switched network” and the House’s use

of “public switched telephone network,” suggesting that the conferees did not view the

two terms as a significant difference.

57. We also find that the Commission’s prior interpretation is more consistent

with the text of Section 332(d)(2), in which Congress provided that commercial mobile

service must provide a service that is interconnected with “the public switched network.”

We find that the use of the definite article “the” and singular term “network” shows that

Congress intended “public switched network” to mean a single, integrated network. We

therefore agree with commenters who argue that it was not meant to encompass multiple

networks whose users cannot necessarily communicate or receive communications across

networks. Consistent with Congress’s directive to define “the public switched network,”

the restored definition reflects that the public switched network is a singular network that

“must still be interconnected with the local exchange or interexchange switched network

as it evolves,” as opposed to multiple networks that need not be connected to the public

telephone network. That the Commission’s original interpretation better reflects

Congressional intent is further evidenced by the fact that, although Congress has

amended the Communications Act and Section 332 on multiple occasions since the

Commission defined the term, it has never changed the Commission’s interpretation. As

we further discuss elsewhere in connection with the term “interconnected service,” we

find the best interpretation is to classify a service under Section 332 based solely on the

nature of the service offered. Even if we were to consider such applications, however, we

53
find that the public switched telephone network and the Internet are and will continue to

be distinct and separate networks, and cannot be considered a singular, integrated

network as intended by the term “the public switched network.” The deployment of the

Internet of Things (IoT), for example, will mean a dramatic increase in the number of

non-VoIP-capable end-points, such as IP-enabled televisions, washing machines, and

thermostats, and other smart devices.

58. We also restore the definition of “interconnected service” that existed

prior to the Title II Order. Prior to that Order, the term was defined under the

Commission’s rules as a service “that gives subscribers the capability to communicate to

or receive communication from all other users on the public switched network.” The

Title II Order modified this definition by deleting the word “all,” finding that mobile

broadband Internet access service should still be considered an interconnected service

even if it only enabled users to communicate with “some” other users of the public

switched network rather than all. We agree with commenters who argue that the best

reading of “interconnected service” is one that enables communication between its users

and all other users of the public switched network. This reading ensures that the public

switched network remains the single, integrated network that we find Congress intended

in Section 332(d)(2), as reflected in the statutory definition of “interconnected service” as

one that is interconnected with “the public switched network.” The Title II Order rejected

this reading on the ground that the Commission has previously recognized that

interconnected services may be limited in certain ways. While an interconnected service

is required to provide its users with the capability to communicate with or receive

communication from all other users of the public switched network, the Commission has

54
permitted an interconnected service to restrict access to the public switched network in

certain limited ways (such as the blocking of 900 numbers). This limited exception to

general access has existed since the original definition of the term “interconnected

service” was adopted, and the record does not demonstrate that it has caused confusion or

misunderstandings about what services may be considered interconnected. Accordingly,

we will continue to apply the definition of “interconnected service” in this fashion, and

we see no need to codify any language further clarifying the exception. We agree with

Verizon, however, that “[t]here is a massive difference between limited, targeted

restrictions that deny access to certain points on the network and the situation envisioned

by the Title II Order, where millions of users on what is ostensibly the same network are

incapable of reaching each other.”

59. Some commenters who argue that the Title II Order’s revised definitions

should be maintained point to Congress’s delegation of interpretational authority to the

Commission and the Commission’s previous position that it could define the public

switched network based on new technology and consumer demand. In defining the terms

“public switched network” and “interconnected service” in the Second CMRS Report and

Order, however, the Commission recognized that commercial mobile service must still

be interconnected with the local exchange or interexchange switched network, and it

stated that “any switched common carrier service that is interconnected with the

traditional local exchange or interexchange switched network will be defined as part of

that network for purposes of our definition of ‘commercial mobile radio services.’” We

disagree with commenters arguing that, by not including IP addresses in the definition of

the public switched network, the Commission would be failing to recognize the evolution

55
of mobile network technologies that have blurred the lines between circuit switched and

packet switched networks. The Commission’s original decision properly reflects that the

public switched network should not be defined in a static way and should reflect that the

public switched network is continuously growing and changing, but also ensures that, as

it grows and evolves, the public switched network remains a single integrated network

incorporating the traditional local and interexchange telephone networks and enabling

users to send or receive messages to or from all other users. Further, although the Title II

Order found that the revised definitions adopted at that time were warranted as better

reflecting current technological developments, including the “rapidly growing and

virtually universal use of mobile broadband service” and the “universal access provided .

. . by and to mobile broadband,” the Commission expressly noted that its determination

was “a policy judgment that section 332(d) expressly delegated to the Commission,

consistent with its broad spectrum management authority under Title III.” We find that

this analysis places undue weight on the wide availability of a mobile service, as being

effectively available to a substantial portion of the public is merely one of the definitional

criteria. The Commission found that the updated definitions would be consistent with

Congress’s intent to create a symmetrical regulatory framework among mobile services

that were similarly “broadly available” to the public. While we agree that Congress

intended, in adopting Section 332, to regulate similar mobile services symmetrically, we

do not believe that Congress intended for the Commission to regulate mobile services

symmetrically simply because they are similarly “broadly available.” First, being

“effectively available to a substantial portion of the public” is a necessary, but not

sufficient, requirement for classification as commercial mobile service. Second, as noted,

56
Congress set as the touchstone for regulatory symmetry only those mobile services that

are “functionally equivalent.” In light of definitional analysis discussed above, as well as

the public policy considerations that we have found to support our decision to classify

broadband Internet access service as an information service, we find under the same

authority that such developments do not persuade us to retain the modified definitions.

60. We find that mobile broadband Internet access service does not meet the

regulatory definition of “interconnected service” that the Commission originally adopted

in 1994 and which we readopt today, and therefore it does not meet the definition of

commercial mobile service. As the Commission found in the Wireless Broadband

Internet Access Order, “[m]obile wireless broadband Internet access service in and of

itself does not provide the capability to communicate with all users of the public switched

network” because it does “not use the North American Numbering Plan to access the

Internet, which limits subscribers’ ability to communicate to or receive communications

from all users in the public switched network.” Accordingly, it is “not an ‘interconnected

service’ as the Commission has defined the term in the context of section 332.”

61. We disagree with the conclusion in the Title II Order that, because an end

user can use a separate application or service that rides on top of the broadband Internet

access service for interconnected communications, mobile broadband Internet access

service meets the definition of “interconnected service.” We find that the definition of

“interconnected service” focuses on the characteristics of the offered mobile service

itself. Thus, the service in question must itself provide interconnection to the public

switched network using the NANP to be considered an interconnected service. Our

interpretation is consistent with Commission precedent that, prior to the Title II Order,

57
had classified a service based on the nature of the service itself. This interpretation is

also consistent with Section 332(d)(1), which defines commercial mobile service as a

service that itself “makes interconnected service available . . . to the public,” and with

Section 332(d)(2), which defines “interconnected service” as “service that is

interconnected with the public switched network.” These statutory definitions focus on

the functions of the service itself rather than “whether the service allows consumers to

acquire other services that bridge the gap to the telephone network.” Thus, we are not

persuaded by arguments that “applications such as Google Voice reflect the fully

interconnected nature of the mobile broadband and legacy telephone networks.” Our

determination reflects that the relevant service must itself be an “interconnected service,”

and not merely a capability to acquire interconnection. We further note that viewing

broadband Internet access service as a distinct service from application layer services that

may be accessed by it, even if the applications are pre-installed in the mobile device

offered by the provider, ensures that similar mobile broadband Internet access services

are not regulated in a disparate fashion based on what applications a particular provider

chooses to install in their offered devices. This is consistent with the fundame ntal

purpose under Section 332 of regulatory symmetry between similar mobile services, and

also avoids regulatory inconsistencies that would result when mobile devices are brought

to a particular service provider by the consumer that do not include the provider’s choice

of pre-installed apps. While OTI New America argues that the need to obtain such apps

to make an interconnected call does not make mobile broadband Internet access service

different from traditional telephone service, which has always required customer

premises equipment to complete an interconnected call, we find the analogy inapt. With

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traditional CMRS, even where consumers obtain their premises equipment or mobile

devices separately, the function of interconnection is provided by the purchased mobile

service itself. Because the focus is solely on the relevant service provided, we also

disagree that physical connections between networks, in and of themselves, establish that

the relevant services are interconnected, and we further disagree that mobile broadband

Internet access service should be considered an interconnected service simply because a

separate interconnected voice service may be provided using the same packet-switched

network layer.

62. Consistent with the Commission’s analysis in the Wireless Broadband

Internet Access Order, the fact that “consumers are now able to use a variety of Internet-

enabled applications that allow them to send calls and texts to NANP end-points” does

not make mobile broadband Internet access service itself an interconnected service as

defined by our rules. The increased use and availability of mobile VoIP applications

does not change the fact that mobile broadband Internet access as a core service is

distinct from the service capabilities offered by applications (whether installed by a user

or hardware manufacturer) that may ride on top of it. When viewed as a distinct service,

it is apparent that today’s mobile broadband Internet access service itself does not enable

users to reach NANP telephone numbers and therefore cannot be considered an

interconnected service. We do not here address whether IP-based services or applications

such as Wi-Fi Calling or VoLTE would meet the definition of “interconnected service”

under Section 332 and the Commission’s rules. We disagree with OTI New America’s

argument that the growing availability of Wi-Fi Calling provided by mobile carriers that

also offer mobile broadband Internet access service supports the classification of mobile

59
broadband Internet access service as a commercial mobile service. The two are distinct

services and subject to separate classification determinations. Similarly, even if

providers are increasingly offering voice service and mobile broadband Internet access

service together, this does not support classifying and regulating the latter in the same

way as the former. Providers have long offered multiple services of mixed classification,

subject to the rule that they are regulated as common carriers to the extent they offer

services that are subject to Title II regulation.

63. Moreover, in light of the determination above that mobile broadband

Internet access service should be restored to its classification as an information service,

and consistent with our findings today that reinstating this classification will serve the

public interest, we also find that it will serve the public interest for the Commission to

exercise its statutory authority to return to its original conclusion that mobile broadband

Internet access is not a commercial mobile service. We note that commenters who

support the Title II Order’s revised definition of “public switched network” do not

dispute that Congress expressly delegated authority to the Commission to define the key

terms, i.e., “public switched network” and “interconnected service.” No one disputes

that, consistent with the Commission’s previous findings, if mobile broadband Internet

access service were a commercial mobile service for purposes of Section 332 and were

also classified as an information service, such a regulatory framework could lead to

contradictory and absurd results. Among these problems, as the Commission explained

in 2007, is that a contrary reading of the Act would result in an internal contradiction

within the statutory framework, because Section 332 would require that the service

provider be treated as a common carrier insofar as it provides mobile wireless broadband

60
Internet access service, while Section 3 clearly would prohibit the application of common

carrier regulation of such a service provider’s provision of that service. Indeed, the Title

II Order, like the 2007 Wireless Broadband Internet Access Order, recognized and

sought to avoid the significant problems in construing Section 332 in a manner that set up

this “statutory contradiction” with the scope of Title II. Construing the CMRS definition

to exclude mobile broadband Internet access service as an information service similarly

avoids this contradiction, furthers the Act’s overall intent to allow information services to

develop free from common carrier regulations, and is consistent with the public policy

analysis in connection with our determination to reclassify mobile broadband Internet

access as an information service. Further, it avoids the absurd result of singling out

mobile providers of broadband Internet access service for such common carrier

regulation while freeing fixed broadband Internet access services from such regulation,

notwithstanding that, as discussed elsewhere in this Order, there is generally greater

competition in the provision of mobile broadband Internet access service than in fixed

broadband Internet access service. We note that wireless services similar to mobile

broadband Internet access service were not available in the market place in 1993 when

Congress adopted Section 332 or, in 1996, when Congress adopted the Section 3

definition of “telecommunication carrier.”

64. In addition to finding that mobile broadband Internet access is not a

commercial mobile service, we also adopt our proposal to reconsider the Commission’s

analysis regarding functional equivalence in the Title II Order. For the same reasons

discussed below with respect to our authority to revisit the classification of broadband

Internet access service, we disagree with arguments regarding limits on the

61
Commission’s ability to revisit the Title II Order’s findings regarding functional

equivalence. In addition, we note that the Title II Order, in reaching the conclusion that

mobile broadband Internet access was a commercial mobile service, relied in part on the

need to avoid a statutory contradiction with its determination that the service was a

telecommunications service. Given our decision to restore the original classification of

mobile broadband Internet access service as an information service, this change

additionally warrants revisiting our conclusions with regard to the classification of

mobile broadband Internet access service under Section 332. We find that the test for

functional equivalence adopted in the Second CMRS Report and Order reflects the best

interpretation of Section 332. Under this test, a variety of factors will be evaluated to

make a determination whether the mobile service in question is the functional equivalent

of a commercial mobile radio service, including: consumer demand for the service to

determine whether the service is closely substitutable for a commercial mobile radio

service; whether changes in price for the service under examination, or for the

comparable commercial mobile radio service would prompt customers to change from

one service to the other; and market research information identifying the targeted market

for the service under review. In contrast, as noted above, the Title II Order based its

finding of functional equivalence on the notion that “like commercial mobile service,

[mobile broadband Internet access] is a widely available, for profit mobile service that

offers mobile subscribers the capability to send and receive communications on their

mobile device to and from the public.” Commenters who support the classification of

mobile broadband Internet access service as a commercial mobile service similarly

contend that mobile broadband Internet access service shares no similarities with other

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private mobile services such as taxi dispatch services and that, in contrast, “there is no

networked service more open, interconnected, and universally offered than mobile

broadband Internet access service.” We note that the statute directs us to determine

whether mobile broadband Internet access is functionally equivalent to a commercial

mobile service, not whether it is functionally dissimilar from certain systems classified as

private mobile.

65. We believe the test of functional equivalence adopted in the Second CMRS

Report and Order hews much more faithfully to the intent of Congress than the approach

applied in the Title II Order or the analyses in the record focusing on the extent of service

availability. If Congress meant for widespread public access to a widely used service to

be the determining factor for what is “functionally equivalent” to a commercial mobile

service, it would not have included being “interconnected with the public switched

network” in the statutory definition of the service. Indeed, the relevant House Report, in

describing “private carriers” that under the current law were offering service

“[f]unctionally . . . indistinguishable” from carriers classified as common carriers,

highlighted that these private carriers were offering services interconnected with the

public switched network. Although the Commission has discretion to determine whether

services are functionally equivalent, we find that the Title II Order’s reliance on the

public’s “ubiquitous access” to mobile broadband Internet access service alone was

insufficient to establish functional equivalency. In contrast, the test established in the

Second CMRS Report and Order provides a thorough consideration of factors that are

indicative of whether a service is closely substitutable in the eyes of consumers for a

commercial mobile service.

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 66. Applying the test adopted by the Commission in the Second CMRS Report

and Order, we find that mobile broadband Internet access service today is not the

functional equivalent of commercial mobile service as defined by the Commission. We

note again that, under this test, services not meeting the definition of commercial mobile

service are presumed to be not functionally equivalent, a presumption particularly

intuitive here in light of the functional differences between traditional commercial mobile

services like mobile voice and today’s mobile broadband services. The evidence on

demand substitutability only reinforces this presumption. First, mobile broadband

Internet access service and traditional mobile voice services have different service

characteristics and intended uses. Consumers purchase mobile broadband Internet access

service to access the Internet, on-line video, games, search engines, websites, and various

other applications, while they purchase mobile voice service solely to make calls to other

users using NANP numbers. Pricing and marketing information similarly support the

conclusion that today mobile broadband Internet access service and traditional mobile

voice services are not “closely substitutable.” Such evidence suggests, for example, that

mobile service providers target different types of customer groups when advertising

voice, as opposed to mobile broadband Internet access service. Moreover, at this time,

voice-only mobile services tend to be much less expensive than mobile broadband

Internet access services, and they appear to be targeted to consumers who seek low-cost

mobile service. Currently, for example, unlimited voice and text only plans may range

from $15 to $25 per month. In contrast, unlimited mobile broadband Internet plans may

range from $60 to $90 per month for a single line. Nothing in the record suggests that

changing the price for one service by a small but significant percentage would prompt a

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significant percentage of customers to move to the other service. Accordingly, under the

functional equivalence standard adopted in the CMRS Second Report and Order, we find

that mobile broadband Internet access today is not the functional equivalent of

commercial mobile service. The two services have different service characteristics and

intended uses and are not closely substitutable for each other, as evidenced by the fact

that changes in price for one service generally will not prompt significant percentages of

customers to change from one service to the other. We make a conforming revision to

the definition of “commercial mobile radio service” in Section 20.3 of the Commission’s

rules to reflect our determination that mobile broadband Internet access service is not the

functional equivalent of commercial mobile service.

C. Public Policy Supports Classifying Broadband Internet Access Service

As An Information Service

67. While our legal analysis concluding that broadband Internet access service

is best classified as an information service under the Act is sufficient grounds alone on

which to base our classification decision, the public policy arguments advanced in the

record and economic analysis reinforce that conclusion. We find that reinstating the

information service classification for broadband Internet access service is more likely to

encourage broadband investment and innovation, furthering our goal of making

broadband available to all Americans and benefitting the entire Internet ecosystem. For

almost 20 years, there was a bipartisan consensus that broadband should remain under

Title I, and ISPs cumulatively invested $1.5 trillion in broadband networks between 1996

and 2015. Commenters who claim recent growth in online video streaming services is

evidence of the need for Title II regulation ignore the fact that the growth of online video

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streaming services was largely made possible by the network investments made under

Title I and as such demonstrates instead the success of the longstanding light-touch

framework under Title I. During that period of intense investment, broadband

deployment and adoption increased dramatically, as the combined number of fixed and

mobile Internet connections increased from 50.2 million to 355.2 million from 2005 to

2015, and even as early as 2011, a substantial majority of Americans had access to

broadband at home. As of 2016, roughly 91 percent of homes had access to networks

offering 25 Mbps, and there were 395.9 million wireless connections, twenty percent

more than the U.S. population. Mobile data speeds have also dramatically increased,

with speeds increasing 40-fold from the 3G speeds of 2007. Cable broadband speeds

increased 3,200 percent between 2005 and 2015, while prices per Mbps fell by more than

87 percent between 1996 and 2012.

68. Based on the record in this proceeding, we conclude that economic theory,

empirical studies, and observational evidence support reclassification of broadband

Internet access service as an information service rather than the application of public-

utility style regulation on ISPs. We find the Title II classification likely has resulted, and

will result, in considerable social cost, in terms of foregone investment and innovation.

At the same time, classification of broadband Internet access service under Title II has

had no discernable incremental benefit relative to Title I classification. The regulations

promulgated under the Title II regime appear to have been a solution in search of a

problem. Close examination of the examples of harm cited by proponents of Title II to

justify heavy-handed regulation reveal that they are sparse and often exaggerated.

Moreover, economic incentives, including competitive pressures, support Internet

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openness. We find that the gatekeeper theory, the bedrock of the Title II Order’s overall

argument justifying its approach, is a poor fit for the broadband Internet access service

market. Further, even if there may be potential harms, we find that pre-existing legal

remedies, particularly antitrust and consumer protection laws, sufficiently address such

harms so that they are outweighed by the well-recognized disadvantages of public utility

regulation. As such, we find that public policy considerations support our legal finding

that broadband Internet access service is an information service under the Act.

1. Title II Regulation Imposes Substantial Costs on the Internet

Ecosystem

69. The Commission has long recognized that regulatory burdens and

uncertainty, such as those inherent in Title II, can deter investment by regulated entities

and, until the Title II Order, its regulatory framework for cable, wireline, and wireless

broadband Internet access services reflected that reality. Congress has similarly

recognized the burdens associated with regulation. For example, the 1996 Act states its

purpose is to “reduce regulation,” and directs the Commission to regularly review

regulations and repeal those it deems unnecessary or harmful to investment, competition,

and the public interest. This concern is well-documented in the economics literature on

regulatory theory, and the record also supports the theory that the regulation imposed by

Title II will negatively impact investment. The balance of the evidence in the record

suggests that Title II classification has reduced ISP investment in broadband networks, as

well as hampered innovation, because of regulatory uncertainty. The record also

demonstrates that small ISPs, many of which serve rural consumers, have been

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particularly harmed by Title II. And there is no convincing evidence of increased

investment in the edge that would compensate for the reduction in network investment.

70. Investment by ISPs. As the Commission has noted in the past, increased

broadband deployment and subscribership require investment, and the regulatory climate

affects investment. The mechanisms by which public utility regulation can depress

investment by the regulated entity are well-known in the regulatory economics literature.

The owners of network infrastructure make long-term, irreversible investments. In

theory, public utility regulation is intended to curb monopoly pricing just enough that the

firm earns a rate of return on its investments equivalent to what it would earn in a

competitive market. In practice, public utility regulation can depress profits below the

competitive rate of return for a variety of reasons. This reduction in the expected return

reduces the incentive to invest. Importantly, the risk that regulation might push returns

below the competitive level also creates a disincentive for investment.

71. We first look to broadband investment in the aggregate and find that it has

decreased since the adoption of the Title II Order. ISP capital investment increased each

year from the end of the recession in 2009 until 2014, when it peaked. In 2015, capital

investment by broadband providers appears to have declined for the first time since the

end of the recession in 2009. And investment levels fell again in 2016—down more than

3 percent from 2014 levels. Although declines in broadband capital investments have

occurred in the past with changes in the business cycle, the most recent decline is

particularly curious given that the economy has not experienced a recession in recent

years but rather has been growing. While observing trends in the data by itself cannot

establish the cause of directional movements, the stark trend reversal that has developed

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in recent years suggests that changes to the regulatory environment created by the Title II

Order have stifled investment. In addition to data trends, the record contains a variety of

other studies, using different methodologies which seek to determine how imposition of

public-utility style regulation might affect ISPs’ investments.

72. Comparisons of ISP investment before and after the Title II Order suggest

that reclassification has discouraged investment. Performing such a comparison,

economist Hal Singer concluded that ISP investment by major ISPs fell by 5.6 percent

between 2014 and 2016. Singer attempted to account for a few significant factors

unrelated to Title II that might affect investment, by subtracting some investments that

are clearly not affected by the regulatory change (such as the accounting treatment of

Sprint’s telephone handsets, AT&T’s investments in Mexico, and DirecTV investments

following its acquisition by AT&T in the middle of this period). In contrast, Free Press

presents statistics that it claims demonstrate that broadband deployment and ISP

investment “accelerated” to “historic levels” after the Commission approved the Title II

Order. But Free Press fails to account for factors such as foreign investment and the

appropriate treatment of handsets as capital expenditures, as Singer did.

73. A comparative assessment that adjusted the Free Press and Singer

numbers so that they covered the same ISPs, spanned the same time period, and

subtracted investments unaffected by the regulatory change, found that both sets of

numbers demonstrate that ISP investment fell by about 3 percent in 2015 and by 2

percent in 2016. A Free State Foundation calculation using broadband capital

expenditure data for 16 of the largest ISPs reached a result similar to Singer’s, but this

analysis simply compared actual ISP investment to a trend extrapolated from pre-2015

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data. These types of comparisons can only be regarded as suggestive, since they fail to

control for other factors that may affect investment (such as technological change, the

overall state of the economy, and the fact that large capital investments often occur in

discrete chunks rather than being spaced evenly over time), and companies may take

several years to adjust their investment plans. Nonetheless, these comparisons are

consistent with other evidence in the record that indicates that Title II adversely affected

broadband investment. A separate comparison of the United States’ ISP investment with

ISP investment in Europe also suggests that ISP investment might decline further if the

U.S., under the Title II Order, moves toward a regulatory system more like Europe’s. A

USTelecom research brief finds that European investment per capita is about 50 percent

lower than broadband investment in the U.S. per capita. As some commenters point out,

this study compares the U.S. with the much more regulatory European system, which

includes mandatory unbundling at regulated rates. Thus, it presents a picture of how

investment could change if the U.S. moves toward the European system under Title II,

not an assessment of the direct results of the Title II Order.

74. The record also contains analyses attempting to assess the predicted causal

effects of Title II regulation on ISP investment and/or output. Some of these studies are

“natural experiments” that seek to compare outcomes occurring after policy changes to a

relevant counterfactual that shows what outcomes would have occurred in the absence of

the policy change. No single study is dispositive, but methodologies designed to estimate

impacts relative to a counterfactual tend to provide more convincing evidence of causal

impacts of Title II classification. Having reviewed the record of these studies, the

balance of the evidence indicates that Title II discourages investment by ISPs—a finding

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consistent with economic theory. The record does not provide sufficient evidence to

quantify the size of the effect of Title II on investment. An additional type of evidence is

the effect of the Title II Order on stock prices. According to that study, in the short term,

the decision appears to have had little direct effect on stock prices, except for a few cable

ISPs. That may reflect the forward-looking, predictive capabilities of market players.

75. Prior FCC regulatory decisions provide a natural experiment allowing this

question to be studied. Scholars employing the natural experiment approach found that

prior to 2003, subscribership to cable modem service (not regulated under Title II) grew

at a far faster rate than subscribership to DSL Internet access service (the underlying ‘last

mile’ facilities and transmission which were regulated under Title II). After 2003, when

the Commission removed line-sharing rules on DSL, DSL Internet access service

subscribership experienced a statistically significant upward shift relative to cable modem

service. A second statistically significant upward shift in DSL Internet access service

subscribership relative to cable modem service occurred after the Commission classified

DSL Internet access service as an information service in 2005. This evidence suggests

that Title II discourages not just ISP investment, but also deployment and subscribership,

which ultimately create benefits for consumers. While some commenters contend that

deployment and subscribership continued to increase after the Title II Order, such that

nothing is amiss, this casual observation does not compare observed levels of

subscribership and deployment to a relevant counterfactual that controls for other factors.

76. An assessment of how ISP investment reacted to news of impending Title

II regulation suggests that the threat of Title II regulation discouraged ISP investment.

Such statistical analysis allows one to compare the actual level of investment with a

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counterfactual estimate of what investment would have been in the absence of the change

in risk. This study found that Chairman Genachowski’s 2010 announcement of a

framework for reclassifying broadband under Title II—a credible increase in the risk of

reclassification that surprised financial markets—was associated with a $30 billion-$40

billion annual decline in investment in the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis’

“broadcasting and telecommunications” category between 2011 and 2015. The study

attributes the decline to the threat of Title II regulation, rather than net neutrality per se,

because no similar decline occurred when the FCC adopted the four principles to promote

an open Internet in 2005. Because the study’s measure of investment data covers the

entire broadcasting and telecommunications industries, the change in investment

measured in this study might be larger than the change in broadband investment

associated with the threat of Title II regulation. Accordingly, the findings may be a more

reliable indicator of the direction of the change in investment than the absolute size of the

change. At the very least, the study suggests that news of impending Title II regulation is

associated with a reduction in ISP investment over a multi-year period.

77. Some commenters have argued that this study does not identify the effect

of Title II on ISP investment, because the “last mile” facilities and transmission

underlying DSL Internet access service (essentially incumbent LEC broadband supply)

were under Title II before 2005, during the study’s pre-treatment period. However, to the

extent that a fraction of the industry was subject to Title II (and at the time the bulk of

broadband subscribers used cable modem services that were not regulated under Title II),

this would imply Ford’s negative result for investment was understated.

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 78. The study is also disputed by the Internet Association, which submitted an

economic study arguing that the threat and eventual imposition of Title II status on

broadband Internet service providers in 2010 and 2015 did not have a measurable impact

on telecommunications investment in the U.S. While we appreciate the alternative

method and data sources introduced by that study, several elements lead us to discount its

findings. The estimation of the impact of events in both 2010 and 2015 relies partially on

forecast rather than actual data, which likely lessens the possibility of finding an effect of

Title II on investment. In addition, when examining cable and telecommunications

infrastructure investment in the U.S., the study relies on a regression discontinuity over

time model, thereby eliminating the use of a separate control group to identify the effect

of policy changes. We believe use of such a model in these circumstances is unlikely to

yield reliable results. The Internet Association study claims that its test of the 2010 effect

did not use forecast data. However, comparing the reported number of observations in

Tables B1 and B2 of the study clearly indicates that the same datasets were used to

estimate 2010 and 2015 effects. Furthermore, we note that the Phoenix Center attempted

to replicate the results of Table B1 and obtained strikingly different results when

excluding the forecast data. Unfortunately, the Phoenix Center chose to only estimate

Hooton’s baseline model, which did not control for obviously confounding factors such

as the business cycle, and therefore we place limited weight on the Phoenix Center’s

revisions.

79. In light of the foregoing record evidence, we conclude that reclassification

of broadband Internet access service from Title II to Title I is likely to increase ISP

investment and output. The studies in the record that control the most carefully for other

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factors that may affect investment (the Ford study and the Hazlett & Wright study)

support this conclusion. Ford controls for macroeconomic factors that influence the

overall economy using a two-way fixed-effects model. Hazlett & Wright’s analysis of the

effects of Title II on DSL subscribership cites regression analysis that controls for factors

influencing the overall economy by including Canadian DSL subscribership as an

explanatory variable. Consequently, we disagree with commenters who assert that Title

II has increased or had no effect on ISP investment, given the failure of other studies to

account for complexity of corporate decision-making and the macroeconomic effects that

can play a role in investment cycles. We also disagree with commenters who assert that

it may be too soon to meaningfully assess the economic effects that Title II has had on

broadband infrastructure investment.

80. Regulatory Uncertainty. The evidence that Title II has depressed

broadband investment is bolstered by other record evidence showing that Title II stifled

network innovation. Among the unseen social costs of regulation are those broadband

innovations and developments that never see the light of day. ISP investment does not

simply take the form of greater deployment, but can also be directed toward new and

more advanced services for consumers. Research and development is an inherently risky

part of any business, and the Commission’s actions should not introduce greater

uncertainty and risk into the process without a clear need to do so. Numerous

commenters have stated that the uncertainty regarding what is allowed and what is not

allowed under the new Title II broadband regime has caused them to shelve projects that

were in development, pursue fewer innovative business models and arrangements, or

delay rolling out new features or services. Even large ISPs with significant resources

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have not been immune to the dampening effect that uncertainty can have on a firm’s

incentive to innovate. Charter, for instance, has asserted that it has “put on hold a project

to build out its out-of-home Wi-Fi network, due in part to concerns about whether future

interpretations of Title II would allow Charter to continue to offer its Wi-Fi network as a

benefit to its existing subscribers.” Cox has also stated that it has approached the

“development and launch of new products and service features with greater caution” due

to the uncertainty created by the Title II classification. And while new service offerings

can take a while to develop and launch, Comcast cites “Title II overhang” as a burden

that delayed the launch of its IP-based transmission of its cable service, due to a year-

long investigation.

81. Utility-style regulation is particularly inapt for a dynamic industry built on

technological development and disruption. It is well known that extensive regulation

distorts production as well as consumption choices. Regulated entities are inherently

restricted in the activities in which they may engage, and the products that they may

offer. Asking permission to engage in new activities or offer new products or services

quickly becomes a major preoccupation of the utility. This is apparent upon a casual

observation of heavily-regulated utilities, such as the U.S. power, water, and mass transit

systems. These are industries where competition has been effectively deemed

impossible, run by quasi-public monopolies that lack incentives to invest, innovate, or

even properly maintain their facilities. Within the communications industry, it is

apparent that the most regulated sectors, such as basic telephone service, have

experienced the least innovation, whereas those sectors that have been traditionally free

to innovate, such as Internet service, have greatly evolved. In the communications

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industry, incumbents have often used Commission regulation under the direction of the

“public interest” to thwart innovation and competitive entry into the sector and protect

existing market structures. Given the unknown needs of the networks of the future, it is

our determination that the utility-style regulations potentially imposed by Title II run

contrary to the public interest.

82. The record confirms that concern about “regulatory creep”—whereby a

regulator slowly increases its reach and the scope of its regulations—has exacerbated the

regulatory uncertainty created by the Title II Order. Even at the time of adoption, the

Commission itself did not seem to know how the Title II Order would be interpreted. As

then-Chairman Wheeler stated in February 2015, “we don’t really know. No blocking,

no throttling, no fast lanes. Those can be bright-line rules because we know about those

issues. But we don’t know where things go next.” With future regulations open to such

uncertainties, Title II regulation adds a risk premium on each investment decision, which

reduces the expected profitability of potential investments and deters investment. For

example, the Title II Order did not forbear from ex post enforcement actions related to

subscriber charges, raising concerns that ex post price regulation was very much a

possibility. Further, providers have asserted that although the Commission forbore from

the full weight of Title II in the Title II Order, they were less willing to invest due to

concerns that the Commission could reverse course in the future and impose a variety of

costly regulations on the broadband industry—such as rate regulation and

unbundling/open access requirements—placing any present investments in broadband

infrastructure at risk. These concerns were compounded by the fact that while the Title II

Order itself announced forbearance from ex ante price regulation, at the same time it

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imposed price regulation with its ban on paid prioritization arrangements, which

mandated that ISPs charge edge providers a zero price. These threats to the ISP business

model have been felt throughout financial markets. As Craig Moffett of

MoffettNathanson explained, “[i]t would be naïve to suggest that the implication of Title

II, particularly when viewed in the context of the FCC’s repeated findings that the

broadband market is non-competitive, doesn’t introduce a real risk of price regulation.”

These risks are not merely theoretical: As CenturyLink contends, financial analysts

lowered industry stock ratings due in part to the major risks Title II posed to the industry,

which resulted in lower stock prices and lost market capitalization.

83. For these reasons, “any rational ISP will think twice before investing in

innovative business plans that might someday be found to violate the Commission’s

undisclosed policy preferences and thus give rise to a cease-and-desist order and perhaps

massive forfeiture penalties.” We conclude that this ever-present threat of regulatory

creep is substantially likely to affect the risk calculus taken by ISPs when deciding how

to invest their shareholders’ capital, potentially deterring them from investing in

broadband, and to encourage them to direct capital toward less inherently-risky business

operations. Many ISPs are part of integrated multi-sector holding companies, which

allows them to more easily shift capital away from sectors where their investments would

face greater regulatory risk, and toward more investment-friendly sectors. We find

unpersuasive the alleged inconsistencies between ISPs claiming that the Title II Order

decreased their willingness or ability to invest in broadband infrastructure, and their

statements to investors that the Title II Order has not had a negative impact on their

broadband deployments. First, some of the comments claiming that corporate officers’

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statements to investors prove that Title II has increased investment use highly selective

quotations that ignore other statements to investors that imply the opposite. Second, as

other commenters point out, the latter often constitute statements susceptible to multiple

interpretations, such as AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson stating that his company

planned to “deploy more fiber next year than [it] did this year.” Third, these ambiguous

statements do not take into account the relevant counterfactual scenario in which Title II

regulation had not been adopted. Fourth, we observe that some of the comments

attempting to highlight a discrepancy between statements to investors and statements in

this proceeding simply show executives stating that their business practices will not

change because they were not engaged in the conduct prohibited by the Title II Order, not

that the firms’ investment priorities remained the same after the Title II Order. As such,

we disagree with commenters who assert that maintaining the Title II Order regime is the

best means of addressing regulatory uncertainty.

84. Small ISPs and Rural Communities. The Commission’s decision in 2015

to reclassify broadband Internet access service as a telecommunications service has had

particularly deleterious effects on small ISPs and the communities they serve, which are

often rural and/or lower-income. The record reflects that small ISPs and new entrants

into the market face disproportionate costs and burdens as a result of regulation. Many

small ISPs lack the extensive resources necessary to comply with burdensome regulation,

and the record evinces a widespread consensus that reclassification of broadband Internet

access service as a telecommunications service has harmed small ISPs by forcing them to

divert significant resources to legal compliance and deterring them from taking financial

risks.

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 85. Small ISPs state that these increased compliance costs and regulatory

burdens have forced them to divert money and attention away from planned broadband

service and network upgrades and expansions, thus delaying, deferring, or forgoing the

benefits they would have brought “to their bottom lines, their customers, and their

communities.” A coalition of National Multicultural Organizations highlights that the

uncertainty inherent under Title II “already has produced results that slow needed

innovation and broadband adoption, effects that are most acutely felt in rural and

socioeconomically-challenged urban communities.” The record is replete with instances

in which small ISPs reduced planned, or limited new, investment in broadband

infrastructure as a result of the regulatory uncertainty stemming from the adoption of the

Title II Order. Because the logical expectation that Title II regulation would have

particularly harmful effects on small ISPs and the communities they serve in is borne out

by strong record evidence from a wide range of small ISPs, we are unpersuaded by

speculative suggestions that small ISPs’ investment decisions can be fully or primarily

explained based on other considerations such that the effect of Title II regulation can be

neglected. The Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (WISPA) surveyed its

members and found that over 80 percent had “incurred additional expense in complying

with the Title II rules, had delayed or reduced network expansion, had delayed or reduced

services and had allocated budget to comply with the rules.” The threat of ex post rate

regulation has hung particularly heavily on the heads of small ISPs, “who are especially

risk-averse, causing them to run all current and planned offerings against the ‘just’ and

‘reasonable’ and unreasonably discriminatory standards of sections 201 and 202 of the

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Act.” The effects have been strongly felt by small ISPs, given their more limited

resources, leading to depressed hiring in rural areas most in need of additional resources.

86. Compounding the difficulties faced by small ISPs, the record also reflects

that the “‘black cloud’ of common carriage regulations” resulted in increased difficulties

for small ISPs in obtaining financing. A coalition of 70 small wireless ISPs cited the

uncertainty created by the Title II Order as a major reason that their costs of capital have

risen, preventing them from further expanding and improving their networks. The new

regulatory burdens, risks, and uncertainties combined with “diminished access to capital

create a vicious cycle—the regulatory burdens make it more difficult to attract capital,

and less capital makes it more difficult to comply with regulatory burdens.” A coalition

of 19 municipal ISPs cited high legal and consulting fees necessary to navigate the Title

II Order, as well as regulatory compliance risk as a reason for delaying or abandoning

new features and services. While, of course, not all small ISPs have faced these

challenges, there is substantial record evidence that regulatory uncertainty resulting from

the Commission’s reclassification of broadband Internet access service in 2015 risks

stifling innovation, and that it has already done so with respect to small ISPs, which

ultimately harms consumers.

87. We anticipate that the beneficial effects of our decision today to restore

the classification of broadband Internet access service to an information service will be

particularly felt in rural and/or lower-income communities, giving smaller ISPs a stronger

business case to expand into currently unserved areas. Enabling ISPs to freely

experiment with services and business arrangements that can best serve their customers,

without excessive regulatory and compliance burdens, is an important factor in

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connecting underserved and hard-to-reach populations. We are committed to bridging

the digital divide, and recognize that small ISPs “disproportionately provide service in

rural and underserved areas where they are either the only available broadband service

option or provide the only viable alternative to an incumbent broadband provider.” We

anticipate that returning broadband Internet access service to a light-touch regulatory

framework will help further the Commission’s statutory imperative to “encourage the

deployment on a reasonable and timely basis of advanced telecommunications capability

to all Americans” by helping to incentivize ISPs to expand coverage to underserved

areas. We therefore reject arguments that our classification decision harms low-income

communities.

88. Investment at the Edge. Finally, to more fully discern the impact of Title

II, we must look at investment throughout the broadband ecosystem, including

investment and innovation at the edge, as well as with other ecosystem participants

(manufacturers, etc.). We agree with commenters who assert that looking only at ISP

investment ignores investment that is occurring at the edge. While there is tremendous

investment occurring at the edge, the record does not suggest a correlation between edge

provider investment and Title II regulation, nor does it suggest a causal relationship that

edge providers have increased their investments as a result of the Title II Order. Free

Press argues that since adoption of the Title II Order, innovation and investment at the

edge has increased. While high growth rates are associated with the Internet industry, the

evidence presented does not show the imposition of Title II regulation on Internet access

service providers caused recent edge provider investment. That requires an estimate as to

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what would have happened in the absence of Title II regulation (e.g., analysis following

the methods employed in the studies of Ford, and of Hazlett & Wright).

89. In fact, one could argue that in the absence of Title II regulation, edge

providers would have made even higher levels of investment than they undertook. In

many cases, the strongest growth for a firm or industry predates the Title II Order. For

example, Free Press highlights that the data processing, hosting, and related services

industry increased capital expenditures by 26 percent in 2015, a significant increase in

investment. However, in 2013, well before the 2014 Open Internet NPRM that led to the

Title II Order, that industry increased investment by over 100 percent. Similarly,

Netflix’s greatest relative increase in capital expenditures occurred in 2013. Amazon

increased its spending on technology and content, which consists primarily of research

and development expenses, by 28 percent in 2016, while in 2013 the increase was 41

percent. We do not claim that these data points prove that edge provider investment

would have been greater in the absence of the Title II Order, but we find that Free Press

does not demonstrate that there is a significant difference in the investment behavior of

edge providers due to the Title II Order.

2. Utility-Style Regulation of Broadband Is a Solution in Search

of a Problem

90. The Internet was open before Title II, and many economic factors support

openness. The Internet thrived for decades under the light-touch regulatory regime in

place before the Title II Order, as ISPs built networks and edge services were born. We

find that the sparse evidence of harms discussed in the Title II Order—evidence repeated

by commenters in this proceeding as the basis for adopting a Title II classification—

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demonstrates that the incremental benefits of Title II over light-touch regulation are

inconsequential, and pale in comparison to the significant costs of public-utility

regulation. We therefore reject the argument that sparse evidence of harms is sufficient

to justify the imposition of Title II.

91. The Internet as we know it developed and flourished under light-touch

regulation. It is self-evident that the hypothetical harms against which the Title II Order

purported to protect did not thwart the development of the Internet ecosystem. Edge

providers have been able to disrupt a multitude of markets—finance, transportation,

education, music, video distribution, social media, health and fitness, and many more—

through innovation, all without subjecting the networks that carried them to onerous

utility regulation. It is telling that the Title II Order and its proponents in this proceeding

can point only to a handful of incidents that purportedly affected Internet openness, while

ignoring the two decades of flourishing innovation that preceded the Title II Order.

92. The first instance of actual harm cited by the Title II Order involved

Madison River Communications, a small DSL provider accused in 2005 of blocking ports

used for VoIP applications, thereby foreclosing competition to its telephony business.

Madison River entered into a consent decree with the Enforcement Bureau, paying

$15,000 to the U.S. Treasury and agreeing that it “shall not block ports used for VoIP

applications or otherwise prevent customers from using VoIP applications.” Vonage, an

over-the-top VoIP provider, later confirmed in press reports that it had initiated a

complaint against Madison River at the Commission and that other small ISPs had

blocked its VoIP services.

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 93. Next, the Title II Order referenced Comcast’s throttling of BitTorrent, a

peer-to-peer networking protocol. Comcast, which was at the time the nation’s second-

largest ISP, admitted that it interfered with about a tenth of BitTorrent TCP connections,

and independent investigations suggested that Comcast interfered with over half of

BitTorrent streams. After receiving a formal complaint about the practice, the

Commission found “that Comcast’s conduct poses a substantial threat to both the open

character and efficient operation of the Internet, and is not reasonable,” and ordered

Comcast to cease the interference. However, the D.C. Circuit vacated the Commission’s

order in Comcast.

94. Madison River and Comcast-BitTorrent—the anecdotes most frequently

cited in favor of Title II regulation—demonstrate that any problematic conduct was quite

rare. The more recent incidents discussed in the Title II Order also show that since 2008,

few tangible threats to the openness of the Internet have arisen. First, in 2012, AT&T

restricted customers on certain data plans from accessing FaceTime on its cellular

network for three months. AT&T contended it did so due to network management

concerns, while application developers argued the restriction limited consumer choice.

Regardless of the merits, AT&T ultimately reversed its decision within three months and

the decision did not affect consumers who had data caps.

95. The final example—though not an example of harm to consumers—

discussed in the Title II Order was Comcast’s Xfinity TV application for the Xbox,

which was criticized for exempting subscribers from their Comcast data caps. However,

the service was provided as a specialized service, similar to certain VoIP and video

offerings that use IP but are not delivered via the public Internet. Accordingly, the

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Xfinity Xbox application was not subject to the 2010 or 2015 rules, as it was a so-called

“non-BIAS data service.” However, the Title II Order further clouded this carve-out for

innovative services by threatening to enforce the rules adopted under the Order against

ISPs if it deemed after the fact, that those services were “functional equivalents” of

broadband Internet access services, as the Open Internet Order had done in 2010.

96. Certain commenters have claimed that there have been other harms to

Internet openness, but most of their anecdotes do not entail harms that the Title II Order

purported to combat. Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Internet Engineers point to

a number of alleged practices by ISPs, including stripping encryption from certain

communications, inserting JavaScript code into third-party webpages, sending search

data to third parties, and adding cookies. However, none of the bright-line rules

promulgated in the Title II Order would have halted these practices, and whether they are

covered by the “general conduct rule” is at best unclear. Similarly, the claim among

several commenters that certain mobile providers blocked Google Wallet is misleading.

Mobile providers refused to support Google Wallet because it required integration with

the secure element of the handset’s SIM card, which mobile providers believed

introduced security vulnerabilities. OTI’s argument about AT&T blocking Slingbox—

which “redirected a TV signal” to the iPhone app—from its 3G network in 2009 fails to

provide support for Title II regulation for a similar reason, because as AT&T explained at

the time, “we don’t restrict users from going to a Web site that lets them view videos.

But what our terms and conditions prohibit is the transferring, or slinging, of a TV signal

to their personal computer or smartphone.” In an attempt to manage its 3G network,

AT&T restricted slinging to Wi-Fi, while reiterating that consumers could still access

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video streaming websites. We also recognize the existence of consumer complaints, but

for the reasons discussed in Part IV.B below, we do not find them indicative of actual

harm that the Commission’s net neutrality rules are intended to protect against.

97. Because of the paucity of concrete evidence of harms to the openness of

the Internet, the Title II Order and its proponents have heavily relied on purely

speculative threats. We do not believe hypothetical harms, unsupported by empirical

data, economic theory, or even recent anecdotes, provide a basis for public-utility

regulation of ISPs. Indeed, economic theory demonstrates that many of the practices

prohibited by the Title II Order can sometimes harm consumers and sometimes benefit

consumers; therefore, it is not accurate to presume that all hypothetical effects are

harmful. Intrusive, investment- inhibiting Title II regulation requires a showing of actual

harms, and after roughly fifteen years of searching, proponents of Title II have found

“astonishing[ly]” few. Further, the transparency rule we adopt today will require ISPs to

clearly disclose such practices and this, coupled with existing consumer protection and

antitrust laws, will significantly reduce the likelihood that ISPs will engage in actions that

would harm consumers or competition. To the extent that our approach relying on

transparency requirements, consumer protection laws, and antitrust laws does not address

all concerns, we find that any remaining unaddressed harms are small relative to the costs

of implementing more heavy-handed regulation.

98. Incentives. We find, based on the record before us, that ISPs have strong

incentives to preserve Internet openness, and these interests typically outweigh any

countervailing incentives an ISP might have. Consequently, Title II regulation is an

unduly heavy-handed approach to what, at worst, are relatively minor problems.

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Although the Title II Order argued that ISPs were incentivized to harm edge innovation,

it also conceded that ISPs benefit from the openness of the Internet. The Title II Order

found that “when a broadband provider acts as a gatekeeper, it actually chokes consumer

demand for the very broadband product it can supply.” We agree. The content and

applications produced by edge providers often complement the broadband Internet access

service sold by ISPs, and ISPs themselves recognize that their businesses depend on their

customers’ demand for edge content. It is therefore no surprise that many ISPs have

committed to refrain from blocking or throttling lawful Internet conduct notwithstanding

any Title II regulation. Finally, to the extent these economic forces fail in any particular

situation, existing consumer protection and antitrust laws additionally protect consumers.

We therefore find that Title II, and the attendant utility-style regulation of ISPs, are an

unnecessarily heavy-handed approach to protecting Internet openness.

99. The Open Internet and Title II Orders claimed to base their actions on a

theory that broadband adoption is driven by a “virtuous cycle,” whereby edge provider

development “increase[s] end-user demand for [Internet access services], which [drive]

network improvements, which in turn lead to further innovative network uses.” While

the primary reason for this seems to be concern about the exercise of market power,

footnote 68 suggests a secondary reason: ISPs “will typically not take into account the

effect that reduced edge provider investment and innovation has on the attractiveness of

the Internet to end users that rely on other broadband providers—and will therefore

ignore a significant fraction of the cost of foregone innovation.” However, neither the

Open Internet Order nor our record provide a mechanism to explain how this would

occur, and why the impact on the ISP would not be proportional to its own business, and

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so be fully accounted for in its decisions, and provides no evidence that even if possible,

there was a measurable impact from such an effect. The Title II Order concluded that

Commission action was necessary to protect this virtuous cycle because “gatekeeper”

power on the part of ISPs might otherwise thwart it, as ISPs “are unlikely to fully account

for the detrimental impact on edge providers’ ability and incentive to innovate and

invest.” However, the economic analysis in the Open Internet Order and Title II Order

was at best only loosely based on the existing economics literature, in some cases

contradicted peer-reviewed economics literature, and included virtually no empirical

evidence.

100. We find it essential to take a holistic view of the market(s) supplied by

ISPs. ISPs, as well as edge providers, are important drivers of the virtuous cycle, and

regulation must be evaluated accounting for its impact on ISPs’ capacity to drive that

cycle, as well as that of edge providers. The underlying economic model of the virtuous

cycle is that of a two-sided market. Notably, the two-sided market we discuss here is the

economic concept; we are not attempting to define a market for antitrust purposes. In a

two-sided market, intermediaries—ISPs in our case—act as platforms facilitating

interactions between two different customer groups, or sides of the market—edge

providers and end users. The Open Internet Order takes the position that edge provider

innovation drives consumer adoption of Internet access and platform upgrades. The key

characteristic of a two-sided market, however, is that participants on each side of the

market value a platform service more as the number and/or quality of participants on the

platform’s other side increases. (The benefits subscribers on one side of the market bring

to the subscribers on the other, and vice versa, are called positive externalities.) Thus,

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rather than a single side driving the market, both sides generate network externalities, and

the platform provider profits by inducing both sides of the market to use its platform. In

maximizing profit, a platform provider sets prices and invests in network extension and

innovation, subject to costs and competitive conditions, to maximize the gain both sides

of the market obtain from interacting across the platform. The more competitive the

market, the larger the net gains to subscribers and edge providers. Any analysis of such a

market must account for each side of the market and the platform provider.

101. Innovation by ISPs may take the form of reduced costs, network

extension, increased reliability, responsiveness, throughput, ease of installa tion, and

portability. These types of innovations are as likely to drive additional broadband

adoption as are services of edge providers. In 2016, nearly 80 percent of Americans used

fixed Internet access at home. There is no evidence that the remaining nearly one-fifth of

the population are all waiting for the development of applications that would make

Internet access useful to them. Rather, the cost of broadband Internet access service is a

central reason for non-adoption. ISP innovation that lowers the relative cost of Internet

access service is as likely as edge innovation, if not more so, to positively impact

consumer adoption rates. Indeed, ISPs likely play a crucial role by offering, for example,

low-margin or loss-leading offers designed to induce skeptical Internet users to discover

the benefits of access. In response to a larger base of potential customers, the returns to

innovation by edge providers would be expected to rise, thereby spurring additional

innovative activity in that segment of the market.

102. Accordingly, arguments that ISPs have other incentives to take actions

that might harm the virtuous cycle, and hence might require costly Title II regulation,

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need to be explained and evaluated empirically. In a two-sided market, three potential

reasons for Title II regulation arise: the extent to which ISPs have market power in

selling Internet access to end users; the extent to which ISPs have market power in selling

to edge providers access to the ISP’s subscribers (end users), which seems to primarily be

to what the Commission and others appear to be referring when using the term

“gatekeeper”; and the extent to which the positive externalities present in a two-sided

market might lead to market failure even in the absence (or because of that absence) of

ISP market power. In considering each of these, we find that, where there are problems,

they have been overestimated, and can be substantially eliminated or reduced by the more

light- handed approach this order implements.

103. Our approach recognizes our limits as regulators, and is appropriately

focused on the long-lasting effects of regulatory decisions. Thus, we seek to balance the

harms that arise in the absence of regulation against the harms of regulation, accounting

for, in particular, the effects of our actions on investment decisions that could increase

competition three to five or more years from now. This is different from forbidding

certain behavior or a merger on antitrust grounds due to the likelihood of imminent, non-

transitory price increases. As a result, our discussion of competition need not have any

implications for conventional antitrust analysis. We note that our reclassification of

broadband Internet access service as an information service leaves the usual recourse of

antitrust and consumer protection action available to all parties. That is, heavy-handed

Title II regulation is unnecessary to enforce antitrust and consumer protection laws.

104. Fixed ISPs Often Face Material Competitive Constraints. The premise of

Title II and other public utility regulation is that ISPs can exercise market power

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sufficient to substantially distort economic efficiency and harm end users. However,

analysis of broadband deployment data, coupled with an understanding of ISPs’

underlying cost structure, indicates fixed broadband Internet access providers frequently

face competitive pressures that mitigate their ability to exert market power. Therefore,

the primary market failure rationale for classifying broadband Internet access service

under Title II is absent. Furthermore, the presence of competitive pressures in itself

protects the openness of the Internet. The theory that competition is the best way to

protect consumers is the “heart of our national economic policy” and the premise of the

1996 Act. We therefore find that the competition that exists in the broadband market,

combined with the protections of our consumer protection and antitrust laws against

anticompetitive behaviors, will constrain the actions of an ISP that attempts to undermine

the openness of the Internet in ways that harm consumers, and to the extent they do not,

any resulting harms are outweighed by the harms of Title II regulation. Our discussion of

competitive effects, unless otherwise specified, does not rely on or define any antitrust

market.

105. ISP Competition in Supplying Internet Access to Households. Starting

with fixed Internet access, including fixed satellite and terrestrial fixed wireless service,

competition, with whatever limitations may be inherent in these different technologies,

appears to be widespread, at lower speeds for most households (we make no finding as to

whether lower speed fixed Internet access services are in the same market as higher speed

fixed Internet access services):

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 Percent of U.S. population in developed census blocks in which residential fixed

broadband ISPs reported deployment (as of December 31, 2016)

Number of providers

Speed of at least: 3+ 2 1 0

3 Mbps down and 0.768 Mbps

up 97.0% 2.8% 0.1% 0.1%

10 Mbps down and 1 Mbps up 93.6% 5.7% 0.6% 0.1%

25 Mbps down and 3 Mbps up 43.9% 32.6% 19.1% 4.4%

106. However, because there are questions as to the extent fixed satellite and

fixed terrestrial wireless Internet access service are broadly effective competitors for

wireline Internet access service, we do not rely on this data, except to note that these

services, where available, place some competitive constraints on wireline providers.

Fixed wireless and satellite subscriptions decisions suggest that consumers generally

prefer fixed wireline services to these, even at lower speeds. For example, at bandwidths

of 3 Mbps downstream and 0.768 Mbps upstream, satellite providers report deployment

in 99.1 percent of developed census blocks, but only account for 1.7 percent of

subscriptions, while terrestrial fixed wireless providers report deployment in 38.5 percent

of developed census blocks, but only account for 0.9 percent of all subscriptions.

Focusing on competition among wireline service providers, and excluding DSL with

speeds less than 3 Mbps down and 0.768 Mbps up, shows less, but still widespread,

competition:

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 Percent of U.S. population in developed census blocks in which residential broadband

wireline ISPs reported deployment (as of December 31, 2016)

Number of providers

Speed of at least: 3+ 2 1 0

3 Mbps down and 0.768 Mbps

up 12.1% 67.2% 16.2% 4.4%

10 Mbps down and 1 Mbps up 9.0% 58.5% 26.3% 6.2%

25 Mbps down and 3 Mbps up 5.9% 45.2% 39.6% 9.2%

107. While not reported, the percent of households in developed census blocks

closely tracks the entries for the percent of population in developed census tracts. For

example, approximately 79.7 percent of U.S. households are in a census block where at

least two wireline suppliers offer speeds of at least 3 Mbps down and 0.768 Mbps up.

This table understates competition in several respects. First, even two competing

wireline ISPs place competitive constraints on each other. ISPs’ substantial sunk costs

imply that competition between even two ISPs is likely to be relatively strong. Thus, to

the extent market power exists, it is unlikely to significantly distort what would otherwise

be efficient choices. A wireline ISP, anywhere it is active, necessarily has made

substantial sunk investments. Yet, the cost of adding another customer, or of carrying

more traffic from the same customers, is relatively low. Accordingly, a wireline ISP has

strong incentives, even when facing a single competitor, to capture customers or induce

greater use of its network, so long as its current prices materially exceed the marginal

cost of such changes. In addition, empirical research finds that the largest benefit from

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competition generally comes from the presence of a second provider, with added benefits

of additional providers falling thereafter, especially in the presence of large sunk costs.

Indeed, a wireline provider may be willing to cut prices to as low as the incremental cost

of supplying a new customer. Thus, in this industry, even two active suppliers in a

location can be consistent with a noticeable degree of competition, and in any case, can

be expected to produce more efficient outcomes than any regulated alternative. We do

not claim that a second wireline provider results in textbook perfect competition, but

rather, given ISP recovery of sunk investments becomes more difficult as competition

increases, and the critical nature of allowing such recovery, market outcomes may well

ensure approximately competitive rates of return. Other industries with large sunk costs

have shown that “price declines with the addition of the first competitor, but drops by

very little thereafter.” Nothing in this order should be construed as finding that these

statements appropriately characterize the addition of the first fixed wireline competitor in

a particular context, only that in general such an addition likely will have a material

impact on moving prices toward competitive levels.

108. Second, competitive pressures often have spillover effects across a given

corporation, meaning an ISP facing competition broadly, if not universally, will tend to

treat customers that do not have a competitive choice as if they do. This is because acting

badly in uncompetitive areas may be operationally expensive (i.e., requiring different

equipment, different policies, different worker training, and different call centers to

address differing circumstances) and reputationally expensive (e.g., even if behavior is

confined to an uncompetitive market, customers in competitive markets may churn after

learning about such behavior). Accordingly (and unsurprisingly), most ISPs actively try

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to minimize the discrepancies in their terms of service, network management practices,

billing systems, and other policies—even if they offer different service tiers or pricing in

different areas. Approximately 79 percent of U.S. households are found in census blocks

that at least two wireline ISPs report serving, and approximately another 8 percent of

households are in census blocks where the unique wireline ISP providing service in the

census block faces competition from a rival in 90 percent of the blocks it serves. Such

ISPs included the top ten ISPs when ranked by covered census blocks, and also when

ranked by households in covered census blocks, except the ninth, Windstream. Our

conclusions do not hinge on finding effective competition everywhere. We find that

competition exists in various forms nearly everywhere and to the extent that effective

competition is not universal, the costs of Title II regulation outweigh the benefits of our

more light-touch approach.

109. The Commission’s prior findings on churn in the broadband marketplace

do not dissuade us from concluding that wireline broadband ISPs often face competitive

pressures. Although the Commission has previously found voluntary churn rates for

broadband service to be quite low, a view which some commenters echo, substantial,

quantified evidence in the record dissuades us from repeating that finding here.

Regardless, even if high churn rates make market power unlikely, low churn rates do not

per se indicate market power. For example, they may reflect competitive actions taken

by ISPs to attract customers to sign up for contracts, and to retain existing customers,

such as discount and bonus offers. Moreover, actions such as these, and others, are

indicative of competition. For example, ISPs engage in a significant degree of

advertising, aiming to draw new subscribers and convince subscribers to other fixed ISPs

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to switch providers. Similarly, ISPs employ “save desks” often taking aggressive actions

to convince subscribers seeking service cancellation to continue to subscribe, often at a

discounted price. Thus, the record indicates material competition for customers

regardless of churn levels.

110. There is even greater competition in mobile wireless. Mobile wireless

ISPs face competition in most markets, with widespread and ever extending head-to-head

competition between four major carriers. As of January 2017, at least four wireless

broadband service providers covered approximately 92 percent of the U.S. population

with 3G technology or better. Even in rural areas at least four service providers covered

approximately 69 percent of the population. These coverage estimates represent

deployment of mobile networks and do not indicate the extent to which providers offer

service to residents in the covered areas.

111. Both the Title II Order and its supporters in the current proceeding fail to

properly account for the pressure mobile Internet access exerts on fixed, including fixed

wireline, Internet access supply. While we recognize that fixed and mobile Internet

access have different characteristics and capabilities, for example, typically trading off

speed and data caps limits against mobility, increasing numbers of Internet access

subscribers are relying on mobile services only. In 2015, one in five households used

only mobile Internet access service to go online at home (up from one in ten in 2013),

and close to 15 percent of households with incomes in excess of $100,000 (up from six

percent in 2013), exclusively used mobile Internet access service at home. New

America/OTI notes that this study states that low-income Americans are far more likely

to become mobile dependent than consumers who have higher levels of income.

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However, as noted above, this same study by the U.S. Census Bureau, which includes

data collected from nearly 53,000 households, also found a significant increase in mobile-

only use by higher-income households, and that the growth in the proportion of high-

income households that exclusively use mobile Internet service at home is accelerating.

Several commenters discussed their own views on the extent to which mobile wireless

might exert competitive pressure in some instances. Competition constrains a firm’s

prices if the firm is prevented from raising price to levels that absent switching to

competitors, would increase the firm’s profits. The extent of the switching need not be

large. For example, with constant unit costs, a 5% price increase would be prevented if

that would lead to slightly less than 5% of the firm’s customers to either stop consuming

altogether or to switch to a rival. Suppliers of Internet access service are likely to be

more sensitive to customer loss than the case with constant marginal cost, since in

general the marginal costs of Internet access service fall as subscriber numbers increase,

meaning, in addition to the revenues lost due to leaving customers, profits are also eroded

due to a rise in the average cost of supplying those who remain. With the advent of 5G

technologies promising sharply increased mobile speeds in the near future, the pressure

mobile exerts in the broadband market place will become even more significant.

112. ISP Competition in Supplying Edge Providers Access to End Users. On

the other side of the market, to the extent ISPs have market power in supplying edge

providers, ISP prices to edge providers could distort economic efficiency (a potential

harm that is distinct from anticompetitive behavior or because of a failure to internalize a

relevant externality). Loosely speaking, such power over an edge provider can arise

under one of two conditions: the ISP has conventional market power over the edge

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provider because it controls a substantial share of (perhaps a specific subset of) end-user

subscribers that are of interest to the edge provider, or that edge provider’s customers

only subscribe to one ISP (a practice known as single homing).

113. Narrowly focusing on fixed ISPs, Comcast, the largest wireline ISP, has

approximately one quarter of all residential subscribers in the US, while at speeds of at

least 25 Mbps down and 3 Mbps up, the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index measure of

concentration for the supply of access to residential fixed broadband Internet access

service subscribers meets the Department of Justice (DOJ) designation of “moderately

concentrated” (DOJ considers a market with an HHI value of between 1,500 and 2,500 to

be moderately concentrated):

HHI of served residential fixed broadband Internet access service subs cribers

(as of December 31, 2016)

Speed HHI

3 Mbps down and 0.768 Mbps up 1,473

10 Mbps down and 1 Mbps up 1,743

25 Mbps down and 3 Mbps up 2,208

114. Large shares of end-user subscribers, and/or market concentration,

however, do not seem a likely source or indicator of conventional market power capable

of significantly distorting efficient choices, with the possible exception of edge providers

whose services require characteristics currently only available on high-speed fixed

networks (such as video, which requires both high speeds and substantial monthly data

allowances, and gaming and certain other applications, which require high speeds and

low latency). Given Comcast’s market share, even a fledgling edge provider that can

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only be viable in the long term if it offers service to three quarters of broadband

subscribers, may not depend on gaining access to any single provider. And calculating

market shares for wireline ISPs based on their end users may be too simplistic if edge

providers can reach end users at locations other than their homes, such as at work, or

through a mobile ISP. We reject claims that we should entirely neglect this possibility

based on assertions that users might be limited in their ability or willingness to switch

between different options for broadband Internet access in unspecified circumstances and

for unspecified reasons. In addition, ISPs have good incentives to encourage new

entrants that bring value to end users, both because such new entrants directly increase

the value of the platform’s service, and because they place competitive pressure on other

edge providers, forcing lower prices, again increasing the value of the platform’s service.

Moreover, those smaller edge providers may benefit from tiered pricing, such as paid

prioritization, as a means of gaining entry. If the entrant offers a more valuable service

than an incumbent, then this would be a profitable strategy, and while it is common to

claim new entrants would not have the deep pockets necessary to implement such an

entry strategy, new economy startups have demonstrated that capital markets are willing

to provide funds for potentially profitable ideas, despite high failure rates, presumably

because of the large potential gains when an entrant is successful. Examples of

successful new entrants that started behind dominant incumbents, include Google

(against established search engines such as Yahoo, and the map provider, MapQuest),

Amazon (against traditional bricks and mortar storefronts), and Facebook (against

MySpace). In fact, some edge providers might consider reaching end users on mobile

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devices to be roughly as valuable as, or more valuable than, reaching end users on

wireline networks.

115. In addition, larger edge providers, such as Amazon, Facebook, Google and

Microsoft, likely have significant advantages that would reduce the prospect of inefficient

outcomes due to ISP market power. For example, the market capitalization of the

smallest of these five companies, Amazon, is more than twice that of the largest ISP,

Comcast, and the market capitalization of Google alone is greater than every cable

company in America combined. Action by these larger edge providers preventing or

reducing the use of ISP market power could spill over to smaller edge providers, and in

any case, is unlikely to anticompetitively harm them given existing antitrust protections

(since arrangements between an ISP and a large established edge provider must be

consistent with antitrust law). Consequently, any market power even the largest ISPs

have over access to end users is limited in the extent it can distort edge provider decisions

(or those of their end users).

116. Despite the preceding analysis, a second claim is made that relies solely

on the second factor, single homing: “regardless of the competition in the local market

for broadband Internet access, once a consumer chooses a broadband provider, that

provider has a monopoly on access to the subscriber . . . Once the broadband provider is

the sole provider of access to an end user, this can influence that network’s interactions

with edge providers, end users, and others.” Commenters have echoed this “terminating

access monopoly” concern. This argument is often conflated with arguments about retail

competition more generally, but it is a distinct concept that has been endorsed by the FCC

and the courts in various contexts. The focus on edge providers’ bargaining position vis-

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à-vis ISPs is warranted in light of the fact that any gatekeeper power applies to edge

providers, not end users. The Title II Order contended that these forces applied to all

ISPs, whether large or small, fixed or mobile, fiber or satellite, and “therefore [it] need

not consider whether market concentration gives broadband providers the ability to raise

prices.”

117. As a blanket statement, this position is not credible. It is unlikely that any

ISP, except the very largest, could exercise substantial market power in negotiations with

Google or Netflix, but almost certainly no small wireless ISP, or a larger but still small

rural cable company or incumbent LEC, could do so. Further, from the perspective of

many edge providers, end users do not single home, but subscribe to more than one

platform (e.g., one fixed and one mobile) capable of granting the end user effective

access to the edge provider’s content (i.e., they multi- home). As the Title II Order

acknowledges, to the extent multihoming occurs in the use of an application, there is no

terminating monopoly.

118. Moreover, to the extent a terminating monopoly exists for some edge

providers, and it is not offset or more than offset by significant advantages, there is the

question of the extent to which the resulting prices are economically inefficient. A

terminating (access) monopoly arises when customers on one side of the market, roughly

speaking end users in our case, single home with little prospect of switching to another

platform in the short run, while customers on the other side, roughly speaking edge

providers in our case, find it worthwhile to multi-home. The terminating monopoly

differs from conventional market power because it can arise despite effective competition

between platforms. In that case, platforms must vigorously compete for single-homing

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end users, but have less need to compete for edge providers, who subscribe to all

platforms. Such an arrangement is mutually reinforcing. Single homers can reach all the

multi-homers despite only subscribing to one platform. Multi-homers must subscribe to

all platforms to reach all single homers. This means each ISP faces strong pressures to

cut prices to end users, but does not face similar pressures in pricing to edge providers.

However, ISPs are unlikely to earn supranormal profits, so any markups earned from

edge providers in excess of total costs are generally passed through to end users. While

such an outcome generally will not be efficient, there is no general presumption about the

extent of that inefficiency, or even if prices to the multi- homers ideally should be lower

than would emerge in the absence of a termination monopoly. In the present case, there

is no substantive evidence in the record that demonstrates how different efficient prices to

edge providers would be from the prices that would emerge without rules banning paid

prioritization or prohibiting ISPs from charging providers at all.

119. Lastly, we find the record presents no compelling evidence that any

inefficiencies, to the extent they exist, justify Title II regulation. There is no empirical

evidence that the likely effects from conventional market power or the terminating

monopoly, to the extent they exist, are likely to be significant, let alone outweigh the

harmful effects of Title II regulation. For all these reasons, we find no case for

supporting Title II regulation of ISP prices to edge providers. We note that the

terminating monopoly problem in voice telecommunications is one created by common-

carriage regulation, not one solved by it. Specifically, carriers must interconnect with

each other and originating carriers must pay terminating carriers rates set by the

terminating carrier in their tariff (with some government oversight). That leads to a

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“bargaining” situation where one party sets the terms of the deal and the other must

accept it or complain to the regulator—in other words, the regulations prohibit a normal

free market from developing. Such regulatory requirements do not exist in broadband.

Furthermore, two additional aspects unique to the traditional telephone market created

those problems: (1) voice call originators, who are (with the exception of reverse charge

calls) the analogue to edge providers in voice-telecommunications, do not directly

negotiate with the carrier that sets call termination charges, but rather only have a

relationship with the call originating carrier. However, the originating carrier gains from

high call termination charges when it terminates calls on its own network, so faces a

conflict of interest when negotiating call termination charges on behalf of its subscribers.

In fact, such a regime provides carriers with a mechanism for using the input price of call

termination to collude on retail prices. In contrast, edge providers can directly connect

with an ISP to reach that ISP’s end users, without seeking the ISP’s help to terminate on

another ISP’s network (unlike in voice telecommunications), or can use intermediaries

such as Cogent and Akamai, who largely do not terminate traffic to their own end users,

so do not face the conflict that voice carriers face when negotiating termination charges.

(2) Even if call originating carriers had good incentives to negotiate reasonable

termination charges, regulation that requires interconnection, but does not appropriately

regulate termination charges, seriously weakens their ability to obtain reasonable rates.

Threatening to not interconnect is not an available negotiating ploy in

telecommunications, but is one available to edge providers, especially larger ones, in

negotiating with ISPs. Moreover, historically voice telephony consisted of geographic

monopolies, making it pointless for one carrier to threaten another with disconnection

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since the end users of the disconnected carrier could not switch to a different carrier.

Again, this is not true for Internet access.

120. Externalities Associated with General-Purpose Technologies Are Not a

Convincing Rationale for Title II Regulation. Some commenters make somewhat

inchoate arguments that ISPs should not be permitted to treat different edge providers’

content differently or charge more than a zero price because the Internet is a “general

purpose technology” and/or the services of some edge providers create positive

externalities that the edge providers cannot appropriate. Hogendorn may propose the

most coherent version of this argument: because the Internet is a general purpose

technology (GPT), when an ISP sets a price to any edge provider, the ISP does not take

into account the positive externalities generated by the broad (e.g., GPT) use of those

edge providers’ applications (just as edge providers do not). Unfortunately, these

commentators fail to define or substantiate the extent of the problem, if any; fail to

demonstrate how much the situation would be improved by requiring nondiscriminatory

treatment of all edge providers; do not explain why, if nondiscriminatory treatment is

required, it should be at a zero price; do not assess whether the costs of such an

intervention would be offset by the benefits; and do not consider whether other less

regulatory measures would be more appropriate. For example, ISPs are one of many

input suppliers to edge providers, so taxing only ISPs would create distortions in edge

provider provision which could offset any (undemonstrated) benefits such tax would

bring. These problems are more acute if only specific (as yet unidentified) edge

providers generate positive externalities in supply. Instead, these commenters seek to

apply Title II regulation to all ISPs, and consider the solution to their concern that certain

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services or the Internet itself might be inefficiently undersupplied (for reasons well

beyond the control of ISPs) to be a ban on ISPs only (and not other input suppliers of

edge providers) charging edge providers any price. We reject this approach as

unreasonable and unreasoned.

3. Pre-Existing Consumer Protection and Competition Laws

Protect the Openness of the Internet

121. In the unlikely event that ISPs engage in conduct that harms Internet

openness, despite the paucity of evidence of such incidents, we find that utility-style

regulation is unnecessary to address such conduct. Other legal regimes—particularly

antitrust law and the FTC’s authority under Section 5 of the FTC Act to prohibit unfair

and deceptive practices—provide protection for consumers. These long-established and

well-understood antitrust and consumer protection laws are well-suited to addressing any

openness concerns, because they apply to the whole of the Internet ecosystem, including

edge providers, thereby avoiding tilting the playing field against ISPs and causing

economic distortions by regulating only one side of business transactions on the Internet.

122. Consumer Protection. The FTC has broad authority to protect consumers

from “unfair or deceptive acts or practices.” As the nation’s premier consumer protection

agency, the FTC has exercised its authority, which arises from Section 5 of the FTC Act,

to protect consumers in all sectors of the economy. The FTC has used its Section 5

authority to enjoin some of the practices at issue in this proceeding, such as throttling.

The FTC is prohibited under the FTC Act from regulating common carriers. As a result,

the Commission’s classification of broadband Internet access service as a common

carriage telecommunications service stripped the FTC of its authority over ISPs.

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Therefore, as discussed in greater detail below, the return to Title I will increase the

FTC’s effectiveness in protecting consumers. Today’s reclassification of broadband

Internet access service restores the FTC’s authority to enforce any commitments made by

ISPs regarding their network management practices that are included in their advertising

or terms and conditions, as the FTC did so successfully in FTC v. TracFone. The FTC’s

unfair-and-deceptive-practices authority “prohibits companies from selling consumers

one product or service but providing them something different,” which makes voluntary

commitments enforceable. The FTC also requires the “disclos[ur]e [of] material

information if not disclosing it would mislead the consumer,” so if an ISP “failed to

disclose blocking, throttling, or other practices that would matter to a reasonable

consumer, the FTC’s deception authority would apply.” Today’s reclassification also

restores the FTC’s authority to take enforcement action against unfair acts or practices.

An unfair act or practice is one that creates substantial consumer harm, is not outweighed

by countervailing benefits to consumers, and that consumers could not reasonably have

avoided. A unilateral change in a material term of a contract can be an unfair practice.

The FTC’s 2007 Report on Broadband Industry Practices raises the possibility that an ISP

that starts treating traffic from different edge providers differently without notifying

consumers and obtaining their consent may be engaging in a practice that would be

considered unfair under the FTC Act.

123. Many of the largest ISPs have committed in this proceeding not to block

or throttle legal content. These commitments can be enforced by the FTC under Section

5, protecting consumers without imposing public-utility regulation on ISPs. As discussed

below, we believe that case-by-case, ex post regulation better serves a dynamic industry

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like the Internet and reduces the risk of over-regulation. We also reject assertions that the

FTC has insufficient authority, because, as Verizon argues, “[i]f broadband service

providers’ conduct falls outside [the FTC’s] grant of jurisdiction—that is, if their actions

cannot be described as anticompetitive, unfair, or deceptive—then the conduct should not

be banned in the first place.” In addition to rejecting claims that the FTC’s authority is

insufficient, we also reject arguments that it lacks the necessary expertise to protect

consumers in this area. The comments by the FTC’s Acting Chairman in this proceeding

persuade us of that agency’s understanding of the issues and of its ability to resume

oversight of ISP practices. Just as importantly, any loss of expertise is outweighed by the

benefits of having a single expert consumer protection agency overseeing the entire

Internet ecosystem. We anticipate sharing information and expertise with the FTC as we

work together to protect consumers under the framework adopted today. And the

transparency rule that we adopt today should allay any concerns about the ambiguity of

ISP commitments, by requiring ISPs to disclose if the ISPs block or throttle legal content.

For the same reasons, the transparency rule allows us to reject the argument that antitrust

and consumer protection enforcers cannot detect problematic conduct. Finally, we expect

that any attempt by ISPs to undermine the openness of the Internet would be resisted by

consumers and edge providers. We also observe that all states have laws proscribing

deceptive trade practices.

124. Antitrust. The antitrust laws, particularly Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman

Act, as well as Section 5 of the FTC Act, protect competition in all sectors of the

economy where the antitrust agencies have jurisdiction. When challenged as

anticompetitive under the antitrust laws, the types of conduct and practices prohibited

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under the Title II Order would likely be evaluated under the “rule of reason,” which

amounts to a consumer welfare test. The Communications Act includes an antitrust

savings clause, so the antitrust laws apply with equal vigor to entities regulated by the

Commission. Should the hypothetical anticompetitive harms that proponents of Title II

imagine eventually come to pass, application of the antitrust laws would address those

harms.

125. Section 1 of the Sherman Act bars contracts, combinations, or conspiracies

in restraint of trade, making anticompetitive arrangements illegal. If ISPs reached

horizontal agreements to unfairly block, throttle, or discriminate against Internet conduct

or applications, these agreements likely would be per se illegal under the antitrust laws.

EFF argues that the single entity doctrine means that a vertically-integrated ISP could

collude with its affiliated content arm without fear of the antitrust laws. This argument is

inapposite, however, because such a claim against a vertically- integrated ISP would

likely be based on Section 2 of the Sherman Act under an attempted monopolization

theory, rather than as a Section 1 collusion claim. Section 2 of the Sherman Act, which

applies if a firm possesses or has a dangerous probability of achieving monopoly power,

prohibits exclusionary conduct, which can include refusals to deal and exclusive dealing,

tying arrangements, and vertical restraints. Section 2 makes it unlawful for a vertically

integrated ISP to anticompetitively favor its content or services over unaffiliated edge

providers’ content or services. Treble damages are available under both Section 1 and

Section 2. We note that FTC enforcement of Section 5 is broader and would apply in the

absence of monopoly power.

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 126. Most of the examples of net neutrality violations discussed in the Title II

Order could have been investigated as antitrust violations. Madison River

Communications blocked access to VoIP to foreclose competition to its telephony

business; an antitrust case would have focused on whether the company was engaged in

anticompetitive foreclosure to preserve any monopoly power it may have had over

telephony. Whether one regards Comcast’s behavior toward BitTorrent as blocking or

throttling, it could have been pursued either as an antitrust or consumer protection case.

The Commission noted that BitTorrent’s service allowed users to view video that they

might otherwise have to purchase through Comcast’s Video on Demand service—a claim

that could be considered an anticompetitive foreclosure claim under antitrust. Comcast

also failed to disclose this network management practice and initially denied that it was

engaged in any throttling—potentially unfair or deceptive acts or practices. If an ISP that

also sells video services degrades the speed or quality of competing “Over the Top” video

services (such as Netflix), that conduct could be challenged as anticompetitive

foreclosure.

127. Among the benefits of the antitrust laws over public utility regulation are

(1) the rule of reason allows a balancing of pro-competitive benefits and anti-competitive

harms; (2) the case-by-case nature of antitrust allows for the regulatory humility needed

when dealing with the dynamic Internet; (3) the antitrust laws focus on protecting

competition; and (4) the same long-practiced and well-understood laws apply to all

Internet actors.

128. Reasonableness. The unilateral conduct that is covered by Section 2 of

the Sherman Act would be evaluated under a standard similar to the rule of reason

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applicable to conduct governed by Section 1, “an all-encompassing inquiry, paying close

attention to the consumer benefits and downsides of the challenged practice based on the

facts at hand.” We believe that such an inquiry will strike a better balance in protecting

the openness of the Internet and continuing to allow the “permissionless innovation” that

made the Internet such an important part of the modern U.S. economy, as antitrust uses a

welfare standard defined by economic analysis shaped by a significant body of precedent.

Compare this to the Internet Conduct Standard, which would examine a variety of

considerations broader than consumer welfare, as well as factors yet to be determined.

129. The case-by-case, content-specific analysis established by the rule of

reason will allow new innovative business arrangements to emerge as part of the ever-

evolving Internet ecosystem. New arrangements that harm consumers and weaken

competition will run afoul of the Sherman Act, and successful plaintiffs will receive

treble damages. The FTC and DOJ can also bring enforcement actions in situations

where private plaintiffs are unable or unwilling to do so. New arrangements benefiting

consumers, like so many Internet innovations over the last generation, will be allowed to

continue, as was the case before the imposition of Title II utility-style regulation of ISPs.

130. We reject commenters’ assertions that the case-by-case nature of antitrust

enforcement makes it inherently flawed. A case-by-case approach minimizes the costs of

overregulation, including tarring all ISPs with the same brush, and reduces the risk of

false positives when regulation is necessary. We believe the Commission’s bright-line

and Internet conduct rules are more likely to inhibit innovation before it occurs, whereas

antitrust enforcement can adequately remedy harms should they occur. As such, we

reject the argument that innovation is best protected by ex ante rules and command-and-

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control government regulation. Further, while a handful of ISPs are large and vertically

integrated with content producers, most ISPs are small companies that have no leverage

in negotiations with large edge providers, which include some of the most valuable

companies in the world. Regulating these companies is unnecessarily harmful. The

antitrust laws can be tailored to the ISP’s circumstances. We reject as fundamentally

speculative claims that significantly different behavior is likely from entities that were

subject to antitrust suits, as compared to those that have not yet been—but still could

be—subject to such suits, or based on the theory that antitrust authorities are likely to

negotiate materially different resolutions even for similarly situated entities or

circumstances.

131. Moreover, the case-by-case analysis, coupled with the rule of reason,

allows for innovative arrangements to be evaluated based on their real-world effects,

rather than a regulator’s ex ante predictions. Such an approach better fits the dynamic

Internet economy than the top-down mandates imposed by Title II. Further, the antitrust

laws recognize the importance of protecting innovation. Indeed, the FTC has pursued

several cases in recent years where its theory of harm was decreased innovation.

Accordingly, we believe that antitrust law can sufficiently protect innovation, which is a

matter of particular importance for the continued development of the Internet. Some

commenters argue that antitrust law is more limited in scope than the rules in the Title II

Order, antitrust enforcement necessarily takes place after some harm has already

occurred, and proving an antitrust violation can be expensive and time-consuming.

However, with a body of established and evolving precedent, the FTC’s antitrust

enforcement is fact-based, flexible and applicable to Internet-related markets before the

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Title II Order. We find that the antitrust framework will strike a better balance by

protecting competition and consumers while providing industry with greater regulatory

certainty. We also find that the combination of the transparency rule, ISP commitments,

and their enforcement by the FTC sufficiently address the argument made by several

commenters that antitrust moves too slowly and is too expensive for many supposed

beneficiaries of regulation.

132. Additionally, the existence of antitrust law deters much potential

anticompetitive conduct before it occurs, and where it occurs offers recoupment through

damages to harmed competitors. Some commenters have cast doubt on the effectiveness

of ex post enforcement, preferring ex ante rules. Yet as the FTC staff noted in its

comments, this is a false dichotomy. “Effective rule of law requires both appropriate

standards—whether established by common law court, Congress in statute, or by an

agency in rules—and active enforcement of those standards.” Even the “bright line”

rules in the Title II Order contain an exception for “reasonable network management.”

An ISP accused of violating those rules would be the subject of an ex post FCC

enforcement action. The FCC would have to determine ex post whether a challenged

practice constituted technical network management or not.

133. Moreover, economic research has demonstrated that the threat of antitrust

enforcement deters anticompetitive actions. Block et al. find that an increase in the

likelihood of antitrust enforcement in the U.S. has a significant effect on lowering prices

to consumers. Similarly it has been found that countries with vigorous antitrust statutes

and enforcement, such as the United States, reduce the effects of anticompetitive

behavior when it does occur. There is also evidence that firms, once they have been

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subject to an enforcement action, are less likely to violate the antitrust laws in the future.

Overall, we have confidence that the use of antitrust enforcement to protect competition

in the broadband internet service provider market will ensure that consumers continue to

reap the benefits of that competition. We conclude that the light-touch approach that we

adopt today, in combination with existing antitrust and consumer protection laws, more

than adequately addresses concerns about Internet openness, particularly as compared to

the rigidity of Title II. Some commenters have raised issues about the feasibility of

antitrust as applied to some potential harms. CompTIA and OTI claim that the unilateral

refusal to deal and essential facilities cases are more difficult to bring after Verizon

Commc’ns, Inc. v. Law Offices of Curtis V. Trinko, 540 U.S. 398 (2004) and Pacific Bell

Tel. Co. v. linkLine Commc’ns, Inc., 555 U.S. 438 (2009). To the extent these

commenters are correct, the transparency rule and FTC enforcement of the commitments

(based on Section 5 of the FTC’s Act broader reach than antitrust) remain to protect the

openness of the Internet, and the shifts in antitrust doctrine do not support the imposition

of Title II.

134. Focus on protecting competition. One of the benefits of antitrust law is its

strong focus on protecting competition and consumers. If a particular practice benefits

consumers, antitrust law will not condemn it. The fact that antitrust law protects

competition means that it also protects other qualities that consumers value. “[The]

assumption that competition is the best method of allocating resources in a free market

recognizes that all elements of a bargain—quality, service, safety, and durability—and

not just the immediate cost, are favorably affected by the free opportunity to select

among alternative offers.” The market competition that antitrust law preserves will

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protect values such as free expression, to the extent that consumers value free expression

as a service attribute and are aware of how their ISPs’ actions affect free expression. The

lack of evidence of harms to free expression on the Internet also bolsters our belief that

Title II is unnecessary to protect social values that are not the focus of antitrust. The

anecdotes of harms to Internet openness cited by supporters of the Title II Order almost

exclusively concern business decisions regarding network management, rather than being

aimed at or impacting political expression. In any case, the transparency rule and the ISP

commitments backed up by FTC enforcement are targeted to preserving free expression,

particularly the no-blocking commitment. Therefore, we believe that the argument that

antitrust law does not consider non-economic factors such as free expression and

diversity fails to support Title II regulation.

135. Finally, applying antitrust principles to ISP conduct is consistent with

longstanding economic and legal principles that cover all sectors of the economy,

including the entire Internet ecosystem. Applying the same body of law to ISPs, edge

providers, and all Internet actors avoids the regulatory distortions of Title II, which

“impos[ed] asymmetric behavioral regulations . . . on broadband ISPs under the banner of

protecting Internet openness, but le[ft] Internet edge providers free to threaten or engage

in the same types of behavior prohibited to ISPs free of any ex ante constraints.” Our

decision today to return to light-touch Title I regulation and the backstop of generally-

applicable antitrust and consumer protection law “help[s] to ensure a level, technology-

neutral playing field” for the whole Internet.

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 D. Restoring the Information Service Classification is Lawful and

Necessary

136. The Commission has the legal authority to return to the classification of

broadband Internet access service as an “information service.” The Supreme Court made

clear when affirming the Commission’s original information service classification of

cable modem service that Congress “delegated to the Commission authority to execute

and enforce the Communications Act, as well as prescribe the rules and regulations

necessary in the public interest to carry out the provisions.” This delegation includes the

legal authority to interpret the definitional provisions of the Communications Act.

Nothing in the record meaningfully contests this fundamental point. Relying on that

authority, we change course from the Title II Order and restore the information service

classification of broadband Internet access service, which represents the best

interpretation of the Act. We reject arguments against reclassification based on alleged

shortcomings in the justification for changing course provided in the Internet Freedom

NPRM given that we fully explain here our rationale for revisiting the Title II Order’s

classification of broadband Internet access service. As discussed above, this action is

supported by the text, structure, and history of the Act, the nature of ISP offerings,

judicial and Commission precedent, and the public policy consequences flowing from

reclassification. For this reason, and for those set forth more fully in Section III above,

we reject claims that an information service classification is unambiguously precluded.

Such assertions are contrary to our interpretation of the statutory language and our

application of it to the facts before us and also find no support in the relevant court

precedent addressing prior classification decisions, which either affirmed an information

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service classification or affirmed the recent telecommunications service classification as

merely a permissible interpretation of ambiguous statutory language. In making these

arguments, commenters do not dispute the Commission’s general authority to interpret

and apply the Act, but merely present arguments regarding the reasonableness or

permissibility of interpreting or applying the Act in particular ways.

137. An agency of course may decide to change course, and such a decision is

not, as some commenters suggest, inherently suspect. The Supreme Court has observed

that there is “no basis in the Administrative Procedure Act or in our opinions for a

requirement that all agency change be subjected to more searching review. . . . [I]t

suffices that the new policy is permissible under the statute, that there are good reasons

for it, and that the agency believes it to be better, which the conscious change of course

adequately indicates.” Relevant precedent holds that we need only “examine the relevant

data and articulate a satisfactory explanation for [our] action,” a duty we fully satisfy

here. The “possibility of drawing two inconsistent conclusions from the evidence does

not prevent an administrative agency’s finding from being supported by substantial

evidence.” As such, we reject arguments that reclassification must be premised on

changed factual circumstances or preceded by a significant gap in time. Rather, we are

“entitled to assess administrative records and evaluate priorities” in light of our current

policy judgments. As the Court recognized in Brand X, “in Chevron itself, the Court

deferred to an agency interpretation that was a recent reversal of agency policy.” The

USTelecom decision supports our understanding of the relevant legal standard, affirming

the Title II Order’s reclassification of broadband Internet access service irrespective of

whether any facts had changed.

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 138. Such a change in course can be justified on a variety of possible grounds.

The Supreme Court observed in Brand X that “the agency . . . must consider varying

interpretations and the wisdom of its policy on a continuing basis, for example in

response to . . . a change in administrations.” In addition, if an agency’s predictions

“prove erroneous, the Commission will need to reconsider” the associated regulatory

actions “in accordance with its continuing obligation to practice reasoned decision-

making.” In short, the Commission’s reasoned determination today that classifying

broadband Internet access service as an information service is superior both as a matter of

textual interpretation and public policy suffices to support the change in direction—even

absent any new facts or changes in circumstances. But even assuming such new facts

were necessary, the record provides several other sufficient and independent bases for our

decision to revisit the classification of broadband Internet access service.

139. For example, we find that the Title II Order’s regulatory predictions have

not been borne out. Although purporting to adopt a ‘light-touch’ regulatory framework

for broadband Internet access service, this view of the Title II Order’s action faced

skepticism at the time, and we find those concerns confirmed in practice. For example,

the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau initiated inquiries into wireless ISPs’

sponsored data and zero-rated offerings, leading to a report casting doubt on the legality

of certain types of such offerings. That report was later retracted. And the Commission

proceeded, in the wake of the reclassification in the Title II Order, to adopt complex and

highly prescriptive privacy regulations for broadband Internet access service, which

ultimately were disapproved by Congress under the Congressional Review Act. The

amorphous and potentially wide-ranging implications of the Title II-based regulatory

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framework have hindered (or will likely hinder) marketplace innovation, as the record

here indicates and as one logically would expect. We thus reject the suggestion that the

Title II Order yielded “legal and economic certainty.” That certain specific steps

eventually were rolled back is no cure—rather, those initial actions provide cause for

significant concerns that the regulatory framework adopted in the Title II Order would be

anything but “light-touch” over time. Given the evidence that the Title II-based

framework prompted additional regulatory action and was not living up to its “light-

touch” label, we disagree with claims that “[t]here has been no material change of

circumstance since the adoption of the” Title II Order, or that the shortcomings inherent

in the Title II approach could be addressed adequately through minor adjustments to the

rules adopted in the Title II Order.

140. Further, we are not persuaded that there were reasonable reliance interests

in the Title II Order that preclude our revisiting the classification of broadband Internet

access service. Contrary to Twilio’s assertion that bright-line rules are over a decade old,

we note that the Commission did not establish any rules until 2010—just seven years

ago—and did not establish enforceable bright-line rules until 2015—just two years ago.

Assertions in the record regarding absolute levels of edge investment do not meaningfully

attempt to attribute particular portions of that investment to any reliance on the Title II

Order. Nor are we persuaded that such reliance would have been reasonable in any

event, given the lengthy prior history of information service classification of broadband

Internet access service, which we are simply restoring here after the brief period of

departure initiated by the Title II Order.

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 141. “[A]n agency literally has no power to act . . . unless and until Congress

confers power upon it.” And so our role is to achieve the outcomes Congress instructs,

invoking the authorities that Congress has given us—not to assume that Congress must

have given us authority to address any problems the Commission identifies. However,

rather than looking to Congress to address its statutory authority after the 2010 Comcast

decision, the Commission instead attempted increasingly-regulatory approaches under

existing statutory provisions, culminating in the Title II Order’s application of a legal

regime that was ill-suited for broadband Internet access service. Returning to the

Commission’s historically sound approach to interpreting and applying the Act to

broadband Internet access service corrects what we see as shortcomings in how the

Commission, in the recent past, conceptualized its role in this context.

142. We also conclude that the Commission should have been cautioned

against reclassifying broadband Internet access service as a telecommunications service

in 2015 because doing so involved “laying claim to extravagant statutory power over the

national economy while at the same time strenuously asserting that the authority claimed

would render the statute ‘unrecognizable to the Congress that designed’ it.” Such

interpretations “typically [are] greet[ed] . . . with a measure of skepticism” by courts, and

we believe they should be by the Commission, as well. We rely on these principles to

inform what interpretation constitutes the best reading of the Act independent of any

broader legal implications that potentially could result from such considerations. Thus,

although the separate opinions in the denial of rehearing en banc in USTelecom debated

the application of such principles here—including with respect to issues of agency

deference and the permissibility of the Commission’s prior classification—we need not

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and do not reach such broader issues. As relevant here, the D.C. Circuit in Verizon

observed that “regulation of broadband Internet providers”—there, rules that required per

se common carriage—“certainly involves decisions of great ‘economic and political

significance.’” That seems at least as apt a description of the Title II Order decision

classifying broadband Internet access service as a common carrier telecommunications as

one adopting rules compelling the service to be offered in a manner that is per se

common carriage. In particular, the Title II Order recognized that classification of

broadband Internet access service as a telecommunications service would, absent

forbearance, subject the service and its providers to a panoply of duties and requirements

ill-suited to broadband Internet access service. Thus, not only did reclassification involve

what we see as a claim of extravagant statutory power, but the Commission found that

much of the resulting power was not sensibly applied to broadband Internet access

service—a view we believe also would be held by Congress itself. Restoring the

information service classification that applied for nearly two decades before the Title II

Order does not require any claim by the Commission of extravagant statutory power over

broadband Internet access service and eliminates the anomaly that ill-fitting Title II

regulation would apply by default to broadband Internet access service. These

considerations thus lend support to our decision to reclassify broadband Internet access

service as an information service.

E. Effects on Regulatory Structures Created by the Title II Order

143. In this section, we clarify the regulatory effects of today’s reinstatement of

broadband Internet access service as a Title I “information service” on other regulatory

frameworks affected or imposed by the Title II Order, including the effects on: 1)

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Internet traffic exchange arrangements; 2) the Title II Order’s forbearance framework; 3)

privacy; 4) wireline broadband infrastructure; 5) wireless broadband infrastructure; 6)

universal service; 7) jurisdiction and preemption; and 8) disability access. We do not

intend for today’s classification to affect ISPs’ obligations under the Communications

Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or the

Electronic Communications Privacy Act. No commenter identifies any such effect of

reclassification, nor does such a change appear to have justified the classification

decision in the Title II Order. We also are not persuaded that our classification decision

will itself have material negative consequences as it relates to safe harbor protections for

ISPs under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Our actions here return to

the analysis in Brand X and other pre-2015 classification decisions and the associated

successful regulatory framework, and we are not persuaded that the DMCA would apply

materially differently now so as to render the regulatory framework for broadband

Internet access service less successful today.

1. Ending Title II Regulation of Internet Traffic Exchange

144. The Title II Order applied, for the first time, the requirements of Title II to

Internet traffic exchange “by an edge provider . . . with the broadband provider’s

network.” OTI’s argument that Internet traffic exchange was not classified as a Title II

service is unpersuasive. The Title II Order did not subject Internet traffic exchange to

Title II obligations but, as OTI acknowledges, interpreted broadband Internet access

services to include Internet traffic exchange between an ISP and an edge provider or its

transit provider as “a portion” of the service, or alternatively as used “for and in

connection with” that service. In doing so, the Title II Order applied certain Title II

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requirements to these Internet traffic exchange arrangements. We make clear that as a

result of our decision to restore the longstanding classification of broadband Internet

access service as an information service, Internet traffic exchange arrangements are no

longer subject to Title II and its attendant obligations. We thus return Internet traffic

exchange to the longstanding free market framework under which the Internet grew and

flourished for decades.

145. Background. As the Title II Order acknowledges, the market for Internet

traffic exchange between ISPs and edge providers or their intermediaries “historically has

functioned without significant Commission oversight.” We disagree with assertions that

withdrawing from regulation of interconnection agreements would represent a break with

longstanding Commission precedent. The Commission made clear in the Open Internet

Order that it did not intend the open Internet rules “to affect existing arrangements for

network interconnections, including existing paid peering arrangements.” For many

years, both ISPs and edge providers largely paid third-party backbone service providers

for transit, and backbone providers connected upstream until they reached Tier 1

backbone service providers which provided access to the full Internet. In recent years,

particularly with the rise of online video, edge providers increasingly used CDNs and

direct interconnection with ISPs, rather than transit, to increase the quality of their

service. At the same time, ISPs have increasingly built or acquired their own backbone

services, allowing them to interconnect with other networks without paying for third-

party transit services.

146. Notwithstanding these developments, but in line with other aspects of the

Title II Order seeking to extend the Commission’s regulatory authority, the Commission

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seized on a handful of anecdotes to extend utility-style regulation to Internet traffic

exchange arrangements. The Title II Order applied eight different sections of Title II,

including Sections 201, 202, and 208, to traffic exchange between ISPs and edge

providers or their intermediaries. We reject the argument that this application of Title II,

which includes potential Commission mandates “to establish physical connections with

other carriers, to establish through routes and charges applicable thereto and the divisions

of such charges, and to establish and provide facilities and regulations for operating such

through routes,” was light-touch, measured regulation. Although the Title II Order did

not apply the bright-line rules to Internet traffic exchange, it stated that the Commission

would be “available to hear disputes regarding arrangements for the exchange of traffic

with a broadband Internet access provider raised under Sections 201 and 202 on a case-

by-case basis.” The Commission did not articulate specific criteria that it would apply

when hearing such disputes.

147. Deregulating Internet Traffic Exchange. Today, we return to the pre-Title

II Order status quo by classifying broadband Internet access service as an information

service and, in doing so, reverse that Order’s extension of Title II authority to Internet

traffic exchange arrangements. As was the case before the Title II Order, we retain

subject-matter jurisdiction over Internet traffic exchange under Title I, to the extent such

exchange arrangements are “wire” or “radio communications.” There is no dispute that

ISPs, backbone transit providers, and large edge providers are sophisticated, well-

capitalized businesses. Indeed, the Title II Order acknowledged as much, and refused to

impose “prescriptive rules” or even “draw policy conclusions concerning new paid

Internet traffic arrangements.” Notwithstanding these acknowledgments, the Title II

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Order cast a shadow on new arrangements in this sector by applying a range of common

carrier requirements to Internet traffic exchange.

148. We believe that applying Title II to Internet traffic exchange arrangements

was unnecessary and is likely to unduly inhibit competition and innovation. As the court

in USTelecom observed, the Title II Order’s oversight of interconnection was premised

on the concern that ISPs could evade the restrictions imposed via regulation of the “last

mile” through actions taken in connection with Internet interconnection

arrangements. Here, however, we conclude that Title II regulation and conduct rules are

not warranted even as to the “last mile.” The Title II Order itself recognized that the

need for intervention in matters of Internet interconnection was less certain than its

conclusions regarding ISP actions in the “last mile.” Against that backdrop, along with

our finding that Commission regulation of ISP conduct in the “last mile” is unwarranted,

we see no grounds for finding that Title II regulation of Internet traffic exchange is

necessary here. And absent Title II as a hook for regulation of Internet traffic exchange,

we can identify no other source of statutory authority to impose market-wide prophylactic

regulation on these arrangements. To the extent we have previously proposed conditions

on Internet traffic exchange activities in the context of specific mergers, those conditions

were based on the circumstances of specific entities in specific transactions and were

agreed to by those entities to facilitate a proposed merger. Those conditions were not,

however, predicated on any statutory provision giving the Commission general authority

to engage in prophylactic regulation of all interconnection arrangements.

149. Instead, we find that freeing Internet traffic exchange arrangements from

burdensome government regulation, and allowing market forces to discipline this

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emerging and competitive market is the better course. It is telling that, in the absence of

Title II regulation, the cost of Internet transit fell over 99 percent on a cost-per-megabit

basis from 2005 to 2015. We do not rely on transit pricing alone, but consider it in

combination with the other factors discussed in this section, and thus reject as inapposite

claims that transit pricing alone is an inadequate way of evaluating Internet traffic

exchange. Further, we find that even those commenters that insist that ISPs wield undue

power in the interconnection market have offered no evidence that ISPs generally charge

supra-competitive prices for Internet traffic exchange arrangements. Moreover, we reject

the proposition that prior examples of settlement- free peering necessarily mean that a

transit price above zero is inherently anti- or supra-competitive. While the move to paid

peering may affect the bottom line of Tier 1 transit providers, those effects cannot justify

ex ante regulation unless they are anti-competitive and harm end users. The record is

devoid of evidence of consumer harm in this regard since the resolution of the Netflix

congestion issues in 2014. Indeed, the new case-by-case dispute process has gone

unused, even as OVDs—which ISPs presumably might view as competitors to affiliated

video programming products or services—have proliferated. Moreover, contrary to these

unsubstantiated claims of harm, we find that there are substantial pro-competitive and

pro-consumer benefits to alternative Internet traffic exchange arrangements. Because we

conclude that this is the wiser course, we reject comments asserting that a dispute

resolution process is needed.

150. We welcome the growth of alternative Internet traffic exchange

arrangements, including direct interconnection, CDNs, and other innovative efforts. All

parties appear to agree that direct interconnection has benefited consumers by reducing

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congestion, increasing speeds, and housing content closer to consumers, and allowed

ISPs to better manage their networks. CDNs play a similar role. We believe that market

dynamics, not Title II regulation, allowed these diverse arrangements to thrive. Our

decision to reclassify broadband Internet access service as an information service, and to

remove Title II utility-style regulation from Internet traffic exchange, will spur further

investment and innovation in this market. Returning to the pre-Title II Order light-touch

framework will also eliminate the asymmetrical regulatory treatment of parties to Internet

traffic exchange arrangements. As NTCA explains, the Title II Order imposed a one-

sided interconnection duty upon last-mile ISPs—even though, especially in rural areas,

“many ISPs are a tiny fraction of the size of upstream middle mile and transit networks or

content and edge providers.” The record reflects that the asymmetric regulation imposed

under the Title II Order unjustifiably provided edge providers, many of whom are

sophisticated entities with significant market power due to high demand for their content,

with additional leverage in negotiating interconnection. We anticipate that eliminating

one-sided regulation of Internet traffic exchange and restoring regulatory parity among

sophisticated commercial entities will allow the parties to more efficiently negotiate

mutually-acceptable arrangements to meet end user demands for network usage.

151. We find that present competitive pressures in the market for Internet

traffic exchange mitigate the risk that an ISP might block or degrade edge provider traffic

through arrangements for Internet traffic exchange sufficiently to undermine the need for

regulatory oversight through Title II regulation. We thus disagree with generalized

assertions by some commenters to the contrary. In drawing this conclusion, we recognize

that the Commission previously imposed Internet interconnection conditions in the

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AT&T/DirecTV Order and Charter/TWC Order to address claimed risks that the merged

entity could use Internet interconnection to disadvantage rivals, particularly competing

providers of over-the-top video services. We decline to draw judgments about the nature

of the market as a whole from individual determinations made in the context of particular

merger orders. As an initial matter, the Commission made these determinations pursuant

to its authority to impose conditions on transfers of licenses or authorizations. As noted

above, the Commission has identified no broader general authority to impose these

conditions on the interconnection market as a whole. In addition, those orders were

based on an analysis of specific issues raised in those adjudications and application of a

public-interest statutory standard that differs from the competition-based standard applied

by the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division during merger review. Further, those

orders were based on a narrowly-focused analysis of specific issues raised in those

adjudications. As we explain above, based on the record here, we decline to repeat that

finding of high switching costs. Finally, because those orders were adopted without the

benefit of notice-and-comment rulemaking, we decline to make general inferences from

conditions contained in such documents, when the voluminous record submitted in this

proceeding persuades us that the interconnection market is competitive. We thus are

unpersuaded that the actions taken in the AT&T/DirecTV Order and Charter/TWC Order

should guide our decisions here. Interconnection concerns generally focus on the

possibility that an ISP could block or allow congestion on paths used to deliver traffic to

that ISP as a way of harming rivals or extracting unreasonable payments associated with

that interconnection. Edge providers have a variety of options in deciding how to deliver

their content to ISPs, including a large number of transit providers, CDNs, and direct

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interconnection. Edge providers also can shift the path for their traffic in response to

congestion in real time. To address the possibility that edge providers could simply shift

their traffic away from a blocked or congested path, it appears in most cases that the ISP

would need to engage in blocking or allow congestion on essentially all paths to its

network, affecting all traffic to and from the ISP’s customers. To the extent that some

theorize that an ISP might harm rivals with particularly high volumes of Internet traffic

through actions taken with respect to a smaller number of interconnection paths, we are

not persuaded that such large providers of Internet traffic would lack sufficient leverage

to achieve a reasonable marketplace resolution, particularly given the increased

likelihood that such a large source of Internet traffic would be highly valued by end-users

with which it could communicate directly regarding any interconnection dispute. In

addition, although certain forms of traffic might be particularly sensitive to the quality of

interconnection such that some alternative interconnection paths would be inferior, it is

likely that blocking or allowing degradation of a substantial number of paths to the ISP

still would be necessary for such conduct to effectively impact such traffic given that the

concerns in the record center on large ISPs, that are more likely than small ISPs to have

multiple viable interconnection paths. Further, that is but one of many considerations

that would affect the relative incentives and marketplace leverage of the relevant ISP and

interconnecting network and/or edge provider. The practical viability of such a strategy

thus depends in general on an ISP’s willingness to undermine the performance of all or

virtually all Internet traffic to and from its customers. An ISP’s incentive to take such a

step would involve a complex marketplace evaluation requiring it to account for the

associated risk of customer dissatisfaction. Although this consideration alone does not

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necessarily guarantee that no ISP ever would engage in such conduct, we reject

interconnection-related concerns that fail to meaningfully grapple with this factor.

Further, this factor must be considered in conjunction with the overlay of legal

protections, such as antitrust and consumer protection laws discussed below. We find

that these marketplace dynamics are likely to impede, if not preclude, any effort by an

ISP to harm a specific edge provider’s traffic.

152. Insofar as certain commenters contend that incidents such as Cogent’s

experience delivering Netflix traffic in 2014 suggest otherwise, we note that the origin of

the Cogent-Netflix congestion is disputed and that Cogent admitted to de-prioritizing

certain types of traffic for the congestion. In any event, there is ample evidence that

major edge providers, including Netflix, YouTube, and other large OVDs, are some of

the “most-loved” brands in the world. Their reputations and the importance of reputation

to their business and brand gives them significant incentive to inform consumers and

work to shape consumer perceptions in the event of any dispute with ISPs. This incentive

mitigates potential concerns that consumers lack the knowledge and ability to hold their

ISPs accountable for interconnection disputes. Further, as NCTA explains, “the edge

providers that send enough traffic to impact interconnection—e.g., Netflix,

Google/YouTube, Facebook, and Amazon—are entities critical for a broadband provider

to meet its customers’ needs.” As another commenter explains, edge providers, including

OVDs, are complementary to ISPs’ broadband business, and reducing the value of these

complementary products would harm ISPs by reducing demand for their services. For all

of these reasons, we find that market dynamics are likely to mitigate the risk that ISPs

will block, degrade, or deprioritize specific edge providers’ traffic.

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 153. In addition, if an ISP attempts to block or degrade traffic in a manner that

is anti-competitive, such conduct may give rise to actions by federal or state agencies

under antitrust or consumer protection laws. Some commenters have called for continued

ex post regulation of Internet traffic exchange between ISPs and transit or edge providers,

potentially under Title I, or disclosure requirements. For the reasons discussed here, we

reject these arguments. As to antitrust laws, antitrust authorities are empowered to police

anti-competitive conduct by ISPs (conduct that would be particularly salient in cases

where ISP competition was limited or nonexistent). We reject the argument that the

Commission’s decision in the Charter-Time Warner Cable Merger Order compels us to

apply Title II regulation to interconnection for the reasons discussed herein, infra Part

VI.A. In addition, the backstop of generally-applicable consumer protection laws

continues to protect consumers and edge providers. These laws, particularly antitrust

laws which prevent certain refusals to deal, will also protect small, rural ISPs which may

face difficulties interconnecting with edge providers, transit providers, and larger ISPs.

Accordingly, assertions that public-utility regulation of Internet traffic exchange

arrangements is necessary to allow consumers to reach content of their choice are

unpersuasive.

154. Even assuming that economic incentives and antitrust and consumer

protection remedies may not prevent or redress all potential harms in the interconnection

market, we find the regulatory approach adopted in the Title II Order fatally overbroad as

it relates to the interconnection concerns identified in the record here. The Title II

Order’s legal basis for oversight of interconnection depended on the definition of

broadband Internet access service to include traffic exchange and the classification of that

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entire service as a telecommunications service subject to Title II—a classification that

applied to all ISPs, regardless of size or other characteristics. Here, however, we have

already rejected the Title II Order’s rationales for Title II regulation and explained the

harms that flow from that regime. The record reveals that retaining the Title II Order

approach to interconnection would be overbroad in other ways, as well. The

classification decision in that Order applied to all ISPs regardless of size, while the

concerns about ISPs in the record here center on a few of the largest ISPs. The Title II

Order classification also applied irrespective of the specific traffic being carried, while

some advocates of interconnection oversight here express particular concerns about

certain subsets of traffic, like video traffic. Particularly given the marketplace

complexities associated with whether a given ISP would, in fact, engage in harmful

conduct, we are not persuaded that the inchoate interconnectio n concerns identified in the

record here would justify retaining the Title II Order’s approach to interconnection with

its sweeping, preemptive—and harmful—resulting consequences.

2. Forbearance

155. As we have reinstated the information service classification of broadband

Internet access service, the forbearance granted in the Title II Order is now moot. We

return to the pre-Title II Order status quo and allow providers voluntarily electing to offer

broadband transmission on a common carrier basis to do so under the frameworks

established in the Wireline Broadband Classification Order and the Wireless Broadband

Internet Access Order. We also clarify that carriers are no longer permitted to use the

Title II Order forbearance framework (i.e., no carrier will be permitted to maintain, or

newly elect, the Title II Order forbearance framework).

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 156. Prior to the Title II Order, some facilities-based wireline carriers chose to

offer broadband transmission services on a common carrier basis subject to the full range

of Title II requirements. In the 2005 Wireline Broadband Classification Order, the

Commission ruled that broadband Internet access was an information service, but at the

same time permitted facilities-based wireline carriers to voluntarily elect to offer the

transmission component of broadband Internet access service (often referred to as digital

subscriber line or DSL) on a common carrier basis. Operators choosing to offer

broadband transmission on a common carriage basis could do so under tariff or could use

non-tariff arrangements. The Commission permitted facilities-based carriers to choose

whether to offer wireline broadband Internet access transmission as non-common

carriage or common carriage to “enable facilities-based wireline Internet access providers

to maximize their ability to deploy broadband Internet access services and facilities in

competition with other platform providers, under a regulatory framework that provides all

market participants with the flexibility to determine how best to structure their business

operations.” Generally, ISPs that chose to elect common carrier status were smaller

carriers that served “rural, sparsely-populated areas” and obtained significant benefits

from the provision of broadband transmission services on a common carriage basis,

including the ability to participate in common tariff arrangements via the NECA pools

and the availability of high-cost universal service support.

157. We agree with NTCA and NECA that the broadband transmission services

currently offered by rural LECs under tariff differ substantially from the broadband

Internet access services at issue in this proceeding, and as such are not impacted by our

decision to reclassify broadband Internet access service as an information service. The

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term “wireline broadband Internet access service” refers to “a mass-market retail service

by wire that provides the capability to transmit data to and receive data from all or

substantially all Internet endpoints, including any capabilities that are incidental to and

enable the operation of the communications service, but excluding dial-up Internet access

service.” Broadband transmission services do not provide end users with direct

connectivity to the Internet backbone or content, but instead enable data traffic generated

by end users to be transported to an ISP’s Access Service Connection Point over rural

LEC local exchange service facilities for subsequent interconnection with the internet

backbone.

158. Carriers offering broadband transmission service have never been subject

to the Title II Order forbearance framework. The Title II Order forbearance framework

with respect to broadband Internet access service did not encompass broadband

transmission services and permitted carriers to voluntarily elect to offer transmission

services on a common carriage basis pursuant to the Wireline Broadband Classification

Order. The Title II Order made clear that broadband transmission services would

continue to be subject to the full panoply of Title II obligations (e.g., USF contributions),

including those from which the Commission forbore from in the Title II Order. Thus,

only carriers that elected to cease offering broadband transmission services and instead

offer broadband Internet access services (including a transmission service component)

were subject to the Title II Order forbearance framework (e.g., forbearance from USF

contributions applied to such carriers). Over one hundred providers opted-into the Title II

Order forbearance framework and in their letters to the Commission, they noted that the

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transmission component would only be provided as part of the complete broadband

Internet access service.

159. Today, we return to the pre-Title II Order status quo and allow carriers to

elect to offer broadband transmission services on a common carrier basis, either pursuant

to tariff or on a non-tariffed basis. We find the reasoning in the Wireline Broadband

Classification Order for offering these options persuasive. Irrespective of the regulatory

classification of broadband Internet access services, the Commission has continuously

permitted facilities-based wireline carriers to provide broadband Internet transmission

services on a Title II common carriage basis, with substantial flexibility in deciding how

such services may be offered (i.e., on a tariffed or non-tariffed basis). Providing these

options offers small carriers much-needed regulatory certainty as they have sought to

deploy and maintain broadband Internet access services to their customers. We reiterate

that broadband transmission services are not impacted by our decision to reclassify

broadband Internet access service as an information service.

160. We clarify that carriers that choose to offer transmission service on a

common carriage basis are, as under the Wireline Broadband Classification Order,

subject to the full set of Title II obligations, to the extent they applied before the Title II

Order. Similarly, a wireless broadband Internet access provider may choose to offer the

transmission component as a telecommunications service and the transmission

component of wireless broadband Internet access service as a telecommunications service

only if the entity that provides the transmission voluntarily undertakes to provide it

indifferently on a common carrier basis. Such an offering is a common carrier service

subject to Title II. In addition, a wireless broadband Internet access provider that chooses

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to offer the telecommunications transmission component as a telecommunications service

may also be subject to the “commercial mobile service” provisions of the Act. Further,

we clarify that those carriers that had previously been offering a broadband transmission

service (subject to the full panoply of Title II regulations) and that elected to instead offer

broadband Internet access service after the Title II Order now will be deemed to be

offering an information service. The Commission has never allowed carriers offering

broadband transmission services on a common carrier basis to opt in to the Title II Order

forbearance framework for those transmission services. Carriers that prefer light-touch

regulation may elect to offer broadband Internet access service as an information service.

Although WTA argues that allowing rural LECs to opt into the forbearance framework

will “enable a much more level competitive playing field in the retail marketplace,” no

other carriers are subject to that framework, and we find that allowing carriers to opt into

the forbearance framework will result in a regulatory disparity. We therefore reject

WTA’s argument that the Commission should continue to permit opting into the Title II

Order forbearance. To the extent that other related issues are raised in the record, we find

that those issues are better addressed in the appropriate proceeding.

161. We also reject AT&T’s assertion that the Commission should

conditionally forbear from all Title II regulations as a preventive measure to address the

contingency that a future Commission might seek to reinstate the Title II Order.

Although AT&T explains that “conditional forbearance would provide an extra level of

insurance against the contingency that a future, politically motivated Commission might

try to reinstate a ‘common carrier’ classification,” we see no need to address the

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complicated question of prophylactic forbearance and find such extraordinary measures

unnecessary.

3. Returning Broadband Privacy Authority to the FTC

162. By reinstating the information service classification of broadband Internet

access service, we return jurisdiction to regulate broadband privacy and data security to

the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation’s premier consumer protection agency

and the agency primarily responsible for these matters in the past. Restoring FTC

jurisdiction over ISPs will enable the FTC to apply its extensive privacy and data security

expertise to provide the uniform online privacy protections that consumers expect and

deserve.

163. Historically, the FTC protected the privacy of broadband consumers,

policing every online company’s privacy practices consistently and initiating numerous

enforcement actions. In fact, the FTC has “brought over 500 enforcement actions

protecting the privacy and security of consumer information, including actions against

ISPs and against some of the biggest companies in the Internet ecosystem.” When the

Commission reclassified broadband Internet access service as a common carriage

telecommunications service in 2015, however, that action stripped FTC authority over

ISPs because the FTC is prohibited from regulating common carriers. The effect of this

decision was to shift responsibility for regulating broadband privacy to the Commission.

And in lieu of an even playing field, the Commission adopted sector-specific rules that

deviated from the FTC’s longstanding framework. In March 2017, Congress voted under

the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to disapprove the Commission’s 2016 Privacy

Order, which prevents us from adopting rules in substantially the same form.

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 164. Undoing Title II reclassification restores jurisdiction to the agency with

the most experience and expertise in privacy and data security, better reflects

congressional intent, and creates a level playing field when it comes to Internet privacy.

Restoring FTC authority to regulate broadband privacy and data security also fills the

consumer protection gap created by the Title II Order when it stripped the FTC of

jurisdiction over ISPs. Consumers expect information to be “treated consistently across

the Internet ecosystem and that their personal information will be subject to the same

framework, in all contexts.” Under the FTC’s technology neutral approach to privacy

regulation, consumers will have the consistent level of protection across the Internet

ecosystem that they expect. With over 100 years of experience, only the FTC can apply

consumer protection rules consistently across industries. As NTCA contends, the FTC

has not only the legal jurisdiction, but also the subject matter expertise. In 2007, the FTC

issued a 167-page report that delved into both the technical and legal bases of the Internet

and how the law approaches it. Moreover, the FTC has been involved in numerous

initiatives that address consumer protection in the broadband marketplace. The FTC’s

“flexible, enforcement- focused approach has enabled the agency to apply strong

consumer privacy and security protections across a wide range of changing technologies

and business models, without imposing unnecessary or undue burdens on industry.”

Moreover, the flexibility of the FTC’s enforcement framework “allows room for new

business models that could support expensive, next-generation networks with revenue

other than consumers’ monthly bills.” The FTC has already “delivered the message to

entities in a range of fields—retailers, app developers, data brokers, health companies,

financial institutions, third-party service providers, and others—that they need to provide

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consumers with strong privacy and data security protections.” The same approach should

apply to ISPs. We also observe that ISPs are not uniquely positioned with respect to their

insight into customers’ private browsing behavior. As the FTC found in 2012, “ISPs are

just one type of large platform provider that may have access to all or nearly all of a

consumer’s online activity. Like ISPs, operating systems and browsers may be in a

position to track all, or virtually all, of a consumer’s online activity to create highly

detailed profiles.” And only the FTC operates on a national level across industries, which

is especially important when regulating providers that operate across state lines. In light

of the FTC’s decades of successful experience, including its oversight of ISP privacy

practices prior to 2015, we find arguments that we should decline to reclassify to retain

sector-specific control of ISP privacy practices unpersuasive. The FTC has previously

brought enforcement actions against ISPs regarding Internet access and related issues.

The FTC has also “brought enforcement actions in matters involving access to content

via broadband and other Internet access services,” such as the FTC’s challenge to the

proposed AOL and Time Warner merger, in part, over concern for potential harm to

consumers’ broadband Internet access. We also note that while it may be true that the

Commission itself has longstanding privacy experience with respect to traditional

telephone service providers, we disagree that this history uniquely qualifies the

Commission to regulate the privacy practices of ISPs or other online providers, when

prior to 2015, the Commission did not, and indeed lacked the authority to, regulate such

providers. We do not believe that experience with traditional telephone service providers

necessarily translates to experience or expertise with respect to all communications

providers. Some commenters object that the FTC is not suited to protect privacy on the

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Internet, citing the FTC’s narrower authority and fewer resources than the Commission

and the absence of specific statutory directive from Congress to the FTC to regulate

privacy. As discussed above, these criticisms are unfounded. Furthermore, the

uncertainty related to the Commission’s current authority over broadband privacy

regulation created by the CRA resolution of disapproval also weighs in favor of returning

jurisdiction to the FTC.

165. We also reject arguments that rely on the Ninth Circuit panel decision

holding that the common carrier exemption precludes FTC oversight of non-common

carriage activities of common carriers. As the FCC’s amicus letter explained in that case,

the panel decision erred by overlooking the textual relationship between the statutes

governing the FTC’s and FCC’s jurisdiction. We note that commenter concerns focus

not just on the FTC’s privacy authority but its authority more generally. We reject those

arguments for the reasons stated above. Consistent with the Commission’s request, the

Ninth Circuit granted rehearing en banc of the panel decision, and in doing so it set aside

the earlier panel opinion. This en banc order means that the Title II Order’s

reclassification of broadband Internet access service serves as the only current limit on

the authority of the FTC to oversee the conduct of Internet service providers. We note

that at any given time there always may be some litigation pending somewhere in the

country challenging the scope or validity of various laws—whether the Communications

Act, FTC Act, or state consumer protection laws—that the FCC might seek to rely on

directly (in the case of the Act) or indirectly (where relying in part on the availability of

protections provided by other laws). The Commission would be paralyzed if it had to

wait for all such litigation to be resolved before it acted. Because the panel decision has

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been set aside in FTC v. AT&T Mobility, we do not view that case as materially different

than any other such pending litigation—so we likewise do not view it as necessary to

wait on the resolution of that case before acting here. In light of these considerations and

the benefits of reclassification, we find objections based on FTC v. AT&T Mobility

insufficient to warrant a different outcome.

4. Wireline Infrastructure

166. To the extent today’s classification decision impacts the deployment of

wireline infrastructure, we will address that topic in detail in proceedings specific to those

issues. The importance of facilitating broadband infrastructure deployment indicates that

our authority to address barriers to infrastructure deployment warrants careful review in

the appropriate proceedings. We disagree with commenters who assert that Title II

classification is necessary to maintain our authority to promote infrastructure investment

and broadband deployment. Because the same networks are often used to provide

broadband and either telecommunications or cable service, we will take further action as

is necessary to promote broadband deployment and infrastructure investment. Further,

Title I classification of broadband Internet access services is consistent with the

Commission’s broadband deployment objectives, whereas the Title II regulatory

environment undermines the very private investment and buildout of broadband networks

the Commission seeks to encourage. Additionally, in the twenty states and the District of

Columbia that have reverse-preempted Commission jurisdiction over pole attachments,

those states rather than the Commission are empowered to regulate the pole attachment

process.

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 167. We are resolute that today’s decision not be misinterpreted or used as an

excuse to create barriers to infrastructure investment and broadband deployment. For

example, we caution pole owners not to use this Order as a pretext to increase pole

attachment rates or to inhibit broadband providers from attaching equipment—and we

remind pole owners of their continuing obligation to offer “rates, terms, and conditions

[that] are just and reasonable.” We will not hesitate to take action where we identify

barriers to broadband infrastructure deployment. We have been working diligently to

remove barriers to broadband deployment and fully intend to continue to do so.

5. Wireless Infrastructure

168. When the Commission first classified wireless broadband Internet access

as an information service in 2007, it emphasized that certain statutory provisions in

Section 224 (regarding pole attachments) and 332(c)(7) (local authority over zoning) of

the Act would continue to apply where the same infrastructure was used to provide a

covered service (e.g., cable or telecommunications service) as well as wireless broadband

Internet access. Section 224 gives cable television systems and providers of

telecommunications services the right to attach to utility poles of power and telephone

companies at regulated rates. Section 332(c)(7) generally preserves state and local

authority over “personal wireless service facilities” siting or modification, but subjects

that authority to certain limitations. Among other limitations, it provides that state or

local government regulation (1) “shall not unreasonably discriminate among providers of

functionally equivalent services,” (2) “shall not prohibit or have the effect of prohibiting

the provision of personal wireless services” and (3) may not regulate the siting of

personal wireless service facilities “on the basis of the environmental effects of [RF]

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emissions to the extent that such facilities comply with the Commission's regulations

concerning such emissions.”

169. As to Section 224, the Commission clarified in the Wireless Broadband

Internet Access Order that where the same infrastructure would provide “both

telecommunications and wireless broadband Internet access service,” the provisions of

Section 224 governing pole attachments would continue to apply to such infrastructure

used to provide both types of service. The Commission similarly clarified that Section

332(c)(7)(B) would continue to apply to wireless broadband Internet access service

where a wireless service provider uses the same infrastructure to provide its “personal

wireless services” and wireless broadband Internet access service.

170. We reaffirm the Commission’s interpretations regarding the application of

Sections 224 and 332(c)(7) to wireless broadband Internet access service here. The

Commission’s rationale from 2007, that commingling services does not change the fact

that the facilities are being used for the provisioning of services within the scope of the

statutory provision, remains equally valid today. This clarification will alleviate concerns

that wireless broadband Internet access providers not face increased barriers to

infrastructure deployment as a result of today’s reclassification. This clarification also is

consistent with our commitment to promote broadband deployment and close the digital

divide.

171. Although the wireless infrastructure industry has changed significantly

since the adoption of the Wireless Broadband Internet Access Order, it remains the case

that cell towers and other forms of network equipment can be used “for the provision” of

both personal wireless services and wireless broadband Internet access on a commingled

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basis. These communications facilities are sometimes built by providers themselves, but

are increasingly being deployed by third-parties who then offer the use of these facilities

to wireless service providers for a variety of services, including telecommunications

services and information services. To remove any uncertainty, we clarify that Section

332(c)(7) applies to facilities, including DAS or small cells, deployed and offered by

third-parties for the purpose of provisioning communications services that include

personal wireless services. Consistent with the statutory provisions and Commission

precedent, we consider infrastructure that will be deployed for the provision of personal

wireless services, including third-party facilities such as neutral-host deployments, to be

“facilities for the provision of personal wireless services” and therefore subject to Section

332(c)(7) as “personal wireless service facilities” even where such facilities also may be

used for broadband Internet access services.

172. We reiterate our commitment to expand broadband access, encourage

innovation and close the digital divide. We will closely monitor developments on

broadband infrastructure deployment and move quickly to address barriers in a future

proceeding if necessary.

6. Universal Service

173. The reclassification of consumer and small business broadband access as

an information service does not affect or alter the Commission’s existing programs to

support the deployment and maintenance of broadband-capable networks, i.e., the

Connect America Fund’s high-cost universal service support mechanisms. As explained

in the USF/ICC Transformation Order, the Commission has authority to ensure that “the

national policy of promoting broadband deployment and ubiquito us access to voice

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telephony services is fully realized” and require that “carriers receiving support . . . offer

broadband capabilities to customers.” What services a particular customer subscribes to

is irrelevant as long as high-cost support is used to build and maintain a network that

provides both voice and broadband Internet access service. Thus, the classification of

broadband Internet access as an information service does not change the eligibility of

providers of those services to receive federal high-cost universal service support.

174. Lifeline. We conclude that we need not address concerns in the record

about the effect of our reclassification of broadband Internet access service as an

information service on the Lifeline program at this time. In November 2017, we adopted

an NPRM in the Lifeline proceeding (Lifeline NPRM) (83 FR 2075) in which we

proposed limiting Lifeline support to facilities-based broadband service provided to a

qualifying low-income consumer over the eligible telecommunication carrier's (ETC’s)

voice- and broadband-capable last-mile network, and sought comment on discontinuing

Lifeline support for service provided over non-facilities-based networks, to advance our

policy of focusing Lifeline support to encourage investment in voice- and broadband-

capable networks. As explained in the Lifeline NPRM, we “believe the Commission has

authority under Section 254(e) of the Act to provide Lifeline support to ETCs that

provide broadband service over facilities-based broadband-capable networks that support

voice service” and that “[t]his legal authority does not depend on the regulatory

classification of broadband Internet access service and, thus, ensures the Lifeline program

has a role in closing the digital divide regardless of the regulatory classification of

broadband service.” We thus find that today’s reinstatement of the information service

classification for broadband Internet access service does not require us to address here

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our legal authority to continue supporting broadband Internet access service in the

Lifeline program, as such concerns are more appropriately addressed in the ongoing

Lifeline proceeding.

7. Preemption of Inconsistent State and Local Regulations

175. We conclude that regulation of broadband Internet access service should

be governed principally by a uniform set of federal regulations, rather than by a

patchwork that includes separate state and local requirements. Our order today

establishes a calibrated federal regulatory regime based on the pro-competitive,

deregulatory goals of the 1996 Act. Allowing state and local governments to adopt their

own separate requirements, which could impose far greater burdens than the federal

regulatory regime, could significantly disrupt the balance we strike here. Federal courts

have uniformly held that an affirmative federal policy of deregulation is entitled to the

same preemptive effect as a federal policy of regulation. In addition, allowing state or

local regulation of broadband Internet access service could impair the provision of such

service by requiring each ISP to comply with a patchwork of separate and potentially

conflicting requirements across all of the different jurisdictions in which it operates. Just

as the Title II Order promised to “exercise our preemption authority to preclude states

from imposing regulations on broadband service that are inconsistent” with the federal

regulatory scheme, we conclude that we should exercise our authority to preempt any

state or local requirements that are inconsistent with the federal deregulatory approach we

adopt today.

176. We therefore preempt any state or local measures that would effectively

impose rules or requirements that we have repealed or decided to refrain from imposing

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in this order or that would impose more stringent requirements for any aspect of

broadband service that we address in this order. This includes any state laws that would

require the disclosure of broadband Internet access service performance information,

commercial terms, or network management practices in any way inconsistent with the

transparency rule we adopt herein. Our transparency rule is carefully calibrated to reflect

the information that consumers, entrepreneurs, small businesses, and the Commission

needs to ensure a functioning market for broadband Internet access services and to ensure

the Commission has sufficient information to identify market-entry barriers—all without

unduly burdening ISPs with disclosure requirements that would raise the cost of service

or otherwise deter innovation within the network. Among other things, we thereby

preempt any so-called “economic” or “public utility-type” regulations, including

common-carriage requirements akin to those found in Title II of the Act and its

implementing rules, as well as other rules or requirements that we repeal or refrain from

imposing today because they could pose an obstacle to or place an undue burden on the

provision of broadband Internet access service and conflict with the deregulatory

approach we adopt today. The terms “economic regulation” and “public utility-type

regulation,” as used here, are terms of art that the Commission has used to include,

among other things, requirements that all rates and practices be just and reasonable;

prohibitions on unjust or unreasonable discrimination; tariffing requirements; accounting

requirements; entry and exit restrictions; interconnection obligations; and unbundling or

network-access requirements. We are not persuaded that preemption is contrary to

Section 706(a) of the 1996 Act, 47 U.S.C. 1302(a), insofar as that provision directs state

commissions (as well as this Commission) to promote the deployment of advanced

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telecommunications capability. For one thing, as discussed infra, we conclude that

Section 706 does not constitute an affirmative grant of regulatory authority, but instead

simply provides guidance to this Commission and the state commissions on how to use

any authority conferred by other provisions of federal and state law. For another, nothing

in this order forecloses state regulatory commissions from promoting the goals set forth

in Section 706(a) through measures that we do not preempt here, such as by promoting

access to rights-of-way under state law, encouraging broadband investment and

deployment through state tax policy, and administering other generally applicable state

laws. Finally, insofar as we conclude that Section 706’s goals of encouraging broadband

deployment and removing barriers to infrastructure investment are best served by

preempting state regulation, we find that Section 706 supports (rather than prohibits) the

use of preemption here.

177. Although we preempt state and local laws that interfere with the federal

deregulatory policy restored in this order, we do not disturb or displace the states’

traditional role in generally policing such matters as fraud, taxation, and general

commercial dealings, so long as the administration of such general state laws does not

interfere with federal regulatory objectives. We thus conclude that our preemption

determination is not contrary to Section 414 of the Act, which states that “[n]othing in

[the Act] shall in any way abridge or alter the remedies now existing at common law or

by statute.” Under this order, states retain their traditional role in policing and remedying

violations of a wide variety of general state laws. The record does not reveal how our

preemption here would deprive states of their ability to enforce any remedies that fall

within the purview of Section 414. In any case, a general savings clause like Section 414

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“do[es] not preclude preemption where allowing state remedies would lead to a conflict

with or frustration of statutory purposes.” Indeed, the continued applicability of these

general state laws is one of the considerations that persuade us that ISP conduct

regulation is unnecessary here. Nor do we deprive the states of any functions expressly

reserved to them under the Act, such as responsibility for designating eligible

telecommunications carriers under Section 214(e); exclusive jurisdiction over poles,

ducts, conduits, and rights-of-way when a state certifies that it has adopted effective rules

and regulations over those matters under Section 224(c); or authority to adopt state

universal service policies not inconsistent with the Commission’s rules under Section

254. We find no basis in the record to conclude that our preemption determination would

interfere with states’ authority to address rights-of-way safety issues. We note that we

continue to preempt any state from imposing any new state universal service fund

contributions on broadband Internet access service. We appreciate the many important

functions served by our state and local partners, and we fully expect that the states will

“continue to play their vital role in protecting consumers from fraud, enforcing fair

business practices, for example, in advertising and billing, and generally responding to

consumer inquiries and complaints” within the framework of this order.

178. Legal Authority. We conclude that the Commission has legal authority to

preempt inconsistent state and local regulation of broadband Internet access service on

several distinct grounds.

179. First, the U.S. Supreme Court and other courts have recognized that, under

what is known as the impossibility exception to state jurisdiction, the FCC may preempt

state law when (1) it is impossible or impracticable to regulate the intrastate aspects of a

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service without affecting interstate communications and (2) the Commission determines

that such regulation would interfere with federal regulatory objectives. Here, both

conditions are satisfied. Indeed, because state and local regulation of the aspects of

broadband Internet access service that we identify would interfere with the balanced

federal regulatory scheme we adopt today, they are plainly preempted.

180. As a preliminary matter, it is well-settled that Internet access is a

jurisdictionally interstate service because “a substantial portion of Internet traffic

involves accessing interstate or foreign websites.” Thus, when the Commission first

classified a form of broadband Internet access service in the Cable Modem Order, it

recognized that cable Internet service is an “interstate information service.” Five years

later, the Commission reaffirmed the jurisdictionally interstate nature of broadband

Internet access service in the Wireless Broadband Internet Access Order. And even

when the Title II Order reclassified broadband Internet access service as a

telecommunications service, the Commission continued to recognize that “broadband

Internet access service is jurisdictionally interstate for regulatory purposes.” The record

continues to show that broadband Internet access service is predominantly interstate

because a substantial amount of Internet traffic begins and ends across state lines.

181. Because both interstate and intrastate communications can travel over the

same Internet connection (and indeed may do so in response to a single query from a

consumer), it is impossible or impracticable for ISPs to distinguish between intrastate and

interstate communications over the Internet or to apply different rules in each

circumstance. Accordingly, an ISP generally could not comply with state or local rules

for intrastate communications without applying the same rules to interstate

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communications. We therefore reject the view that the impossibility exception to state

jurisdiction does not apply because some aspects of broadband Internet access service

could theoretically be regulated differently in different states. Even if it were possible for

New York to regulate aspects of broadband service differently from New Jersey, for

example, it would not be possible for New York to regulate the use of a broadband

Internet connection for intrastate communications without also affecting the use of that

same connection for interstate communications. The relevant question under the

impossibility exception is not whether it would be possible to have separate rules in

separate states, but instead whether it would be feasible to allow separate state rules for

intrastate communications while maintaining uniform federal rules for interstate

communications. Thus, because any effort by states to regulate intrastate traffic would

interfere with the Commission’s treatment of interstate traffic, the first condition for

conflict preemption is satisfied. OTI insists that broadband service “can easily be

separated into interstate and intrastate” communications based on “the location of the

ISP.” In OTI’s view, if “the closest ISP headend, tower, or other facility to the customer”

is in the same state as the customer, then the customer’s Internet communications are all

intrastate. This view misapprehends the end-to-end analysis employed by the

Communications Act to distinguish interstate and intrastate communications, which looks

to where a communication ultimately originates and terminates—such as the server

which hosts the content the consumer is requesting—rather than to intermediate steps

along the way (such as the location of the ISP). Indeed, OTI’s view that a

communication is intrastate whenever the “last mile” facilities between the customer and

the communications carrier are within the same state would improperly deem virtually all

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communications to be intrastate, including interstate telephone calls, contrary to long-

settled precedent.

182. The second condition for the impossibility exception to state jurisdiction is

also satisfied. For the reasons explained above, we find that state and local regulation of

the aspects of broadband Internet access service that we identify would interfere with the

balanced federal regulatory scheme we adopt today.

183. Second, the Commission has independent authority to displace state and

local regulations in accordance with the longstanding federal policy of nonregulation for

information services. For more than a decade prior to the 1996 Act, the Commission

consistently preempted state regulation of information services (which were then known

as “enhanced services”). When Congress adopted the Commission’s regulatory

framework and its deregulatory approach to information services in the 1996 Act, it thus

embraced our longstanding policy of preempting state laws that interfere with our federal

policy of nonregulation.

184. Multiple provisions enacted by the 1996 Act confirm Congress’s approval

of our preemptive federal policy of nonregulation for information services. Section

230(b)(2) of the Act, as added by the 1996 Act, declares it to be “the policy of the United

States” to “preserve the vibrant and competitive free market that presently exists for the

Internet and other interactive computer services”—including “any information service”—

“unfettered by Federal or State regulation.” The Commission has observed that this

provision makes clear that “federal authority [is] preeminent in the area of information

services” and that information services “should remain free of regulation.” To this same

end, by directing that a communications service provider “shall be treated as a common

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carrier under [this Act] only to the extent that it is engaged in providing

telecommunications services,” Section 3(51)—also added by the 1996 Act—forbids any

common-carriage regulation, whether federal or state, of information services.

185. Finally, our preemption authority finds further support in the Act’s

forbearance provision. Under Section 10(e) of the Act, Commission forbearance

determinations expressly preempt any contrary state regulatory efforts. It would be

incongruous if state and local regulation were preempted when the Commission decides

to forbear from a provision that would otherwise apply, or if the Commission adopts a

regulation and then forbears from it, but not preempted when the Commission determines

that a requirement does not apply in the first place. Nothing in the Act suggests that

Congress intended for state or local governments to be able to countermand a federal

policy of nonregulation or to possess any greater authority over broadband Internet access

service than that exercised by the federal government. Some commenters note that

Section 253(c), 47 U.S.C. 253(c), preserves certain state authority over

telecommunications services. But that provision has no relevance here, given our finding

that broadband Internet access service is an information service. Although Section

253(c) recognizes that states have historically played a role in regulating

telecommunications services, there is no such tradition of state regulation of information

services, which have long been governed by a federal policy of nonregulation.

8. Disability Access Provisions

186. The Communications Act provides the Commission with authority to

ensure that consumers with disabilities can access broadband networks regardless of

whether broadband Internet access service is classified as telecommunications service or

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information service. The Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility

Act of 2010 (CVAA) already applies a variety of accessibility requirements to broadband

Internet access service. Congress adopted the CVAA after recognizing that “Internet-

based and digital technologies . . . driven by growth in broadband . . . are now pervasive,

offering innovative and exciting ways to communicate and share information.” Congress

thus clearly had Internet-based communications technologies in mind when enacting the

accessibility provisions of Section 716 (as well as the related provisions of Sections 717-

718) and in providing important protections with respect to advanced communications

services (ACS). ACS means: “(A) interconnected VoIP service; (B) non-interconnected

VoIP service; (C) electronic messaging service; and (D) interoperable video conferencing

service.” In particular, to ensure that people with disabilities have access to the

communications technologies of the Twenty-First Century, the CVAA added several

provisions to the Communications Act, including Section 716 of the Act, which requires

that providers of advanced communications services (ACS) and manufacturers of

equipment used for ACS make their services and products accessible to people with

disabilities, unless it is not achievable to do so. These mandates already apply according

to their terms in the context of broadband Internet access service. The CVAA also

adopted a requirement, in Section 718, that ensures access to Internet browsers in

wireless phones for people who are blind and visually impaired. In addition, the CVAA

directed the Commission to enact regulations to prescribe, among other things, that

networks used to provide ACS “may not impair or impede the accessibility of

information content when accessibility has been incorporated into that content for

transmission through . . . networks used to provide [ACS].” Finally, new Section 717

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creates new enforcement and recordkeeping requirements applicable to Sections 255,

716, and 718. Section 710 of the Act addressing hearing aid compatibility and

implementing rules enacted thereunder also apply regardless of any action taken in this

Order. To the extent that other accessibility issues arise, we will address those issues in

separate proceedings in furtherance of our statutory authority to ensure that broadband

networks are accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities.

9. Continued Applicability of Title III Licensing Provisions

187. We also note that our decision today to classify wireless broadband

Internet access service as an information service does not affect the general applicability

of the spectrum allocation and licensing provisions of Title III and the Commission’s

rules to this service. Title III generally provides the Commission with authority to

regulate “radio communications” and “transmission of energy by radio.” Among other

provisions, Title III gives the Commission the authority to adopt rules preventing

interference and allows it to classify radio stations. It also establishes the basic licensing

scheme for radio stations, allowing the Commission to grant, revoke, or modify licenses.

Title III further allows the Commission to make such rules and regulations and prescribe

such restrictions and conditions as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of the

Act. Provisions governing access to and use of spectrum (and their corresponding

Commission rules) do not depend on whether the service using the spectrum is classified

as a telecommunications or information service under the Act.

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II. A LIGHT-TOUCH FRAMEWORK TO RESTORE INTERNET

FREEDOM

188. For decades, the lodestar of the Commission’s approach to preserving

Internet freedom was a light-touch, market-based approach. This approach debuted at the

dawn of the commercial Internet during the Clinton Administration, when an

overwhelming bipartisan consensus made it national policy to preserve a digital free

market “unfettered by Federal or State regulation.” It continued during the Bush

Administration, as reflected in the “Four Freedoms” articulated by Chairman Powell in

2004 and was then formally adopted by a unanimous Commission in 2005 as well as in a

series of classification decisions reviewed above. These include the freedoms for

consumers to (1) “access the lawful Internet content of their choice”; (2) “run

applications and use services of their choice, subject to the needs of law enforcement”;

(3) “connect their choice of legal devices that do not harm the network”; and (4) “enjoy

competition among network providers, application and service providers, and content

providers.” And it continued for the first six years of the Obama Administration. We

reaffirm and honor this longstanding, bipartisan commitment by adopting a light-touch

framework that will preserve Internet freedom for all Americans.

189. To implement that light-touch framework, we next reevaluate the rules

and enforcement regime adopted in the Title II Order. That reevaluation is informed—as

it must be—by the return of jurisdiction to the Federal Trade Commission to police ISPs

for anticompetitive acts or unfair and deceptive practices. Against that backdrop, we first

decide to retain the transparency rule adopted in the Open Internet Order with slight

modifications. History has shown that transparency is critical to openness—consumers

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and entrepreneurs are not afraid to make their voices heard when ISPs engage in practices

to which they object. And we conclude that preexisting federal protections—alongside

the transparency rule we adopt today—are not only sufficient to protect Internet freedom,

but will do so more effectively and at lower social cost than the Title II Order’s conduct

rules. In short, we believe the light-touch framework we adopt today will pave the way

for additional innovation and investment that will facilitate greater consumer access to

more content, services, and devices, and greater competition.

A. Transparency

190. “Sunlight,” Justice Brandeis famously noted, “is . . . the best of

disinfectants.” This is the case in our domain. Properly tailored transparency disclosures

provide valuable information to the Commission to enable it to meet its statutory

obligation to observe the communications marketplace to monitor the introduction of new

services and technologies, and to identify and eliminate potential marketplace barriers for

the provision of information services. Such disclosures also provide valuable information

to other Internet ecosystem participants; transparency substantially reduces the possibility

that ISPs will engage in harmful practices, and it incentivizes quick corrective measures

by providers if problematic conduct is identified. Appropriate disclosures help

consumers make informed choices about their purchase and use of broadband Internet

access services. Moreover, clear disclosures improve consumer confidence in ISPs’

practices while providing entrepreneurs and other small businesses the information they

may need to innovate and improve products.

191. Today, we commit to balanced ISP transparency requirements based on a

sound legal footing. We return, with minor adjustments, to the transparency rule adopted

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in the 2010 Open Internet Order, which provides consumers and the Commission with

essential information while minimizing the burdens imposed on ISPs. In so doing, we

modify the existing transparency rule to eliminate many of the burdensome additional

reporting obligations adopted by the Commission in the Title II Order. We find that

those additional obligations do not benefit consumers, entrepreneurs, or the Commission

sufficiently to outweigh the burdens imposed on ISPs. The transparency rule we adopt

will aid the Commission in “identifying . . . market entry barriers for entrepreneurs and

other small businesses in the provision and ownership of . . . information services.” We

also conclude that our transparency rule readily survives First Amendment scrutiny. The

disclosure requirements we adopt apply to both fixed and mobile ISPs.

1. History of the Transparency Rule

192. The Open Internet Order. The transparency rule, first adopted in the Open

Internet Order, requires both fixed and mobile ISPs to “publicly disclose accurate

information regarding the network management practices, performance, and commercial

terms of its broadband Internet access services sufficient for consumers to make informed

choices.” In addition, the Open Internet Order provided guidance on both what

information should be disclosed and how those disclosures should be made. The

Commission described the types of information that should be included in each category,

but emphasized the importance of flexibility in implementing the rule, making clear that

“effective disclosures will likely include some or all” of the listed types of information.

Though the other rules adopted in the Open Internet Order were overturned, the D.C.

Circuit upheld the transparency rule in Verizon.

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 193. 2011 Advisory Guidance. On June 30, 2011, the Enforcement Bureau and

Office of General Counsel released guidance “regarding specific methods of disclosure

that will be considered to comply with the transparency rule,” addressing concerns about

the scope of required disclosures and potential burdens on small providers. The 2011

Advisory Guidance provided detail on methods for disclosure of actual performance

metrics, and the contents of the disclosures regarding network practices, performance

characteristics, and commercial terms, and clarified the requirement that disclosures be

made “at the point of sale.” The 2011 Advisory Guidance clarified that disclosure of the

information listed in paragraphs 56 and 98 of the Open Internet Order was sufficient to

satisfy the transparency rule notwithstanding the Open Internet Order’s assertion that the

list was “not necessarily exhaustive, nor is it a safe harbor.” Paragraph 56 of the Open

Internet Order provided the following non-exhaustive list of disclosures: network

practices, including congestion management, application-specific behavior, device

attachment rules, and security; performance characteristics, including a service

description and the impact of specialized services; and commercial terms, including

pricing, privacy policies, and redress options. Paragraph 98 made clear that mobile ISPs

must comply with the transparency requirements and states that such providers must

“disclose their third-party device and application certification procedures, if any”;

“clearly explain their criteria for any restrictions on use of their network”; and

“expeditiously inform device and application providers of any decisions to deny access to

the network or of a failure to approve their particular devices or applications.”

194. 2014 Advisory Guidance. In July 2014, in the wake of the Verizon

decision, the Enforcement Bureau issued further guidance emphasizing the importance of

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consistency between an ISP’s disclosures under the transparency rule and that provider’s

advertising claims or other public statements. The 2014 Advisory Guidance explained

that the transparency rule “prevents a broadband Internet access provider from making

assertions about its service that contain errors, are inconsistent with the provider’s

disclosure statement, or are misleading or deceptive.”

195. Title II Order. In the Title II Order, the Commission broadened the

transparency rule’s requirements by interpreting the rule to mandate certain additional

reporting obligations it termed “enhancements.” These additional reporting obligations,

although falling within the same broad categories as those listed in the Open Internet

Order, required that providers include far greater technical detail in their disclosures. For

example, all ISPs, except small providers exempt under the Small Provider Waiver

Order, were required to make specific disclosures regarding the commercial terms

(including specific information regarding prices and fees), performance characteristics

(including, for example, packet loss and a requirement that these disclosures be

reasonably related to the performance a consumer could expect in the geographic area in

which they are purchasing service), and network practices (including, for example,

application and user-based practices) of the broadband Internet access services they offer.

The Open Internet Order, read together with the 2011 Advisory Guidance, limited the

performance characteristic disclosures to a service description (“[a] general description of

the service, including the service technology, expected and actual access speed and

latency, and the suitability of the service for real-time applications”) and the impact of

specialized services. The Open Internet Order included specific disclosures related to

congestion management, application-specific behavior, device attachment rules, and

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security. The Title II Order also established a safe harbor for the form and format of

disclosures intended for consumers and delegated development of the format to the

agency’s Consumer Advisory Committee (CAC). The 2016 Advisory Guidance, released

on delegated authority, provided examples of acceptable methodologies for disclosure of

performance characteristics and offered guidance regarding compliance with the point of

sale requirement. For example, the guidance notes that for many fixed providers,

performance is likely to be consistent across the provider’s footprint so long as the same

technology is deployed and that in such a case a single disclosure for the full service area

may be sufficient. By contrast, mobile performance may vary, and the guidance

suggested the use of CMA as an appropriate geographic area on which to base

disclosures.

2. Refining the Transparency Rule

196. Today, we retain the transparency rule as established in the Open Internet

Order, with some modifications, and eliminate the additional reporting obligations of the

Title II Order. We find many of those additional reporting obligations significantly

increased the burdens imposed on ISPs without providing countervailing benefits to

consumers or the Commission. As a result, we recalibrate the requirements under the

transparency rule. Specifically, we adopt the following rule:

Any person providing broadband Internet access service shall publicly disclose

accurate information regarding the network management practices, performance, and

commercial terms of its broadband Internet access services sufficient to enable

consumers to make informed choices regarding the purchase and use of such services

and entrepreneurs and other small businesses to develop, market, and maintain Internet

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offerings. Such disclosure shall be made via a publicly available, easily accessible

website or through transmittal to the Commission.

For purposes of these rules, “consumer” includes any subscriber to the ISP’s broadband

Internet access service, and “person” includes any “individual, group of individuals,

corporation, partnership, association, unit of government or legal entity, however

organized.”

197. In doing so, we note that the record overwhelmingly supports retaining at

least some transparency requirements. Crucially, the transparency rule will ensure that

consumers have the information necessary to make informed choices about the purchase

and use of broadband Internet access service, which promotes a competitive marketplace

for those services. Disclosure supports innovation, investment, and competition by

ensuring that entrepreneurs and other small businesses have the technical information

necessary to create and maintain online content, applications, services, and devices, and

to assess the risks and benefits of embarking on new projects. We reject commenter

assertions that we should not maintain any transparency requirements. CenturyLink does

not identify which requirements from the 2010 transparency rule it believes could

arguably be “onerous.” Further, as discussed above, we find that a transparency

requirement is necessary and sufficient to protect Internet openness, given that we lack

authority to adopt conduct rules and in addition find that an enforceable transparency rule

obviates the need for bright line conduct rules.

198. What is more, disclosure increases the likelihood that ISPs will abide by

open Internet principles by reducing the incentives and ability to violate those principles,

that the Internet community will identify problematic conduct, and that those affected by

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such conduct will be in a position to make informed competitive choices or seek available

remedies for anticompetitive, unfair, or deceptive practices. Transparency thereby

“increases the likelihood that harmful practices will not occur in the first place and that, if

they do, they will be quickly remedied.” We apply our transparency rule to broadband

Internet access service, as well as functional equivalents or any service that is used to

evade the transparency requirements we adopt today. As the Commission explained in

the Open Internet Order, “a key factor in determining whether a service is used to evade

the scope of the rules is whether the service is used as a substitute for broadband Internet

access service. For example, an Internet access service that provides access to a

substantial subset of Internet endpoints based on end users’ preference to avoid certain

content, applications, or services; Internet access services that allow some uses of the

Internet (such as access to the World Wide Web) but not others (such as email); or a

‘Best of the Web’ Internet access service that provides access to 100 top websites could

not be used to evade the open Internet rules applicable to ‘broadband Internet access

service.’” We caution ISPs that they may not evade application of the transparency rule

“simply by blocking end users’ access to some Internet points.”

a. Content of Required Disclosures

199. We require ISPs to prominently disclose network management practices,

performance, and commercial terms of their broadband Internet access service, and find

substantial record support (including from ISPs) for following the course set out by the

Open Internet Order. We find that the elements of the transparency rule we adopt today

help consumers make the most educated decision as to which ISP to choose and keep

entrepreneurs and other small businesses effectively informed of ISP practices so that

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they can develop, market, and maintain Internet offerings. Although we agree with the

Open Internet Order that “the best approach is to allow flexibility in implementation of

the transparency rule,” we describe the specific requirements to guide ISPs and ensure

that consumers, entrepreneurs, and other small businesses receive sufficient informatio n

to make our rule effective.

200. Network Management Practices. In the Open Internet Order, the

Commission required ISPs to disclose their congestion management, application-specific

behavior, device attachment rules, and security practices. We adopt those same

requirements and further require ISPs to disclose any blocking, throttling, affiliated

prioritization, or paid prioritization in which they engage. Although requiring disclosure

of network management practices imposes some burden on ISPs, we find the benefits of

enabling the public and the Commission to identify any problematic conduct and suggest

fixes substantially outweigh those costs. The record generally supports disclosure of ISP

network practices.

201. We specifically require all ISPs to disclose:

 Blocking. Any practice (other than reasonable network management

elsewhere disclosed) that blocks or otherwise prevents end user access to

lawful content, applications, service, or non-harmful devices, including a

description of what is blocked.

 Throttling. Any practice (other than reasonable network management

elsewhere disclosed) that degrades or impairs access to lawful Internet

traffic on the basis of content, application, service, user, or use of a non-

harmful device, including a description of what is throttled.

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 Affiliated Prioritization. Any practice that directly or indirectly favors

some traffic over other traffic, including through use of techniques such as

traffic shaping, prioritization, or resource reservation, to benefit an

affiliate, including identification of the affiliate.

 Paid Prioritization. Any practice that directly or indirectly favors some

traffic over other traffic, including through use of techniques such as

traffic shaping, prioritization, or resource reservation, in exchange for

consideration, monetary or otherwise.

 Congestion Management. Descriptions of congestion management

practices, if any. These descriptions should include the types of traffic

subject to the practices; the purposes served by the practices; the practices’

effects on end users’ experience; criteria used in practices, such as

indicators of congestion that trigger a practice, including any usage limits

triggering the practice, and the typical frequency of congestion; usage

limits and the consequences of exceeding them; and references to

engineering standards, where appropriate.

 Application-Specific Behavior. Whether and why the ISP blocks or rate-

controls specific protocols or protocol ports, modifies protocol fields in

ways not prescribed by the protocol standard, or otherwise inhibits or

favors certain applications or classes of applications.

 Device Attachment Rules. Any restrictions on the types of devices and

any approval procedures for devices to connect to the network.

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  Security. Any practices used to ensure end-user security or security of the

network, including types of triggering conditions that cause a mechanism

to be invoked (but excluding information that could reasonably be used to

circumvent network security). We expect ISPs to exercise their judgment

in deciding whether it is necessary and appropriate to disclose particular

security measures. The Commission’s primary concern is those security

measures likely to affect a consumer’s ability to access the content,

applications, services, and devices of his or her choice. As a result, we do

not expect ISPs to disclose internal network security measures that do not

directly bear on a consumer’s choices.

We do not mandate disclosure of any other network management practices. Notably, we

define “reasonable network management” to mean a practice “appropriate and tailored to

achieving a legitimate network management purpose, taking into account the particular

network architecture and technology of the broadband Internet access service.” The

record reflects an overwhelming preference for this approach from the Open Internet

Order, which provides ISPs greater flexibility and certainty.

202. Performance Characteristics. In the Open Internet Order, the

Commission required ISPs to disclose a service description as well as the impact of

specialized services (non-broadband Internet access service data services) on

performance. We find that the Open Internet Order’s performance metric disclosures

benefit consumers without placing an undue burden on ISPs.

203. We specifically require all ISPs to disclose:

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 Service Description. A general description of the service, including the

service technology, expected and actual access speed and latency, and the

suitability of the service for real-time applications. For purposes of

satisfying this requirement, fixed ISPs that choose to participate in the

Measuring Broadband America (MBA) program may disclose their results

as a sufficient representation of the actual performance their customers can

expect to experience. Fixed ISPs that do not participate may use the

methodology from the MBA program to measure actual performance, or

may disclose actual performance based on internal testing, consumer

speed test data, or other data regarding network performance, including

reliable, relevant data from third-party sources. Mobile ISPs that have

access to reliable information on network performance may disclose the

results of their own or third-party testing. Those mobile ISPs that do not

have reasonable access to such network performance data may disclose a

Typical Speed Range (TSR) representing the range of speeds and latency

that can be expected by most of their customers, for each

technology/service tier offered, along with a statement that such

information is the best approximation available to the broadband provider

of the actual speeds and latency experienced by its subscribers.

 Impact of Non-Broadband Internet Access Service Data Services. If

applicable, what non-broadband Internet access service data services, if

any, are offered to end users, and whether and how any non-broadband

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 Internet access service data services may affect the last-mile capacity

available for, and the performance of, broadband Internet access service.

204. Commercial Terms. In the Open Internet Order, the Commission required

ISPs to disclose commercial terms of service, including price, privacy policies, and

redress options. The record in this proceeding supports retaining these disclosures.

These disclosures inform the Commission, consumers, entrepreneurs, and other small

businesses about the parameters of the service, without imposing costly burdens on ISPs.

We therefore require ISPs to make the following disclosures:

 Price. For example, monthly prices, usage-based fees, and fees for early

termination or additional network services.

 Privacy Policies. A complete and accurate disclosure about the ISP’s

privacy practices, if any. For example, whether any network management

practices entail inspection of network traffic, and whether traffic is stored,

provided to third parties, or used by the ISP for non-network management

purposes.

 Redress Options. Practices for resolving complaints and questions from

consumers, entrepreneurs, and other small businesses.

205. Eliminating the Title II Order’s Additional Reporting Obligations. Today,

we return to a more balanced approach—one that provides sufficient information for the

Commission to meet its statutory requirements, enables consumers to make informed

choices about the purchase and use of broadband Internet access service, and ensures

entrepreneurs and other small businesses can develop, market, and maintain Internet

offerings, while minimizing costly and unnecessary burdens on ISPs.

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 206. We eliminate the additional reporting obligations adopted in the Title II

Order and the related guidance in the 2016 Advisory Guidance and return to the

requirements established in the Open Internet Order. We find that these additional

reporting obligations unduly burden ISPs without providing a comparable benefit to

consumers. That is especially true for the performance metric, which mandated

disclosure of packet loss, geographically-specific disclosures, and disclosure of

performance at peak usage times among other things.

207. The record supports the elimination of these additional reporting

obligations and our return to the requirements under the Open Internet Order. The record

indicates that the additional performance disclosures are among the most burdensome.

CenturyLink estimated that during the two-year period from February 2015 through

February 2017, 1,650 hours of employee time were required to comply with the

additional reporting obligations, compared to 860 additional hours spent complying with

the other new requirements of the Title II Order. Disclosure of packet loss, for example,

requires providers to conduct additional engineering analysis. Notably, the Office of

Management and Budget (OMB) in the prior Administration declined to approve packet

loss when reviewing these additional reporting obligations for mobile ISPs, suggesting

concern that the additional reporting obligations provided little consumer benefit relative

to their cost. After all, consumers have little understanding of what packet loss means;

what they do want to know is whether their Internet access service will support real-time

applications, which is the consumer-facing impact of these performance metrics.

Although some commenters argue that additional reporting of these esoteric metrics are

valuable to some consumers and entrepreneurs, they provide inadequate support for these

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benefits. In addition, providing such information imposes significant costs on providers.

Weighing the additional costs to ISPs against the limited incremental benefits to

consumers, entrepreneurs, and small businesses, we conclude that the net benefits of

these additional reporting obligations are likely negative. The approach we take today

achieves the benefits of transparency at much lower cost than the Title II Order.

208. Small Providers. Small providers have asked us to maintain the

exemption found in the Small Provider Order to the extent that any of additional

reporting obligations still apply. Because the requirements we adopt today eliminate all

of these additional obligations and do not impose disparately high burdens on small

providers, we find an exemption for small providers unnecessary. Further, the

requirements are critical to ensuring that consumers have sufficient information to make

informed choices in their selection of ISPs and to deter ISPs from secretly erecting

barriers to market entry by entrepreneurs and other small businesses. As a result, we

decline to provide an exemption for smaller providers at this time.

b. Means and Format of Disclosure

209. Means of Disclosure. The Commission relies on ISP disclosures to

identify market-entry barriers for entrepreneurs and small businesses and ensure

consumers have the information they need in selecting an ISP. And given the sheer

number of ISPs offering service throughout the country—4,559 at last count—we believe

the most effective way to monitor for any such barriers is to require the public disclosure

of an ISP’s practices so that Commission staff can review them while letting consumers,

entrepreneurs, and other small businesses report to the Commission any market-barriers

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they discover. Accordingly, ISPs must publicly disclose the information required by our

transparency rule.

210. We give ISPs two options for disclosure. First, they may include the

disclosures on a publicly available, easily accessible website. Consistent with

Commission precedent, we expect that ISPs will make disclosures in a manner accessible

by people with disabilities. ISPs doing so need not distribute hard copy versions of the

required disclosures and need not file them with the Commission, which can review the

disclosures as needed on the ISPs’ websites. For ISPs electing this option, we reaffirm

the means of disclosure requirement from the Open Internet Order and the clarification

found in the 2011 Advisory Guidance. Alternatively, ISPs may transmit their disclosures

to the Commission, and we will make them available on a publicly available, easily

accessible website. We direct the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, in

coordination with the Wireline Competition Bureau, to issue a Public Notice explaining

how ISPs can exercise this option. We also note that ISPs that do not transmit their

disclosures to the FCC will be deemed as having elected the first option (and may later

elect that option despite prior transmittal by informing the Commission in a manner

specified in the aforementioned Public Notice). By offering these two options, we allow

ISPs (and especially smaller ISPs) the ability to choose the least burdensome method of

disclosure that will nonetheless ensure that Commission staff, consumers, entrepreneurs,

and other small businesses have access to the information they need in carrying out our

obligation to identify market-entry barriers.

211. We also eliminate the direct notification requirement adopted in the Title

II Order. We find the direct notification requirement unduly burdensome to ISPs and

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unnecessary in light of the other forms of public disclosure required. In contrast, we find

that the disclosures adopted in the Open Internet Order and 2011 Advisory Guidance

appropriately balance making information easy to reach and the costs of disclosure for

ISPs.

212. Format of Disclosure. We eliminate the consumer broadband label safe

harbor for form and format of disclosures adopted in the Title II Order. Adopting the

label could require some ISPs to expend substantial resources to tailor their disclosures to

fit the format. And limited adoption, caused by the potentially high burdens associated

with adapting disclosures to a particular format, significantly reduces the value of the

uniform format. Moreover, mandating such a format would increase the burden for those

ISPs required to revise their existing disclosure to conform to the mandated format. We

find that requiring all ISPs to disclose the same information, regardless of format, will

allow for comparability between offerings, and enable the Commission to meet its

statutory reporting requirements.

3. Authority for the Transparency Rule

213. Just as the Commission did in the Open Internet Order, we rely on Section

257 of the Communications Act as authority for the transparency requirements we retain.

Section 257(a) directs the Commission to “identify[] and eliminat[e] . . . market entry

barriers for entrepreneurs and other small businesses in the provision and ownership of

telecommunications services and information services, or in the provision of parts or

services to providers of telecommunications services and information services.” Section

257(a) set a deadline of 15 months from the enactment of the 1996 Act for the

Commission’s initial effort in that regard, and Section 257(c) directs the Commission,

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triennially thereafter, to report to Congress on such marketplace barriers and how they

have been addressed by regulation or could be addressed by recommended statutory

changes. Consistent with the Commission’s longstanding view, Section 257(c) is

properly understood as imposing a continuing obligation on the agency to identify

barriers described in Section 257(a) that may emerge in the future, rather than limited to

those identified in the original Section 257(a) proceeding. Because Sections 257(a) and

(c) clearly anticipate that the Commission and Congress would take steps to help

eliminate previously- identified marketplace barriers, limiting the triennial reports only to

those barriers identified in the original Section 257(a) proceeding could make such

reports of little to no ongoing value over time. We thus find it far more reasonable to

interpret Section 257(c) as contemplating that the Commission will perform an ongoing

market review to identify any new barriers to entry, and that the statutory duty to

“identify and eliminate” implicitly empowers the Commission to require disclosures from

those third parties who possess the information necessary for the Commission and

Congress to find and remedy market entry barriers. Although Section 257 does not

specify precisely how the Commission should obtain and analyze information for

purposes of its reports to Congress, we construe the statutory mandate to “identify” the

presence of market barriers as including within it direct authority to collect evidence to

prove that such barriers exist. While this direct authority suffices to support the

Commission’s adoption of the transparency rule, Sections 4, 201(b), and 303(r) of the Act

also give us rulemaking authority to implement the Act, including the provisions we rely

on as authority for our transparency requirements. In his partial concurrence and partial

dissent in Verizon, Judge Silberman stated with respect to the transparency rule that

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“[t]he Commission is required to make triennial reports to Congress on ‘market entry

barriers’ in information service, and requiring disclosure of network management

practices appears to be reasonably ancillary to that duty.”

214. Our disclosure requirements will help us both identify and address

potential market entry barriers in the provision and ownership of information services and

the provision of parts and services to information service providers. In particular, some

Internet applications and services previously have been found to be information services,

and, more generally, entrepreneurs and small businesses participating in the Internet

marketplace could be seeking to act as either providers of information services or

providers of parts and services to information services (or both). The language of Section

257(a) appears reasonably read to encompass those entrepreneurs’ and small businesses’

services under one or more of the covered categories, and there is no dispute in the record

in that regard. Because we find that Internet entrepreneurs and small businesses that

depend on their customers using broadband Internet access service are covered by

Section 257(a) in any case, we need not and do not address with greater specificity the

specific category or categories into which particular edge services fall. In addition, the

manner in which an ISP provides broadband Internet access service, including but not

limited to its network management practices, can affect how well particular Internet

applications or services of entrepreneurs and small businesses perform when used by that

ISP’s subscribers. Aspects of the performance of broadband Internet access services,

particularly if undisclosed, thus could constitute barriers within the scope of Section

257(a) in the future, depending on how the marketplace evolves, regardless of whether or

not particular practices do so today. For example, if ISPs do not disclose key details of

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how they provide broadband Internet access service, that could leave entrepreneurs and

small businesses participating in the Internet marketplace unable to determine how well

particular existing or contemplated offerings are likely to perform for users, and thus

unable to determine if their service will be usable to a sufficient number of potential

customers to make the offering viable. Such undisclosed practices also can leave

consumers unable to judge which broadband Internet access service offerings will best

meet their needs given the applications and service they wish to use. As a result, even if

a sufficient number of consumers theoretically are accessible by a broadband Internet

access service offering with sufficient technical characteristics to make a given Internet

application or service viable, an entrepreneur’s or small business’s entry into the market

for that service could be undermined if consumers are unable to identify which of the

various broadband Internet access services offerings has the required technical

characteristics. By contrast, the record reveals that the disclosure of practices and service

characteristics we require today helps entrepreneurs and small businesses understand how

well particular Internet application or service offerings are likely to work with particular

ISPs’ broadband Internet access services and helps consumers make the most educated

choice among ISPs and particular broadband Internet access service offerings, especially

if they have particular interests in using Internet applications or services that are highly

dependent on broadband Internet access service performance. The disclosures

themselves thus are likely to reduce any potential risk of particular practices being such a

barrier—had they not been publicly disclosed—and also enable us to recommend to

Congress any legislative changes that we might find warranted based on our analysis of

these practices. While we observe that the transparency rule will help eliminate potential

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barriers, our reliance on Section 257 as authority for the transparency rule centers on the

need for that rule to identify barriers and report to Congress in that regard. Contrary to

some arguments, we thus do not interpret Section 257 as an over-arching grant of

authority to eliminate any and all barriers we might identify. We also are not persuaded

by summary claims that Section 257 does not grant us authority here insofar as those

claims lack meaningful analysis of the text of that provision. Thus, we continue to

believe that Section 257 provides us authority for the rule we adopt.

215. We believe that eliminating market entry barriers in the provision and

ownership of information services and the provision of parts and services to information

service providers will help bring the benefits of new inventions and developments to the

public. In addition, we conclude that the oversight over ISPs’ practices that the

Commission, FTC, and other antitrust and consumer protection authorities can exercise

as a result of the transparency rule likewise will promote innovation and competition,

spreading the benefits of technological development to the American people broadly.

216. The Transparency Requirements Are Consistent With the First

Amendment. We conclude that the transparency requirements represent permissible

regulation of commercial speech. The ultimate effect of the required disclosures is to

ensure that key details regarding service characteristics, rates, and terms of broadband

Internet access service offerings are available to potential customers before they make

their purchasing decisions. As stated above, ISPs have two options for complying with

the transparency requirements. One is to make the disclosures on a publicly available,

easily accessible website. Alternatively, ISPs can elect to simply provide that

information to the Commission, which will then itself make the information publicly

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available. The Title II Order evaluated the transparency rule at issue there under

Zauderer v. Office of Disciplinary Counsel of Supreme Court of Ohio, and there is some

record support for applying that framework. We recognize that there remains some

debate regarding the application of Zauderer, as opposed to the Central Hudson

framework that generally governs First Amendment review of commercial speech

regulation. We need not resolve that here, because we find that our rule would withstand

scrutiny even under Central Hudson. In particular, our transparency rule directly

advances substantial government interests and is no more extensive than necessary.

217. The transparency requirements we retain directly advance substantial

government interests in encouraging competition and innovation. The Act itself reveals

the significance of these interests. In Section 257 of the Act, Congress specifically

directed the Commission to identify market entry barriers in the provision of information

services and their inputs, eliminating them where possible, and reporting to Congress on

the need for any statutory changes required to address such barriers. In carrying out our

responsibilities under Section 257, Congress directed us to advance, among other things,

“vigorous economic competition” and “technological advancement.” Such interests are

similar to those recognized as substantial by courts, as well.

218. The disclosure of information regarding broadband Internet access service

characteristics, rates, and terms directly advance those statutory directives. We thus

disagree with arguments that there is insufficient justification for our transparency

requirements to withstand First Amendment scrutiny. Moreover, commenters do not cite

precedent demonstrating that only “systematic or enduring problem[s]” can provide the

basis for requirements that withstand First Amendment scrutiny. Broadband Internet

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access service subscribers will be able to use the disclosed information to evaluate

broadband Internet access service offerings and determine which offering will best enable

the use of the applications and service they desire. This helps guard against the potential

barrier to entry and deterrent to technological advancement that otherwise could be faced

by entrepreneurs’ and small business’ innovative Internet applications and service

offerings, which may be dependent on the technical characteristics of broadband Internet

access service. The information disclosed by ISPs also is relevant to Internet application

and service providers’ purchase of services from those ISPs. The record reveals evidence

that a number of the Internet applications and services that might be particularly sensitive

to the manner in which an ISP provides broadband Internet access service potentially

could benefit from the freedom this order provides for providers of such services and

ISPs to enter prioritization arrangements to better ensure the performance of those

Internet applications and services. Thus, the disclosures enable entrepreneurs, small

businesses, and other participants in the Internet marketplace to evaluate how well their

offerings will perform by default relative to the prioritization services that ISPs offer

them. Enabling Internet application and service providers to evaluate their options in this

way helps reduce barriers to entry that otherwise could exist and encourages

entrepreneurs’ and small businesses’ ability to compete and develop and advance

innovating offerings in furtherance of our statutory objectives. In addition to those

considerations, as the Commission has recognized, disclosures help ensure accountability

by ISPs and the potential for quick remedies if problematic practices occur. The

disclosures also provide the Commission the information it needs for the evaluation

required by Section 257 of the Act, enabling us to spur regulatory action or seek

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legislative changes as needed. The transparency rule we retain thus directly advances the

substantial government interests identified in Section 257 of the Act.

219. The transparency requirements also are no more extensive than necessary.

The disclosures covered by our transparency rule are tied to our duties under Section 257

of the Communications Act. We also observe in this regard that the most significant

concerns were raised with respect to the additional reporting obligations adopted in the

Title II Order and here we eliminate those requirements in favor of a rule consistent in

scope with the 2010 transparency rule. In addition, an ISP’s direct public disclosure of

the information encompassed by the transparency rule is just one option; it may instead

submit the information to the Commission, which would then make public. We thus

conclude that the transparency requirements are appropriately tailored to the

Congressionally-recognized goals that we seek to advance.

B. Bright-Line and General Conduct Rules

220. We eliminate the conduct rules adopted in the Title II Order—including

the general conduct rule and the prohibitions on paid prioritization, blocking, and

throttling. We do so for three reasons. First, the transparency rule we adopt, in

combination with the state of broadband Internet access service competition and the

antitrust and consumer protection laws, obviates the need for conduct rules by achieving

comparable benefits at lower cost. Second, scrutinizing closely each prior conduct rule,

we find that the costs of each rule outweigh its benefits. Third, the record does not

identify any legal authority to adopt conduct rules for all ISPs, and we decline to distort

the market with a patchwork of non-uniform, limited-purpose rules.

1. Transparency Leads to Openness

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 221. Transparency, competition, antitrust laws, and consumer protection laws

achieve similar benefits as conduct rules at lower cost. The effect of the transparency

rule we adopt is that ISP practices that involve blocking, throttling, and other behavior

that may give rise to openness concerns will be disclosed to the Commission and the

public. As the Commission found in the Open Internet Order, “disclosure increases the

likelihood that broadband providers will abide by open Internet principles, and that the

Internet community will identify problematic conduct and suggest fixes . . . thereby

increas[ing] the chances that harmful practices will not occur in the first place and that, if

they do, they will be quickly remedied.” The transparency rule will also assist “third-

party experts such as independent engineers and consumer watchdogs to monitor and

evaluate network management practices.”

222. History demonstrates that public attention, not heavy-handed Commission

regulation, has been most effective in deterring ISP threats to openness and bringing

about resolution of the rare incidents that arise. The Commission has had transparency

requirements in place since 2010, and there have been very few incidents in the United

States since then that plausibly raise openness concerns. It is telling that the two most-

discussed incidents that purportedly demonstrate the need for conduct rules, concerning

Madison River and Comcast/BitTorrent, occurred before the Commission had in place an

enforceable transparency rule. And it was the disclosure, through complaints to the

Commission and media reports of the conduct at issue in those incidents, that led to

action against the challenged conduct.

223. As public access to information on ISP practices has increased, there has

been a shift toward ISPs resolving openness issues themselves with less and less need for

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Commission intervention. In 2005, the Enforcement Bureau entered into a consent

decree to resolve the allegations against Madison River. In 2008, Comcast reached a

settlement with BitTorrent months before the Commission issued Comcast-BitTorrent.

By 2012, with a transparency rule in place, AT&T reversed its blocking of access to

FaceTime over its cellular network on certain data plans of its own accord within

approximately three months. This trend toward swift ISP self-resolution comes,

admittedly, from only a few data points because, with transparency in place, almost no

incidents of harm to Internet openness have arisen, suggesting that ISPs are “resolving”

issues by not letting them occur in the first place.

224. We think the disinfectant of public scrutiny and market pressure, not the

threat of heavy-handed Commission regulation, best explain the paucity of issues and

their increasingly fast ISP-driven resolution. Since the Commission adopted a

transparency rule in the Open Internet Order, conduct requirements have varied

substantially, from the rules adopted in the Open Internet Order, to no conduct rules after

the Verizon court case, to the rules adopted in the Title II Order. Yet through all that

time, the Commission released only one Notice of Apparent Liability, against AT&T for

allegedly violating the transparency rule. The dearth of actions enforcing conduct rules is

striking. Further, the Title II Order and Open Internet Order do not, and could not, claim

an epidemic or even uptick of blocking or degradation of traffic in the wake of the

Comcast or Verizon court decisions vacating the Commission’s prior attempts at

openness regulation. These time periods provide a natural experiment disproving the

notion that conduct rules are necessary to promote openness. We thus reject arguments

to the contrary.

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 225. Although we think transparency promotes openness and empowers

consumers, we recognize that regulation has an important role to play as a backstop

where genuine harm is possible. In particular, transparency amplifies the power of

antitrust law and the FTC Act to deter and where needed remedy behavior that harms

consumers. While some commenters assert that proof is difficult in antitrust proceedings,

our transparency rule requires ISPs to outline their business practices and service

offerings forthrightly and honestly. This requirement both deters ISPs from engaging in

anticompetitive, unfair, or deceptive conduct and gives consumers and regulators the

tools they need to take action in the face of such behavior. Many ISPs have committed to

abide by open Internet principles. By restoring authority to the FTC to take action

against deceptive ISP conduct, reclassification empowers the expert consumer protection

agency to exercise the authority granted to them by Congress if ISPs fail to live up to

their word and thereby harm consumers.

226. Transparency thus leads to openness and achieves comparable benefits to

conduct rules. Moreover, the costs of compliance with a transparency rule are much

lower than the costs of compliance with conduct rules. We therefore decline to impose

this additional cost given our view that transparency drives a free and open Internet, and

in light of the FTC’s and DOJ’s authority to address any potential harms. To the extent

that conduct rules lead to any additional marginal deterrence, we deem the substantial

costs—including costs to consumers in terms of lost innovation as well as monetary costs

to ISPs—not worth the possible benefits.

2. Costs of Conduct Rules Outweigh Benefits

a. General Conduct Rule

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 227. We find that the vague Internet Conduct Standard is not in the public

interest. Following adoption of this Order, the FTC will be able to vigorously protect

consumers and competition through its consumer protection and antitrust authorities.

Given this, we see little incremental benefit and significant cost to retaining the Internet

Conduct Standard. The rule has created uncertainty and likely denied or delayed

consumer access to innovative new services, and we believe the net benefit of the Internet

Conduct Standard is negative. As such, we find commenters urging the Commission to

retain this standard, even with modifications, unpersuasive.

228. Based on our experience with the rule and the extensive record, we are

persuaded that the Internet Conduct Standard is vague and has created regulatory

uncertainty in the marketplace hindering investment and innovation. Because the Internet

Conduct Standard is vague, the standard and its implementing factors do not provide

carriers with adequate notice of what they are and are not permitted to do, i.e., the

standard does not afford parties a “good process for determining what conduct has

actually been forbidden.” The rule simply warns carriers to behave in accordance with

what the Commission might require, without articulating any actual standard. Even ISP

practices based on consumer choice are not presumptively permitted; they are merely

“less likely” to violate the rule. Moreover, the uncertainty caused by the Internet

Conduct Standard goes far beyond what supporters characterize as the flexibility that is

necessary in a regulatory structure to address future harmful behavior. We thus find that

the vague Internet Conduct Standard subjects providers to substantial regulatory

uncertainty and that the record before us demonstrates that the Commission’s predictive

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judgment in 2015 that this uncertainty was “likely to be short term and will dissipate over

time as the marketplace internalizes [the] Title II approach” has not been borne out.

229. Increasing our concerns about the Internet Conduct Standard, other

agencies already have significant experience protecting against the harms to competition

and to consumers that the Internet Conduct Standard purports to reach. The FTC, for

example, has authority over unfair and deceptive practices, both with respect to

competition and consumer protection. We find that the FTC’s authority over unfair and

deceptive practices and antitrust laws, with guidance from its ample body of precedent,

already provides the appropriate flexibility and predictability to protect consumers and

competition and addresses new practices that might develop with less harm to innovation.

We also observe that because FTC and antitrust authority apply across industries, further

precedent is likely to develop more quickly, while a sector-specific general conduct rule

is likely to develop more slowly. While antitrust laws use a consumer welfare standard

defined by economic analysis to evaluate harmful conduct, the Internet Conduct Standard

includes a non-exhaustive grab bag of considerations that are much broader and hazier

than the consumer welfare standard, and leaves the door open for the Commission to

consider other factors or unspecified conduct it would like to take into account.

230. We anticipate that eliminating the vague Internet Conduct Standard will

reduce regulatory uncertainty and promote network investment and service-related

innovation. As we discussed above, regulatory uncertainty serves as a major barrier to

investment and innovation. The record reflects that ISPs and edge providers of all sizes

have foregone and are likely to forgo or delay innovative service offerings or different

pricing plans that benefit consumers, citing regulatory uncertainty under the Internet

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Conduct Standard in particular. Indeed, these harms are not limited to ISPs—the rule

“creates paralyzing uncertainty for app developers and other edge providers,” as well as

equipment manufacturers. Even some proponents of Title II acknowledge these public

interest harms. Commenters also note that “money spent on backward-looking regulatory

compliance is money not spent on more productive uses, such as investments in

broadband plant and services.” We anticipate that eliminating the Internet Conduct

standard will benefit consumers, increase competition, and eliminate regulatory

uncertainty that has “a corresponding chilling effect on broadband investment and

innovation.”

231. The now-rescinded Zero-Rating Report issued by the Wireless

Telecommunications Bureau illustrates the uncertainty ISPs experience as a result of the

Internet Conduct Standard adopted in the Title II Order. As described in the Report,

“zero-rated” content, applications, and services are those that end users can access

without the data consumed being counted toward the usage allowances or data caps

imposed by an operator’s service plans. But following a thirteen- month investigation

during which providers were left uncertain about whether their zero-rating practices

complied with the Internet Conduct Standard, the Report still did not identify specific

evidence of harm from particular zero-rating programs that increased the amount of data

that consumers could use or provide certainty about whether particular zero-rating

programs were legally permissible. Instead, it offered a “set of overall considerations”

that it said would help ISPs assess whether a particular zero-rating plan violates the Title

II Order. The now-rescinded Zero-Rating Report demonstrated that under the Internet

Conduct Standard ISPs have faced two options: either wait for a regulatory enforcement

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action that could arrive at some unspecified future point or stop providing consumers

with innovative offerings.

232. We anticipate that eliminating the vague Internet Conduct Standard will

also lower compliance and other related costs. The uncertainty surrounding the rule

“establishes a standard for behavior that virtually requires advice of counsel before a

single decision is made” and raises “costs [especially for smaller ISPs that] struggle to

understand its application to their service prices, terms, conditions, and practices.”

Smaller ISPs contend that they cannot “afford to be the subject of enforcement actions by

the Commission or defend themselves before the Commission as a result of consumer

complaints, because the costs of having to defend their actions before the Commission in

Washington are enormous, relative to their resources.” ISPs “that are required to defend

themselves against arbitrary enforcement actions and/or frivolous complaints will not

have the time or financial resources to invest in their business. The costs of such

compliance will likely be passed onto consumers via higher prices and/or limited service

offerings and upgrades.” The record reflects widespread agreement from commenters

with otherwise-divergent views that the Internet Conduct Standard creates significant

harm without countervailing benefits.

233. We are further persuaded that the advisory opinion process introduced in

the Title II Order “offers no real relief from the unintended consequences of the Internet

Conduct Standard.” The record reflects that the Internet Conduct Standard and the

advisory opinions available under it “[are] completely divorced from the rapid pace of

innovation in the mobile marketplace” because ISP innovations would be indefinitely

delayed while the Commission conducts a searching analysis of any such offering that

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might violate the standard. The fact that no ISP has requested an advisory opinion in the

two years since the launch of the advisory opinion process reinforces our conclusion that

the process is too uncertain and costly. As such, we reject commenters’ assertions to the

contrary.

b. Paid Prioritization

234. We also decline to adopt a ban on paid prioritization. The transparency

rule we adopt, along with enforcement of the antitrust and consumer protection laws,

addresses many of the concerns regarding paid prioritization raised in this record. Thus,

the incremental benefit of a ban on paid prioritization is likely to be small or zero. On the

other hand, we expect that eliminating the ban on paid prioritization will help spur

innovation and experimentation, encourage network investment, and better allocate the

costs of infrastructure, likely benefiting consumers and competition. For these reasons

and because we find that eliminating the ban on paid prioritization arrangements could

lead to lower prices for consumers for broadband Internet access service, we find that our

action benefits low-income communities and non-profits, and we reject arguments to the

contrary. We reject the argument that the benefits of our elimination of the paid

prioritization ban must be “uniform across providers or geographic areas.” This is an

unnecessarily high and rigid threshold. The public—including low-income

communities—benefits, and that is enough. Thus, the costs (forgone benefits) of the ban

are likely significant and outweigh any incremental benefits of a ban on paid

prioritization.

235. Innovation. We anticipate that lifting the ban on paid prioritization will

increase network innovation, as the record demonstrates that the ban on paid

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prioritization agreements has had, and will continue to have, a chilling effect on network

innovation generally, and on the development of high quality-of-service (QoS)

arrangements—which require guarantees regarding packet loss, packet delay, secure

connectivity, and guaranteed bandwidth—in particular. As CTIA argues, the Title II

Order implicitly recognized this point, but its insistence that these arrangements be

treated as non-broadband Internet access data services reduced the flexibility of ISPs and

edge providers, created uncertainty about the line between non-broadband Internet access

data services and broadband Internet access services, and likely reduced innovation. The

record reflects that the ban on paid prioritization has hindered the deployment of these

services by denying network operators the ability to price these services, an important

tool for appropriately allocating resources in a market economy. We reject commenter

assertions that banning the use of price as a signal provides more accurate price signals.

Relatedly, we reject the argument that non-price signals, including user-directed

prioritization, are by themselves sufficient to allow innovation and development in this

area, because in a market system, price signals are generally necessary to efficiently

allocate resources. Further, as commenters note, there has been significant uncertainty

about the scope of the prohibition on paid prioritization arrangements. Some commenters

contend that this uncertainty surrounding network operators’ ability to provide

“differentiated services” has cast a shadow on the development of next generation

networks.

236. We also expect that ending the flat ban on paid prioritization will

encourage the entry of new edge providers into the market, particularly those offering

innovative forms of service differentiation and experimentation. As ITTA explains, “[i]t

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is routine for entities that do business over the Internet to pay for a variety of services to

provide an optimal user experience for their customers. Companies have been doing so

for years without disturbing the thriving Internet ecosystem.” We therefore reject

arguments that the ban is necessary to provide a level playing field for edge providers.

Indeed, in other areas of the economy, paid prioritization has helped the entry of new

providers and brands. It is therefore no surprise that paid prioritization has long been

used throughout the economy. Paid prioritization could allow small and new edge

providers to compete on a more even playing field against large edge providers, many of

which have CDNs and other methods of distributing their content quickly to consumers.

We thus reject arguments that allowing pro-competitive paid prioritization will reduce the

entry and expansion of small, new edge providers. In so finding, we do not mean to

suggest that CDN services themselves constitute paid prioritization.

237. Efficiency. We find that a ban on paid prioritization is also likely to

reduce economic efficiency, also likely harming consumer welfare. This finding is

supported by the economic literature on two-sided markets such as this one, and the

record. If an ISP faces competitive forces, a prohibition against two-sided pricing (i.e., a

zero-price rule), while benefiting edge providers, typically would harm both subscribers

and ISPs. Moreover, the level of harm to subscribers and ISPs generally would exceed

the gain obtained by the edge providers and, thus, would lead to a reduction in total

economic welfare. The reasons for this are straightforward. Some edge services and

their associated end users use more data or require lower latency; this may be the case,

for example, with high-bandwidth applications such as Netflix, which in the first half of

2016 generated more than a third of all North American Internet traffic. Without paid

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prioritization, ISPs must recover these costs solely from end users, but ISPs cannot

always set prices targeted at the relevant end users. The resulting prices create

inefficiencies. Consumers who do not cause these costs must pay for them, and end users

who do cause these costs to some degree free-ride, inefficiently distorting usage of both

groups. When paid prioritization signals to edge providers the costs their content or

applications cause, edge providers can undertake actions that would improve the

efficiency of the two-sided market. For example, they could invest in compression

technologies if those come at a lower cost than paid prioritization, enhancing efficiency,

or, if they have a pricing relationship with their end users, they could directly charge the

end user for priority, leading those end users to adjust their usage if the user’s value does

not exceed the service’s cost, again enhancing economic efficiency. We disagree with

commenters asserting that this is likely to significantly burden edge providers by

requiring them to negotiate with hundreds of ISPs because as discussed, paid

prioritization is likely to be focused only on applications that require special QoS

guarantees. And to the extent an ISP has market power, antitrust and consumer

protection laws could be used to address ISPs’ anti-competitive paid prioritization

practices. Given the extent of competition in Internet access supply, we find a ban on

paid prioritization is unlikely to improve economic efficiency, and if it were to do so it

would only be by accident (i.e., if the efficient second-best was to require ISPs to provide

access to edge providers at a zero price).

238. Network investment. The mere possibility that charging edge providers

may sometimes be economically inefficient is not sufficient to overcome the general

presumption that allowing firms additional pricing tools generally enhances economic

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efficiency, especially when investments must be made as demand rises to reduce

congestion. The economic literature and the record both suggest that paid prioritization

can increase network investment. For example, one study presents a model in which two

competing ISPs serve a continuum of edge providers. It finds that allowing ISPs to offer

paid prioritization leads to higher investment in broadband capacity as well as greater

innovation on the edge provider side of the market. According to the authors, paid

prioritization causes the ISP to invest more in network capacity, reducing congestion and

thereby inducing congestion-sensitive edge providers to enter the market. The increased

ISP investment occurs for two reasons: incremental investment is more profitable

because the ISP can now charge edge providers in addition to subscribers, and paid

prioritization allows more edge providers who need a high quality of service to enter the

market. Another study also develops a theoretical model in which paid prioritization

always results in higher ISP investment. We anticipate that lifting the ban on paid

prioritization may also increase the entry of new ISPs and encourage current providers to

expand their networks by making it easier for “ISPs [to] benefit from their new

investments.” Thus, we reject the argument that the ban is necessary to ensure long-term

network investment.

239. We reject assertions that allowing paid prioritization would lead ISPs to

create artificial scarcity on their networks by neglecting or downgrading non-paid traffic.

This argument has been strongly criticized as having “no support in economic theory that

such incentives exist or are sufficiently strong as to outweigh countervailing incentives.”

Moreover, as discussed above, in practice paid prioritization is likely to be used to deliver

enhanced service for applications that need QoS guarantees. As AT&T explains, “[l]ast-

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mile access is not a zero-sum game, and prioritizing the packets for latency-sensitive

applications will not typically degrade other applications sharing the same

infrastructure,” such as email, software updates, or cached video. We thus reject

arguments premised on the theory that ISPs could and would act to create artificial

scarcity on their networks and thereby broadly require paid prioritization. Because of

these practical limits on paid prioritization, we reject the argument that non-profits and

independent and diverse content producers, who may be less likely to need QoS

guarantees, will be harmed by lifting the ban.

240. Reduction in price to consumers. Eliminating the ban on paid

prioritization arrangements could lead to lower prices for consumers for broadband

Internet access service, as ISPs may be able to recoup some of their costs from edge

providers. Although we do not premise our analysis on the expectation of a total pass-

through of these revenues to end-users, we find no support for assumptions that there

would be no pass-through of revenues at all. As one study explains, the Title II Order’s

ban on paid prioritization arrangements “can lead to higher prices that are charged to all

end users—regardless of whether or not the end user subscribes to the content service that

causes the congestion.”

241. Closing the digital divide. Paid prioritization can also be a tool in helping

close the digital divide by reducing broadband Internet access service subscription prices

for consumers. The zero-price rule imposed by the blanket ban on paid prioritization

“imposes a regressive subsidy, transferring wealth from the economically disadvantaged

to the comparatively rich by forcing the poor to support high-bandwidth subscription

services skewed towards the wealthier.” One study concludes that “[a]t the margin, this

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would cause the lowest-end users to simply stop subscribing to internet services, which

would further exacerbate the existing digital divide.” Accordingly, economic “models . .

. suggest that network neutrality regulation is more likely to worsen than improve the

digital divide.” Because ending the ban on paid prioritization is likely to help close the

digital divide, we reject assertions to the contrary that ending the paid prioritization rule’s

effective subsidization of high-bandwidth services will harm consumers overall. We

reject the contrary argument that ISPs will engage in “virtual redlining” because, as

discussed, paid prioritization is likely to lead to increased network investment and lower

costs to end users, particularly benefiting those on the wrong side of the digital divide.

Allowing ISPs to charge both sides of the market could also enable additional

arrangements to provide special low-cost broadband access, increasing broadband

adoption among lower-income consumers. For example, permitting “differential pricing”

may enable the development of “[p]latforms that are both free and tailored to [people

without Internet access],” similar to Facebook’s Free Basics program in developing

countries. Nokia suggests that “a start-up company that wants to reach new customers

with a bandwidth intensive application that will not work as intended below a certain

service tier . . . should be allowed to offer to boost [a] consumer’s bandwidth so he or she

can experience their product as intended,” and argues such arrangements “are most likely

to benefit lower-income consumers, since those that already purchase high-tier services

are less likely to benefit from third-party-pays QoS enhancements.”

242. Addressing Harms. We find that antitrust law, in combination with the

transparency rule we adopt, is particularly well-suited to addressing any potential or

actual anticompetitive harms that may arise from paid prioritization arrangements. The

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transparency rule will require ISPs to disclose any practices that favor some Internet

traffic over other traffic, if the practices are paid or benefit any affiliated entity. The

transparency rule will provide greater information to all participants in the Internet

ecosystem and empower them to act if they identify any potential anticompetitive

conduct. Antitrust law is ideally situated to determine whether a specific arrangement, on

balance, is anti-competitive or pro-competitive. We therefore reject the argument that the

paid prioritization ban should be modified to more squarely focus on anticompetitive

conduct. While these alternative formulations may not be as problematic as the blanket

ban, for the reasons discussed above, antitrust law is better placed than ex ante

regulations to balance the potential benefits and harms of new arrangements. Moreover,

to the extent that they exist, the potential harms to Internet openness stemming from paid

prioritization arrangements are outweighed by the distortions that banning paid

prioritization would impose. Under the antitrust laws, a paid prioritization agreement

challenged as anticompetitive would be evaluated under the case-specific rule of reason.

Paid prioritization would be prohibited only when it harms competition, for example, by

inappropriately favoring an affiliate or partner in a way that ultimately harms economic

competition in the relevant market. The case-by-case, deliberative nature of antitrust is

well-suited for this area, as it is difficult to determine on an ex ante basis which paid

prioritization agreements are anticompetitive, and in fact, no Internet paid prioritization

agreements have yet been launched in the United States, rendering any concerns about

such practices purely theoretical at this time. We therefore reject arguments that ex ante

rules are preferable.

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 243. Lastly, antitrust laws would not prevent an ISP from exercising legally-

acquired market power to earn market rents, so long as it is not used anticompetitively,

but we do not consider any harms that might result from this to be so large as to justify

the harms that a total prohibition on paid prioritization would entail. For harms from the

exercise of legally-acquired market power to arise, the ISP must have market power over

the edge provider. However, as shown above, ISPs usually face at least moderate

competition, and all the more so taking a medium-term perspective. Consequently, the

harms that could possibly occur from exercise of such power are not likely to be large.

Further, the extent to which any harms actually occur will be muted by two factors. First,

ISPs have strong incentives to keep edge provider output high (as this increases the value

end users see in subscribing to the ISP, and signals to edge providers that the ISP

recognizes their contribution to the platform). Thus, harm will only occur to the extent

the ISP is unable to devise pricing schemes that preserve edge providers’ incentives to

bring content while maximizing the ISP’s profit (the exercise of market power is only

harmful when it excludes what would otherwise be efficient purchases of access).

Second, as discussed above, increased prices from edge providers are to a potentially

significant extent passed through to end users in the form of lower prices for broadband

Internet access service, with the result that end user demand for edge provider content is

increased. The extent of such pass-through offsets these harms. Accordingly, we expect

the harms from dictating pricing uniformity to edge providers exceed any harms that may

emerge from a lack of such regulation.

c. Blocking and Throttling

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 244. We find the no-blocking and no-throttling rules are unnecessary to prevent

the harms that they were intended to thwart. We find that the transparency rule we adopt

today—coupled with our enforcement authority and with FTC enforcement of ISP

commitments, antitrust law, consumer expectations, and ISP incentives—will be

sufficient to prevent these harms, particularly given the consensus against blocking

practices, as reflected in the scarcity of actual cases of such blocking. For the same

reasons, we reject alternative formulations of the no-blocking and no-throttling rules.

245. Transparency rule. As discussed above, the transparency rule we adopt,

combined with antitrust and consumer protection laws, obviate the need for conduct rules

by achieving comparable benefits at lower cost. In addition, several factors specific to

blocking and throttling will work to prevent the potential harms that could be caused by

blocking and throttling. First, most attempts by ISPs to block or throttle content will

likely be met with a fierce consumer backlash. As one commenter explains, such

blocking or throttling is “unlikely to occur, because it must be sufficiently blatant to be of

any benefit to the ISP, that [it] only increases the likelihood of getting caught.” Second,

numerous ISPs, including the four largest fixed ISPs, have publicly committed not to

block or throttle the content that consumers choose. The transparency rule will ensure

that ISPs reveal any deviation from these commitments to the public, and addresses

commenter concerns that consumers will not understand the source of any blocking or

throttling. Violations of the transparency rule will be subject to our enforcement

authority. Furthermore, the FTC possesses the authority to enforce these commitments,

as it did in TracFone. Third, the antitrust laws prohibit anticompetitive conduct, and to

the extent blocking or throttling by an ISP may constitute such conduct, the existence of

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these laws likely deters potentially anticompetitive conduct. Finally, ISPs have long-term

incentives to preserve Internet openness, which creates demand for the Internet access

service that they provide.

246. Consensus against blocking and throttling. We emphasize once again that

we do not support blocking lawful content, consistent with long-standing Commission

policy. The potential consequences of blocking or throttling lawful content on the

Internet ecosystem are well-documented in the record and in Commission precedent.

Stakeholders from across the Internet ecosystem oppose the blocking and throttling of

lawful content, including ISPs, public interest groups, edge providers, other content

producers, network equipment manufacturers, government entities, and other businesses

and individuals who use the Internet. This consensus is among the reasons that there is

scant evidence that end users, under different legal frameworks, have been prevented by

blocking or throttling from accessing the content of their choosing. It also is among the

reasons why providers have voluntarily abided by no-blocking practices even during

periods where they were not legally required to do so. As to free expression in particular,

we note that none of the actual incidents discussed in the Title II Order squarely

implicated free speech. If anything, recent evidence suggests that hosting services, social

media platforms, edge providers, and other providers of virtual Internet infrastructure are

more likely to block content on viewpoint grounds. Furthermore, in the event that any

stakeholder were inclined to deviate from this consensus against blocking and throttling,

we fully expect that consumer expectations, market incentives, and the deterrent threat of

enforcement actions will constrain such practices ex ante. To the extent that these

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incentives prove insufficient and any stakeholder engages in such conduct, such practices

can be policed ex post by antitrust and consumer protection agencies.

247. Additionally, as urged by the prior Commission when defending the Title

II Order, and as confirmed in the concurrence in the denial of rehearing en banc by the

two judges in the majority in USTelecom, the Title II Order allows ISPs to offer curated

services, which would allow ISPs to escape the reach of the Title II Order and to filter

content on viewpoint grounds. In practice, the Title II Order “deregulates curated

Internet access relative to conventional Internet access [and] may induce ISPs to filter

content more often,” rendering the no-blocking and no-throttling rules ineffectual as long

as an ISP disclosed it was offering curated services. The curated services exemption

arising from the Title II Order confirms our judgment that transparency requirements,

rather than conduct rules, are the most effective means of preserving Internet openness.

3. The Record Does Not Identify Authority for Comprehensive

Conduct Rules

248. The record in this proceeding does not persuade us that there are any

sources of statutory authority that individually, or in the aggregate, could support conduct

rules uniformly encompassing all ISPs. We find that provisions in Section 706 of the

1996 Act directing the Commission to encourage deployment of advanced

telecommunications capability are better interpreted as hortatory rather than as

independent grants of regulatory authority. We also are not persuaded that Section 230

of the Communications Act is a grant of regulatory authority that could provide the basis

for conduct rules here. Nor does the record here reveal other sources of authority that

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collectively would provide a sure foundation for conduct rules that would treat all

similarly-situated ISPs the same.

a. Section 706 of the 1996 Act

249. We conclude that the directives to the Commission in Section 706(a) and

(b) of the 1996 Act to promote deployment of advanced telecommunications capability

are better interpreted as hortatory, and not as grants of regulatory authority. We thus

depart from the interpretation of those provisions adopted by the Commission beginning

in the Open Internet Order, and return to a reading of that language in Section 706 of the

1996 Act consistent with the Commission’s original interpretation.

250. We adopt this reading in light of the text, structure, and history of the 1996

Act and Communications Act. Section 706(a) directs that:

The Commission and each State commission with regulatory jurisdiction

over telecommunications services shall encourage the deployment on a

reasonable and timely basis of advanced telecommunications capability to

all Americans (including, in particular, elementary and secondary schools

and classrooms) by utilizing, in a manner consistent with the public

interest, convenience, and necessity, price cap regulation, regulatory

forbearance, measures that promote competition in the local

telecommunications market, or other regulating methods that remove

barriers to infrastructure investment.

In turn, Section 706(b) provides in pertinent part that “[i]f the Commission’s

determination” under an annual inquiry into deployment of advanced telecommunications

capability “is negative, it shall take immediate action to accelerate deployment of such

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capability by removing barriers to infrastructure investment and by promoting

competition in the telecommunications market.”

251. The relevant text of Section 706(a) and (b) of the 1996 Act is reasonably

read as exhorting the Commission to exercise market-based or deregulatory authority

granted under other statutory provisions, particularly the Communications Act. The

Commission otherwise has authority under the Communications Act to employ price cap

regulation for services subject to rate regulation; to employ regulatory forbearance; to

promote competition in the local telecommunications market; and to remove barriers to

infrastructure investment. The Commission thus need not interpret Section 706 as an

independent grant of regulatory authority to give those provisions meaning. Further,

consistent with normal canons of statutory interpretation, the language “other regulating

methods” in Section 706(a) is best understood as consistent with the language that

precedes it, and thus likewise reasonably is read as focused on the exercise of other

statutory authority like that under the Communications Act, rather than itself constituting

an independent grant of regulatory authority. This view also comports with the

Commission’s original interpretation of the language of Section 706(a), avoids rendering

the provisions of Section 706(a) or (b) surplusage, and does not otherwise conflict with

the statutory text. Although the term “shall” “generally indicates a command that admits

of no discretion,” because the Commission has other authority under the Communications

Act that it can exercise consistent with the direction in Section 706(a) and (b) of the 1996

Act, our interpretation is not at odds with the use of “shall encourage” in Section 706(a)

or “shall take immediate action” in Section 706(b). In particular, Section 706(a) provides

a general, ongoing exhortation for the Commission to encourage deployment of advanced

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telecommunications capability through exercise of other authority, while Section 706(b)

directs the Commission to do so by taking “immediate action” in the event of a negative

finding under the Section 706(b) inquiry. The direction in Section 706(b) of the 1996 Act

that the Commission exercise other authority by taking “immediate action” in the event

of a negative finding under the Section 706(b) inquiry could, for example, form part of

the basis for petition(s) for Commission rulemaking based on such other authority in the

wake of a negative finding in the Section 706(b) inquiry. Although the Tenth Circuit

concluded that the possibility of such an interpretation of Section 706(b) would not

unambiguously compel the conclusion that the provision is hortatory, the court’s decision

does not limit our ability to rely on that as a factor that persuades us that Section 706(b) is

better read as hortatory.

252. We not only find that the relevant language in Sections 706(a) and (b) of

the 1996 Act permissibly can be read as hortatory, but are persuaded that is the better

interpretation. Arguments in the record supporting Section 706 of the 1996 Act as

granting regulatory authority generally contend that this is a permissible interpretation

but do not persuade us it is the better reading. For one, although the relevant provisions

in Section 706(a) and (b) identify certain regulatory tools (like price cap regulation and

regulatory forbearance) and marketplace outcomes (like increased competition and

reduced barriers to infrastructure investment), they nowhere identify the providers or

entities whose conduct could be regulated under Section 706 if interpreted as a grant of

such authority. This lack of detail stands in stark contrast to Congress’s approach in

many other provisions enacted or modified as part of the 1996 Act that clearly are grants

of authority to employ similar regulatory tools or pursue similar marketplace outcomes

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and that directly identify the relevant providers or entities subject to the exercise of that

regulatory authority. The absence of any similar language in Section 706(a) and (b) of

the 1996 Act supports our view that those provisions are better read as directing the

Commission regarding its exercise of regulatory authority granted elsewhere. Our

consideration of this as one factor persuading us that Section 706 of the 1996 Act is better

read as hortatory is not undercut by our reliance on Section 257 as authority for

disclosure requirements that provide us information needed to identify potential barriers

to entry and investment while also helping mitigate any such barriers. Although Section

257 does not expressly identify entities from which we can obtain information, other

aspects of Section 257 persuade us that our interpretation of that provision as a grant of

authority to obtain the information we require from ISPs is necessary for us to carry out

our duties under that provision for the reasons discussed above. Here, by contrast, this

consideration combines with many others to collectively persuade us that Section 706 of

the 1996 Act is better read as hortatory.

253. Indeed, under the Open Internet Order’s theory of Section 706(a) and (b)

as independent grants of authority, the Commission could rely on those provisions to

impose duties or adopt regulations equivalent to those directly addressed by the

provisions of the Communications Act focused on promoting competition and/or

deployment that go beyond the entities, contexts, and circumstances that bounded the

Communications Act provisions. Section 706(a) and (b) direct the Commission to

promote competition in the local telecommunications market and otherwise encourage

the deployment of advanced telecommunications capability. Promoting local competition

and/or encouraging the deployment of telecommunications networks likewise are key

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objectives of a number of provisions added to the Communications Act by the 1996 Act,

each of which were limited in scope to address the actions of particular, defined entities

and were triggered in particular, defined circumstances. For example, the 1996 Act

amended Section 224 of the Communications Act to expand specified communications

providers’ access to utilities’ poles, ducts, conduit, and rights-of-way to “ensure that the

deployment of communications networks and the development of competition are not

impeded by private ownership and control of the scarce infrastructure and rights-of-way

that many communications providers must use in order to reach customers.” The market-

opening framework in Sections 251(a)-(c), 252, and 271 of the Communications Act,

applicable respectively to telecommunications carriers, LECs, incumbent LECs, and

BOCs, also were added by the 1996 Act. The 1996 Act also added provisions to the

Communications Act to eliminate regulatory barriers to competition and network

deployment in certain defined circumstances. We are skeptical that at the same time

Congress enacted carefully-tailored regulatory regimes codified in various provisions of

the Communications Act, it simultaneously granted the Commission redundant authority

to impose those same duties or adopt similar regulatory treatment largely unbound by that

tailoring in a “Miscellaneous” provision of the same legislation.

254. Our interpretation of Section 706 of the 1996 Act as hortatory also is

supported by the implications of the Open Internet Order’s interpretation for the

regulatory treatment of the Internet and information services more generally. The

interpretation of Section 706(a) and (b) that the Commission adopted beginning in the

Open Internet Order reads those provisions to grant authority for the Commission to

regulate information services so long as doing so could be said to encourage deployment

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of advanced telecommunications capability at least indirectly. A reading of Section 706

as a grant of regulatory authority that could be used to heavily regulate information

services—as under the Commission’s prior interpretation—is undercut by what the

Commission has found to be Congress’ intent in other provisions of the Communications

Act enacted in the 1996 Act—namely, to distinguish between telecommunications

services and information services, with the latter left largely unregulated by default.

255. In addition, the 1996 Act added Section 230 of the Communications Act,

which provides, among other things, that “[i]t is the policy of the United States . . . to

preserve the vibrant and competitive free market that presently exists for the Internet and

other interactive computer services, unfettered by Federal or State regulation.” The Open

Internet Order asserted that “[m]aximizing end-user control is a policy goal Congress

recognized in Section 230(b) of the Communications Act.” In full, however, Section

230(b)(3) states that “[i]t is the policy of the United States-- . . . to encourage the

development of technologies which maximize user control over what information is

received by individuals, families, and schools who use the Internet and other interactive

computer services.” Although the rules in the Open Internet Order would have

considered the extent to which a network management practice is subject to end-user

control when evaluating the reasonableness of discrimination, that Order does not explain

why that (or conduct rules more generally) would better encourage the development of

technologies for end-user control than would be the case without such rules. The Title II

Order is similar in this regard. Assertions of the sort in those Orders thus provide no

basis for concluding that regulating ISPs is likely to better “encourage the development

of technologies which maximize user control” than the absence of such regulations. A

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necessary implication of the prior interpretation of Section 706(a) and (b) as grants of

regulatory authority is that the Commission could regulate not only ISPs but also edge

providers or other participants in the Internet marketplace—even when they constitute

information services, and notwithstanding Section 230 of the Communications Act—so

long as the Commission could find at least an indirect nexus to promoting the deployment

of advanced telecommunications capability. For example, some commenters argue that

“it is content aggregators (think Netflix, Etsy, Google, Facebook) that probably exert the

greatest, or certainly the most direct, influence over access.” Section 230 likewise is in

tension with the view that Section 706(a) and (b) grant the Commission regulatory

authority as the Commission previously claimed. These inconsistencies are avoided,

however, if the deployment directives of Section 706(a) and (b) are viewed as hortatory.

256. Prior Commission guidance regarding how it would interpret and apply

the authority it claimed under Section 706(a) and (b) of the 1996 Act does not allay our

concerns with the interpretation of those provisions as grants of regulatory authority. For

example, the Open Internet Order stated that Section 706 authority only would be used to

regulate “communication by wire or radio,” consistent with Sections 1 and 2 of the

Communications Act. Other provisions enacted in the 1996 Act that clearly grant

authority to promote competition or network deployment themselves generally address

either facilities being used to engage in communications or the communications

themselves, however. Thus, applying Section 706 of the 1996 Act only to

communication by wire or radio would not prevent the Commission from replicating such

requirements. In addition, broadband Internet access service itself involves

communications by wire or radio—as do many other Internet information services.

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Consequently, this Commission guidance also does not resolve tensions between the

Commission’s prior theory of Section 706 authority and the 1996 Act’s general

deregulatory approach to information services or Section 230’s enunciation of the federal

policy “to preserve the vibrant and competitive free market that presently exists for the

Internet and other interactive computer services, unfettered by Federal or State

regulation.”

257. Nor are the specific, problematic implications we identify with the

Commission’s prior interpretation of Section 706 as a grant of authority avoided by the

Commission’s explanation that its use of such authority must encourage the deployment

of advanced telecommunications capability by promoting competition or removing

barriers to infrastructure investment. Given the already-recognized nexus between the

relevant Communications Act provisions and the promotion of network deployment

and/or local competition, the record provides no reason to believe the Commission would

have difficulty demonstrating at least an indirect effect on the deployment of advanced

telecommunications capability should it wish, as a policy matter, to impose equivalent

requirements under an assertion of authority under Section 706(a) and (b) without

adhering to limitations or constraints present in the Communications Act provisions.

Perhaps if the Commission required a tighter connection between a given regulatory

action and promoting deployment of advanced telecommunications capability, it might

reduce the magnitude of the inconsistency somewhat, but the record does not reveal that

such an approach would eliminate it entirely or even diminish it to such an extent as to

materially strengthen the argument for interpreting the relevant provisions of Section

706(a) and (b) as grants of regulatory authority. Such proposals also do not address the

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other reasons for viewing Sections 706(a) and (b) as hortatory in light of the statutory text

and structure. Likewise, the Open Internet Order shows that the Commission can readily

find that criterion met in order to regulate an information service like broadband Internet

access service notwithstanding the 1996 Act’s general deregulatory approach for

information service and the deregulatory Internet policy specified in Section 230 of the

Act.

258. Guidance in the Open Internet Order also asserted that the exercise of

Section 706 authority could not be “inconsistent with other provisions of law,” but

effectively viewed that as a very low bar to satisfy, finding it reasonable to exercise

Section 706 authority to impose duties on information service providers that did not

meaningfully “differ[] from the nondiscrimination standard applied to common carriers

generally.” So long as regulations fall outside the constraints of Sections 3(51) and

332(c)(2) of the Act—upon which the reversal in Verizon was based—neither precedent

nor the record here demonstrate that the reference to ensuring that any Section 706

authority be exercised “[]consistent with other provisions of law” would meaningfully

preclude the types of requirements that we find difficult to square with the carefully

tailored authority in the Communications Act. Conversely, if the fact that a matter is

addressed by the Communications Act were a more serious constraint on claimed Section

706(a) and (b) authority, it is unclear how meaningful such claimed authority would be in

practice. It thus likewise would be unclear what affirmative reason we would have for

interpreting them as grants of authority contrary to the other indicia that they are

hortatory. For example, Sections 201(b) and 202(a) of the Act prohibit unjust and

unreasonable rates and practices and unjust an unreasonable discrimination with respect

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to common carrier services. If that precluded reliance on Section 706(a) and (b) to

impose analogous restrictions unbounded by the self-described scope of Sections 201(b)

and 202(a), the Commission seemingly would be left with no authority to adopt conduct

rules of the sort at issue here after reclassification. Nor do commenters citing other

possible uses of Section 706(a) and (b) as authority explain how such exercise of

authority could be reconciled with the view that it would be a serious constraint on

claimed Section 706(a) and (b) authority if a matter is addressed by the Communications

Act (such as in Sections 201 and 202, the market-opening provisions in Sections 251-

261, provisions designed to address barriers to infrastructure deployment like Sections

224 and 254, or other provisions). Thus, interpreting the Communications Act as a more

serious constraint might partially address one basis for interpreting Section 706(a) and (b)

as hortatory, but simultaneously would undercut the arguments in the record for

interpreting them as grants of authority

259. We also are unpersuaded by the Open Internet Order’s citation of

legislative history to support its interpretation of Section 706(a) and (b) as grants of

regulatory authority. The Open Internet Order cited a Senate report for the proposition

that those provisions of Section 706 “are ‘a necessary fail-safe’ to guarantee that

Congress’s objective is reached.” The Commission itself previously noted the ambiguous

significance of that language. In addition, the relevant Senate bill at the time of the

Senate report would have directed the Commission, in the event of a negative finding in

its deployment inquiry, to “take immediate action under this section” and stated that “it

may preempt State commissions that fail to act to ensure such availability.” The final,

enacted version of Section 706(b), by contrast, omitted the language “under this section,”

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and also omitted the express preemption language, leaving it ambiguous whether the

statement in the Senate report was premised on statutory language excluded from the

enacted provision. For its part, the conference report neither repeats the “fail-safe”

language from the Senate report nor elaborates on the modifications made to the language

in the Senate bill. Even if it were appropriate to consult legislative history, we conclude

that that history is ultimately ambiguous and are not persuaded that it supports

interpreting Section 706(a) and (b) of the 1996 Act as grants of regulatory authority.

260. The inability to impose penalties to enforce violations of requirements

adopted under Section 706(a) and (b) of the 1996 Act also undercuts arguments that those

provisions should be interpreted as grants of regulatory authority. Section 706 of the

1996 Act was not incorporated into the Communications Act, nor does the 1996 Act

provide for it to be enforced as part of the Communications Act. Where Congress

intended a statute outside the Communications Act to be enforced as if it were part of the

Communications Act, it has expressly stated that in the relevant statute. Thus, the

Communications Act provisions generally authorizing penalties do not apply to Section

706 of the 1996 Act or rules adopted thereunder. In pertinent part, to enforce rules under

Section 503(b)(1) of the Communications Act, the rules must be “issued by the

Commission under [the Communications] Act.” Other penalty provisions in the

Communications Act are specific to narrower topics or the statutory section in which they

appear, and thus also would not be authorized penalties for violations of rules

implementing Section 706 of the 1996 Act. Although the Title II Order claimed that

Section 706 of the 1996 Act included an implicit grant of enforcement authority, even

under that theory, an ‘implicit’ grant of enforcement authority might enable actions like

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declaratory rulings or cease-and-desist orders, but would not appear to encompass

authority to impose penalties given the absence of statutory language clearly granting that

authority. As a fallback, the Title II Order asserted, without elaboration, that by relying

on the grant of rulemaking authority in Section 4(i) of the Communications Act to adopt

rules implementing Section 706 of the 1996 Act, the resulting rules would be within the

scope of those for which forfeitures could be imposed under the Communications Act.

261. We believe that the better view is that reliance on the Communications

Act for rulemaking authority alone would not render the resulting rules “issued by the

Commission under [the Communications] Act” as required to trigger the forfeiture

provisions of Section 503 of the Act. Given that Section 503 is about enforcement

consequences from violating standards of conduct specified by, among other things,

relevant Commission rules, we think that language is best read as focused on rules

implementing the Commission’s substantive regulatory authority under the

Communications Act. Insofar as the substantive standard to which an entity is being held

flows not from the Communications Act but from the Commission’s assertion of

authority under the 1996 Act, we believe that our forfeiture authority under Section 503

of the Communications Act consequently would not encompass such rules. The practical

inability to back up rules implementing Section 706 with penalties thus undercuts the

Open Internet Order’s claim that its interpretation would mean that Section 706 of the

1996 Act could serve as a “‘fail safe’ that ‘ensures’ the Commission’s ability to promote

advanced services.” Under our interpretation, by contrast, Section 706(a) and (b) of the

1996 Act exhort the Commission to use Communications Act authority that it does, in

fact, have authority to enforce through penalties. We thus are persuaded that Section

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706(a) and (b) of the 1996 Act are better interpreted as hortatory, rather than as grants of

regulatory authority. Because we otherwise find ample grounds to conclude that Section

706(a) and (b) of the 1996 Act are not grants of regulatory authority, we need not, and

thus do not, address arguments claiming additional reasons to reach that same conclusion.

Likewise, because we conclude that Section 706(a) and (b) do not grant regulatory

authority at all, we need not, and do not, address the issue of whether any authority under

those provisions is, at most, deregulatory authority. We also reject arguments that we

should wait on the completion of the latest inquiry under Section 706(b) before

evaluating the interpretation of Section 706. Under the prior interpretation, Section

706(a) was a grant of authority independent of Section 706(b), and particularly insofar as

we would not interpret Section 706(b) as a grant of authority in any case, we see no

reason to wait on the results of the inquiry under that provision.

262. Our conclusion that Section 706 of the 1996 Act is better read as hortatory

is not at odds with the fact that two courts concluded that the Commission permissibly

could adopt the alternative view that it is a grant of regulatory authority. Those courts

did not find that the Commission’s previous reading was the only (or even the most)

reasonable interpretation of Section 706, leaving the Commission free to adopt a different

interpretation upon further consideration. Indeed, the D.C. Circuit in Verizon observed

that the language of Section 706(a) “certainly could be read” as hortatory. The court also

recognized as much with respect to Section 706(b), given its lack of clarity. Those cases

thus leave us free to act on our conclusion here that Section 706 is most reasonably read

as hortatory, not as an independent grant of regulatory authority.

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 263. We also disagree with arguments that we should keep in place a misguided

and flawed interpretation of Section 706(a) and (b) of the 1996 Act to preserve any

existing rules or our ability going forward to take regulatory action based on such

assertions of authority. We are not persuaded by concerns that reinterpreting Section

706(a) and (b) of the 1996 Act in this manner could undercut Commission rules adopted

in other contexts because such arguments do not identify circumstances—nor are we

otherwise aware of any—where the prior interpretation of the relevant provisions of

Section 706(a) and/or (b) was, in whole or in part, a necessary basis for the rules.

Similarly, concerns that our interpretation will limit states’ regulatory authority do not

identify with specificity any concrete need for such authority beyond any authority

provided by state law, even assuming arguendo that such authority could have flowed

from the prior interpretation of Section 706(a). MMTC and NABOB express concerns

that disavowing Section 706 as a source of authority could constrain the Commission’s

ability to address “digital redlining.” They do not explain, however, why other statutory

provisions such as Section 254 are inadequate to address issues of unserved or

underserved communities should more ultimately be found to be needed beyond the

Commission’s other efforts to promote broadband deployment more generally. We also

are unpersuaded by arguments for maintaining the prior interpretation in a general effort

to retain greater authority to regulate ISPs. Given that agencies like the Commission are

creatures of Congress, and given our responsibility to bring to bear appropriate tools

when interpreting and implementing the statutes we administer, we find it more

appropriate to adopt what we view as the far better interpretation of Section 706(a) and

(b) given both the specific context of Section 706 and the broader statutory context. If

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Congress wishes to give the Commission more explicit direction to impose certain

conduct rules on ISPs, or to impose such rules itself within constitutional limits, it is of

course free to do so. We decline to read such wide-ranging authority, however, into

provisions that, on our reading today, are merely hortatory, and are at best ambiguous.

264. Independently, we also are not persuaded that the prior interpretation of

Section 706(a) and (b) of the 1996 Act would better advance policy goals relevant here.

We have other sources of authority on which to ground our transparency requirements

without adopting an inferior interpretation of Section 706(a) and (b). With respect to

conduct rules, in addition to our decision that limits on our legal authority counsel against

adopting such rules, we separately find that such rules are not otherwise justified by the

record here. Consequently, we need not stretch the words of Section 706 of the 1996 Act

because we can protect Internet freedom even without it. Rather, we are persuaded to act

in the manner that we believe reflects the best interpretation given the text and structure

of the Act, the legislative history, and the policy implications of alternative

interpretations.

b. Section 230 of the Communications Act

265. We are not persuaded that Section 230 of the Communications Act grants

the Commission authority that could provide the basis for conduct rules here. In

Comcast, the D.C. Circuit observed that the Commission there “acknowledge[d] that

Section 230(b)” is a “statement [] of policy that [itself] delegate[s] no regulatory

authority.” Although the Internet Freedom NPRM sought comment on Section 230, the

record does not reveal an alternative interpretation that would enable us to rely on it as a

grant of regulatory authority for rules here. Instead, we remain persuaded that Section

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230(b) is hortatory, directing the Commission to adhere to the policies specified in that

provision when otherwise exercising our authority. In addition, even assuming arguendo

that Section 230 could be viewed as a grant of Commission authority, we are not

persuaded it could be invoked to impose regulatory obligations on ISPs. In particular,

Section 230(b)(2) provides that it is U.S. policy “to preserve the vibrant and competitive

free market that presently exists for the Internet and other interactive computer services,

unfettered by Federal or State regulation.” Adopting requirements that would impose

federal regulation on broadband Internet access service would be in tension with that

policy, and we thus are skeptical such requirements could be justified by Section 230

even if it were a grant of authority as relevant here. Consequently, although Section 230

is relevant to our interpretation and implementation of other statutory provisions, the

record does not reveal a basis for relying on it as a source of regulatory authority for

conduct rules here.

c. Other Provisions in Titles II, III, and VI of the

Communications Act

266. Other identified sources of potential authority appear significantly limited

and not capable of bringing all ISPs under one comprehensive regulatory framework.

The Open Internet Order cited provisions in Titles II, III, and VI of the Communications

Act in support of the conduct rules adopted there, and some commenters echo those

theories—generally without elaboration. Some comments identified possible sources of

authority for rules other than the sorts of conduct rules at issue in this proceeding, and we

do not discuss such other sources of authority here. We also are not persuaded by claims

that Section 1 of the Act is a grant of regulatory authority here. In this very context, the

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D.C. Circuit has held that Section 1 is better understood as a statement of Congressional

policy. A number of those assertions of authority appear of uncertain validity on this

record. The identified additional sources of potential authority, even collectively, do not

appear to provide a sound basis for conduct rules that would encompass all ISPs. We do

not formally resolve the potential scope and contours of those claims of authority given

the significant limitations in the record here and the potential for unanticipated spill-over

effects, but the potential weaknesses—unresolved on this record—nonetheless make us

cautious about seeking to rely on them at this time. Insofar as our position regarding

these additional potential sources of authority is at least a partial change in course from

the positions taken in the Open Internet Order—which reflected a broader and/or less

questioning view of these theories—we conclude that such a change in course is

warranted by our analysis here, which identifies details or nuances in the required

analysis that were not adequately addressed in the Open Internet Order or resolved on

this record. Further, even as to those ISPs that could be subject to conduct rules under

those statutory theories, in many cases the scope of conduct that could be addressed

appears quite limited. The result of an attempt to exercise the identified potential

authority thus would appear, at best, to result in a patchwork framework that appears

unlikely to materially address many of the concerns historically raised to justify conduct

rules while being likely to introduce regulatory distortions in the marketplace.

267. Authority over ISPs That Also Offer Telecommunications Services. On

this record, claims of authority to adopt conduct rules governing ISPs that also offer

telecommunications services have many shortcomings. The Open Internet Order

contended that ISPs that also offer telecommunications services might engage in network

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management practices or prioritization that reduces competition for their voice services,

arguably implicating Section 201(b)’s prohibition on unjust or unreasonable rates or

practices in the case of common carrier voice services and/or Section 251(a)(1)’s

interconnection requirements for common carriers. The Open Internet Order never

squares these legal theories with the statutory prohibition on treating telecommunications

carriers as common carriers when they are not engaged in the provision of

telecommunications service or with the similar restriction on common carrier treatment

of private mobile services. That Order also is ambiguous whether it is relying on these

provisions for direct or ancillary authority. If claiming direct authority, the Open Internet

Order fails to reconcile its theories with relevant precedent and to address key factual

questions. With respect to Section 201, in the Computer Inquiries, for example, when the

Commission concluded that facilities-based carriers’ actions when offering enhanced

services might affect the justness and reasonableness of their common carrier offerings

under Section 201, it responded by exercising ancillary authority, rather than direct

authority under Section 201. With respect to Section 251(a)(1), the Commission has held

that that provision only involves the linking of networks and not the transport and

termination of traffic. The Open Internet Order does not explain why

telecommunications carriers would seek to link their networks with other carriers by

delivering traffic through a broadband Internet access service rather than through normal

means of direct or indirect interconnection. Even in the more likely case that these

represented theories of ancillary authority, the Open Internet Order’s failure to

forthrightly engage with the theories on those terms leaves it unclear how conduct rules

are sufficiently “necessary” to the implementation of Section 201 and/or Section

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251(a)(1) to satisfy the standard for ancillary authority under Comcast. The limited,

indirect references to Section 201 and 251(a)(1) authority in the record here do not

resolve these questions about possible Section 201- or 251(a)(1)-based theories, either.

268. The Open Internet Order also noted that Section 256 of the Act addresses

coordinated network planning related to interconnection, but did not put forward a theory

for relying on that as authority for conduct rule. To the contrary, it cited the holding in

Comcast “acknowledging Section 256’s objective, while adding that Section 256 does not

‘expand[] . . . any authority that the Commission[] otherwise has under law.’” To the

extent that commenters here mention Section 256 at all, they do not explain how the

Commission could overcome that holding in Comcast for purposes of relying on that

provision as authority for rules here.

269. An alarm company urges us to rely on Section 275 of the Act, but we see

substantial shortcomings in using as a basis for ancillary authority for conduct rules.

Section 275 of the Act imposes certain nondiscrimination requirements on incumbent

LECs related to alarm monitoring services, along with restrictions on all LECs’ recording

or use of data from calls to alarm monitoring providers for purposes of marketing

competing alarm monitoring services. Arguments that ancillary authority based on

Section 275 could support rules that prohibit ISPs that also offer alarm monitoring

services from blocking or throttling alarm monitoring traffic or engaging in

anticompetitive paid prioritization of alarm monitoring traffic are premised on a reading

of Section 275 as a far broader mandate to protecting alarm monitoring competition than

the specifics of its language support. Given the Commission’s existing ability to directly

apply the duties and restrictions of Section 275 to the specific entities covered by that

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Section, the record leaves us unable to conclude that the proposed alarm monitoring-

related ISP conduct rules are sufficiently “necessary” to our implementation of Section

275 to satisfy the standard for ancillary authority under Comcast. Nor does the record

demonstrate what basis we have for the proposed exercise of ancillary authority to

regulate any ISPs that fall outside the scope of Section 275 but that offer alarm

monitoring services.

270. Authority With Respect to Audio and Video. The Open Internet Order’s

theories of authority related to Commission oversight of audio and video offerings have

significant deficiencies, as well. In that Order, the Commission argued that because local

television stations and radio stations distributed their content over the Internet, actions by

ISPs to block, degrade, or charge unreasonable fees for carrying such traffic would

interfere with certain statutory responsibilities. Once again, the Commission was unclear

whether it was asserting direct or ancillary authority. The Open Internet Order cited

policy pronouncements from provisions of the Act and associated precedent without any

clear indication how the underlying authority directly applied to ISPs’ conduct. To the

extent that the Open Internet Order was claiming ancillary authority, its failure to

forthrightly engage with an ancillary authority theory again leaves it unclear how conduct

rules are sufficiently “necessary” to its implementation of these provisions to satisfy the

standard for ancillary authority under Comcast, nor are these issues adequately addressed

by the limited references to this potential authority in the record.

271. We find significant limitations to the Open Internet Order’s theories based

on direct authority under Title VI of the Act, as well. The Commission contended in the

Open Internet Order that “MVPD practices that discriminatorily impede” competing

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online video are a “related practice” to video program carriage agreements and thus

subject to the restrictions in Section 616(a) of the Act. That expansive view of a “related

practice” seems challenging to square with the overall structure and approach of Section

616, which is focused on facilitating program carriage agreements between video

programming vendors and MVPDs. But the Open Internet Order suggests that an

MVPD/ISP could violate rules implementing Section 616(a) with respect to the

programming of a video programming vendor that never even sought a program carriage

agreement with that MVPD. In such cases, there appears to be no actual or potential

program carriage agreement to which the MVPD/ISP’s conduct would be a “related

practice[].” To the contrary, the broader structure of Section 616(a) seems to

contemplate that there would be some effort by the video programming vendor to obtain

carriage, subject to the possibly of a complaint. Neither the Open Internet Order nor the

record here provides a response enabling us to address these concerns.

272. The Open Internet Order’s legal theory under Section 628 of the Act also

appears to have substantial shortcomings. The Open Internet Order contended that “[a]

cable or telephone company’s interference with online transmission of programming by

DBS operators or stand-alone online video programming aggregators that may function

as competitive alternatives to traditional MVPDs would frustrate Congress’s stated goals

in enacting Section 628 of the Act” and “[t]he Commission therefore is authorized to

adopt open Internet rules under Section 628(b), (c)(1), and (j).” Under the terms of the

statute, that at most could restrict such entities’ conduct if it constitutes “unfair or

deceptive acts or practices the purpose or effect of which is to prevent or hinder

significantly the ability of an MVPD to deliver satellite cable programming or satellite

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broadcast programming.” The cursory discussion in the Open Internet Order, while

suggesting that ISP practices could have some effect on the viability of stand-alone

MVPDs like DISH, does not provide any meaningful explanation why particular conduct

would rise to the level of “prevent[ing] or significantly hinder[ing]” DISH (or others)

from being able to deliver satellite cable programming or satellite broadcast

programming. The minimal discussion of this Title VI authority in the record here does

not remedy that shortcoming either.

273. Authority With Respect to Wireless Licensees. Although the Commission

could rely on Title III licensing authority to support conduct rules as it has in the past,

that historical approach would result in disparate treatment of ISPs, enabling conduct

rules encompassing wireless ISPs, but not wireline ISPs. For the reasons set forth below,

we decline to adopt a patchwork of rules that subjects different categories of ISPs to

different treatment. In addition, applying conduct rules just to such providers would have

the anomalous result of more heavily regulating providers that face among the most

competitive marketplace conditions.

d. Our Evaluation of Possible Authority for Conduct

Rules Confirms That Such Rules Are Inappropriate

274. Our analyses of potential theories of legal authority for conduct rules

(other than Title II authority relied upon in the Title II Order) persuades us on the record

here that ISP conduct rules are unwarranted. The two provisions most directly on

point—Section 706 of the 1996 Act and Section 230(b) of the Communications Act—are

better read as policy pronouncements rather than grants of regulatory authority. In

addition, Section 230(b)(2) identifies Congress’ deregulatory policy for the Internet,

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explaining that “[i]t is the policy of the United States . . . to preserve the vibrant and

competitive free market that presently exists for the Internet and other interactive

computer services, unfettered by Federal or State regulation.” This policy is reinforced

by the deregulatory objectives of the 1996 Act more generally. Against that policy

backdrop, had Congress wanted us to regulate ISPs’ conduct we find it most likely that

they would have spoken to that directly. Thus, the fact that the Commission would be

left here to comb through myriad provisions of the Act in an effort to cobble together

authority for ISP conduct rules itself leaves us dubious such rules really are within the

authority granted by Congress. Because we decline to adopt conduct rules here, we need

not reach the arguments in the record that imposing such rules on ISPs would violate the

First Amendment. We are unpersuaded by the suggestion that allowing ISPs to enter

paid prioritization arrangements, even if subject to a commercial reasonableness standard,

would trigger First Amendment scrutiny as a restriction on entities wishing to transmit

speech on the Internet. The failure to restrict ISPs’ actions through conduct rules does

not require ISPs to act in any particular manner, and those arguments do not reveal why

allowing ISPs to decide whether and when to enter paid prioritization arrangements

would constitute state action triggering the First Amendment.

275. In addition, the absence of demonstrated statutory authority that could

support comprehensive conduct rules would leave us with, at most, a patchwork of non-

uniform rules that would have problematic consequences and doubtful value. Virtually

all of the remaining sources of possible authority identified in the Open Internet Order or

the record here would encompass only discrete subsets of ISPs, such as ISPs that

otherwise are providing common carrier voice services; ISPs that otherwise are cable

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operators or MVPDs; or ISPs that hold wireless licenses, among others. Individually,

each of these sources of authority would leave substantial segments of ISPs unaddressed

by any conduct rules. In addition, most of the remaining sources of authority would, at

most, enable the Commission to target narrow types of behaviors, including, among other

examples, actions by ISPs that otherwise offer common carrier voice services to interfere

with competing over-the-top voice services or actions by certain ISPs that otherwise are

video providers that harm the distribution of satellite programming. Importantly,

substantial questions also remain on the record here about the merits of most of those

theories of legal authority. For example, most if not all wired ISPs would appear to fall

outside the scope of any sound basis of authority for conduct rules addressing the theories

of harm identified in the Open Internet Order. This would leave substantial portions of

the marketplace unaddressed by conduct rules including a number of the largest ISPs.

276. Imposing conduct rules on only some, but not all, ISPs risks introducing

regulation-based market distortions by limiting some ISPs’ ability to participate in the

marketplace in a manner equivalent to other ISPs. ISPs subject to conduct rules would be

limited in the ways in which they could manage traffic on their networks and/or the

commercial arrangements they could enter related to their carriage of traffic beyond the

requirements to which other ISPs are subject. As a result, they are likely to face

increased network costs and network management challenges and see decreased revenue

opportunities from commercial arrangements relative to existing or potential competitors

not similarly constrained by conduct rules. In various contexts, the Commission

previously has recognized that such artificial regulatory distinctions can distort the

marketplace and undercut competition. The primary objectives of the 1996 Act are “[t]o

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promote competition and reduce regulation,” and the Commission likewise has observed

that “[c]ompetitive markets are superior mechanisms for protecting consumers by

ensuring that goods and services are provided to consumers in the most efficient manner

possible and at prices that reflect the cost of production.” Thus, the risk that disparate

regulatory treatment under patchwork conduct rules could harm existing or potential

competition is a significant concern. Even assuming arguendo that the record

demonstrated harms for which conduct rules were warranted—which it does not—the

record does not demonstrate that any incremental benefits from patchwork regulation

would outweigh the harm from the resulting potential for marketplace distortions.

277. Patchwork conduct rules also would not appear to address many of the

theories of harm identified in the Open Internet Order. A number of those theories of

harm would need to be addressed by comprehensive or near-comprehensive conduct

rules. Here, by contrast, substantial segments of the marketplace would be left

unaddressed by patchwork ISP conduct rules. Thus, patchwork conduct rules that

conceivably might be supported by authority identified here would not meaningfully

address such concerns, even assuming arguendo that the record here supported such

theories of harm.

C. Enforcement

278. In light of the modifications to our regulations, we also revise our

enforcement practices under them. The Internet Freedom NPRM sought comment on the

Commission’s Ombudsperson, formal complaint rules, and advisory opinions established

in the Title II Order. For the reasons discussed below, we remove these enforcement

mechanisms. Our existing informal complaint procedures combined with transparency

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and competition, as well as antitrust and consumer protection laws, will ensure that ISPs

continue to be held accountable for their actions, while removing unnecessary and

ineffective regulatory processes and unused mechanisms.

279. Open Internet Ombudsperson. We find that there is no need for a separate

Ombudsperson and thereby eliminate the Ombudsperson position. The Title II Order

created the role of an Ombudsperson “to provide assistance to individuals and

organizations with questions or complaints regarding the open Internet to ensure that

small and often unrepresented groups reach the appropriate bureaus and offices to address

specific issues.” In particular, the Title II Order tasked the Ombudsperson with

“conducting trend analysis of open Internet complaints and, more broadly, market

conditions, that could be summarized in reports to the Commission regarding how the

market is functioning for various stakeholders . . . . [and] investigat[ing] and bring[ing]

attention to open Internet concerns, and refer[ing] matters to the Enforcement Bureau for

potential further investigation.” We agree that it is important for the Commission to have

staff who monitor consumer complaints and provide consumers with additional

information; however, we disagree that a separate Ombudsperson role is necessary to

perform this function specifically for transparency complaints. Instead, as suggested in

the record, we determine that the existing consumer complaint process administered by

the Commission’s Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau is best suited to and will

process all informal transparency complaints. We reject as unsupported any suggestions

that only an Ombudsperson, and not other professional staff from the Consumer and

Governmental Affairs Bureau, would be able to engage with consumers in beneficial

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ways. Indeed, the name, purpose, and well-established track record for that Bureau make

clear its understanding of and responsiveness to consumer concerns.

280. We find that staff from the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau—

other than the Ombudsperson—have been performing the Ombudsperson functions

envisioned by the Title II Order. Since the existing rules became effective in June 2015,

the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau has engaged in an ongoing review of

informal consumer complaints submitted to the Ombudsperson and to the Commission’s

Consumer Complaint Center. Many complaints convey frustration or dissatisfaction with

a person or entity or discuss a subject without actually alleging wrongdoing on which the

Commission may act; others represent isolated incidents that do not form a trend that

allow judicious use of our limited resources. Staff from the Consumer and Governmental

Affairs Bureau review all informal open Internet complaints received by the Commission,

and work with staff in the Enforcement Bureau who also monitor media reports and

conduct additional research to identify complaint trends so the Commission can best

target its enforcement capabilities toward entities that have a pattern of violating the

Communications Act and the Commission’s rules, regulations, and orders. The

Commission’s decision not to expend its limited resources investigating each complaint

that consumers believe may be related to the open Internet rules does not mean that the

Commission “has not taken the time to analyze these materials” as alleged by some

parties in the record. Rather, this ongoing review has helped identify trends in this

subject matter as well as the many others over which we have jurisdiction and which

generate far more consumer complaints.

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 281. We emphasize that we are not making any changes to our informal

complaint processes. Our decision to eliminate the Open Internet Ombudsperson does

not impact the existing review of trends or existing responses to consumer complaints by

the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau and the Enforcement Bureau. Instead, it

reduces confusion by making clear that staff specifically trained to work with consumers,

known as Consumer Advocacy and Mediation Specialists (CAMS), are best suited to

help consumers by providing them with understandable information about the issue they

might be experiencing and to help file a complaint against a service provider if the

consumer believes the service provider is violating our rules. When a consumer needs

additional information that the CAMS cannot provide, that complaint is often shared with

the expert Bureau or Office to provide additional information to the consumer.

282. Our experience also persuades us that the demand for a distinct

Ombudsperson is not sufficient to retain the position. For the 10 month period from

December 16, 2016 through November 16, 2017, the email address and phone number

associated with the Ombudsperson received only 38 emails and 10 calls related to the

open Internet— with only 7 emails and 2 calls coming in during the 5 month period

between mid-July and mid November 2017. By comparison, during that same time

period, the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau’s Consumer Complaint Center

received roughly 7,700 complaints that consumers identified as relating to open Internet.

This figure includes complaints filed through the Consumer Complaint Center and the

FCC Call Center for which the consumer self-selected the issue “Open Internet/Net

Neutrality” or the call center agent selected “Open Internet” based on the consumer’s

description of the issue, and does not exclude open Internet campaigns. These statistics

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make clear that consumers have generally not been seeking out the Ombudsperson

position for assistance with concerns about Internet openness and that consumers are

comfortable working with the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau to protect

their interests.

283. Formal Complaint Rules. We similarly find that it is no longer necessary

to allow for formal complaints under Part 8 of the Act as we believe that the informal

complaint process is sufficient in this area. We encourage consumers to file informal

complaints for apparent violations of the transparency rule in order to assist the

Commission in monitoring the broadband market and furthering our goals under Section

257 to identify market entry barriers. We also note that under the revised regulatory

approach adopted today, consumers and other entities potentially impacted by ISPs’

conduct will have other remedies available to them outside of the Commission under

other consumer protection laws to enforce the promises made under the transparency

rule.

284. Advisory Opinions. Because we are eliminating the conduct rules, we find

that the justification for enforcement advisory opinions no longer exists. Moreover, our

experience with enforcement advisory opinions and the evidence in the record would lead

us to eliminate the use of advisory opinions in the context of open Internet conduct in any

event. The record indicates that enforcement advisory opinions do not diminish

regulatory uncertainty, particularly for small providers. Rather they add costs and

uncertain timelines since there is no specific timeframe within which to act, which can

also inhibit innovation. Further, the fact that no ISP has requested an advisory opinion

since they first became available further demonstrates that they are not needed.

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III. COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS

285. The Internet Freedom NPRM solicited input for a cost-benefit analysis in

this proceeding, with special emphasis on identifying “whether the decision will have

positive net benefits.” There was generally favorable record support for conducting this

analysis. Relying on the findings discussed above in light of the record before us and as a

result of our economic analysis, we use a cost-benefit analysis framework to evaluate key

decisions. While the record provides little data that would allow us to quantify the

magnitudes of many of the effects, our findings with respect to the key decisions we

make in this Order allow for a reasonable assessment of the direction of the effect on

economic efficiency (i.e. net positive or net negative benefits). This assessment is

equivalent to conducting a qualitative cost-benefit analysis, because the purpose of

comparing benefits and costs is to identify whether a policy change improves economic

efficiency. We reject the argument that the Internet Freedom NPRM provided inadequate

notice regarding our cost-benefit analysis here. The Commission made clear in that

NPRM that it “propose[d] to compare the costs and the benefits” of each of the “changes

for which we seek comment above.” It also provided detailed guidance to commenting

parties about the way in which the Commission proposed to conduct its cost-benefit

analysis, and the nature of the information it was seeking in order to do so. The result is

a robust record on we have based our analysis. Moreover, that NPRM plainly provided

“the terms or substance of the proposed rule,” and also provided “sufficient factual detail

and rationale for the rule to permit interested parties to comment meaningfully.” Nor can

there be any question that “[t]he final rule” is a “logical outgrowth” of the notice.

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 286. As proposed in the Internet Freedom NPRM, we evaluate maintaining the

classification of broadband Internet access service as a telecommunications service (i.e.,

Title II regulation); maintaining the Internet conduct rule; maintaining the no-blocking

rule; maintaining the no-throttling rule; and maintaining the ban on paid prioritization.

Throughout this section, when discussing maintaining broadband Internet access service

as a telecommunications service, we mean as implemented by the Title II Order, where

the Commission forbore from applying some sections of the Act and some Commission

rules. We also evaluate the benefits and costs associated with transparency regulations.

We make each of these evaluations by organizing the relevant economic findings made

throughout the Order into a cost-benefit framework.

287. The primary benefits, costs, and transfers attributable to this Order are the

changes in the economic welfare of consumers, ISPs, and edge providers that would

occur due to our actions. In our analysis of the net benefits of maintaining the Title II

classification, the Internet conduct rule, and the bright-line rules, we compare against a

state we would expect to exist if we did not maintain the classification or a particular

rule. As explained in the Internet Freedom NPRM, we “recognize that in certain cases

repealing or eliminating a rule does not result in a total lack of regulation but instead

means that other regulations continue to operate or other regulatory bodies will have

authority.” As discussed elsewhere in this Order, when analyzing the net benefits of

maintaining the Title II classification, our comparison is to a situation where a Title I

regime for broadband Internet access service, and antitrust and consumer protection

enforcement, remain in place. Further, given this Order’s adoption of a transparency

rule, when considering net benefits of the current rules we compare against a state where

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the transparency rule we adopt is in effect (as well as the antitrust and consumer

protection enforcement that exists under a Title I classification). We also recognize that

the actions we analyze separately could potentially be interdependent, but we believe a

separate consideration of each is a reasonable way to approximate the net benefits. We

believe that attempting to assert the nature of these interdependencies, particularly given

the limited record on such matters, would introduce considerable subjectivity while not

likely improving the ability of the analysis to guide our decisions. Moreover, we

consider additional regulation, for example, adding an additional rule to a baseline

package of Title II regulation and another rule (or none) is likely to have greater negative

impacts in terms of regulatory uncertainty, and distortion of efficient choices, than the

baseline package, while at best having little or no additional impact on the positive

impacts (if any) of each element of the baseline package. That is, the interactions

increase uncertainty and the unintended side effects of each element, without making

each element materially more effective.

288. To conduct the cost-benefit analysis, we first consider the question of

maintaining the Title II classification of broadband Internet access service. We next

consider approaches to transparency. Then to evaluate the Internet conduct rule and the

bright-line rules, we assume that we will not maintain the Title II classification and we

will adopt our transparency rule. This approach allows us practically to evaluate the rules

in a way that incorporates the decisions on classification and transparency that we have

come to in this Order.

289. Maintaining Title II Classification of Broadband Internet Access Service.

We have found that the Title II Order decreased investment and is likely to continue to

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decrease investment by ISPs. These decreases in investments are likely to result in less

deployment of service to unserved areas and less upgrading of facilities in already served

areas. For consumers, this means some will likely not have access to high-speed services

over fixed or mobile networks and some will not experience better service as quickly as

they otherwise would under a Title I classification. While the evidence in the record on

the effect of Title II is varied in terms of details due to different methodologies, data, etc.,

we found that the Title II classification did directionally decrease investment by ISPs.

Since the Title II Order classified broadband Internet access service under Title II and

adopted rules simultaneously, it is difficult methodologically to make a clear delineation

between the effect of the classification and the rules. However, the theoretical

underpinnings of our finding about the effect of Title II specifically also support the

finding of a negative impact on investment as a result of Title II per se.

290. As the Internet Freedom NPRM noted, “the networks built with capital

investments are only a means to an end . . . the private costs borne by consumers and

businesses of maintaining the status quo [i.e., Title II classification] result from decreased

value derived from using the networks.” Ideally, we would estimate consumers’ and

businesses’ valuations of the service or service improvements foregone caused by Title II

classification. Unfortunately, the record before us does not allow for such estimation.

We can reasonably conclude, however, that providers expect to recoup their investments

over time through revenues generated by employing the networks resulting from the

investment. Since these revenues come from consumers and businesses who are willing

to pay at least their value of the service, the investment foregone due to Title II is a lower

bound on the value consumers lose if the FCC maintains the Title II classification. This

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is a conservative estimate as the social welfare impact of this forgone investment would

likely have been positive, because frequently (1) a customer’s willingness to pay exceeds

what the customer actually pays, and (2) the provider may make an economic profit. We

therefore conclude that the private costs of maintaining a Title II classification due to

foregone network investment are directionally negative and likely constitute at least

several billion dollars annually based on the record.

291. The Commission also asked in the Internet Freedom NPRM about

additional costs that could result from foregone network investments. When regulation

discourages investment in the network, society is likely to lose some spillover benefits

that the purchasers of broadband Internet access do not themselves capture. Such forgone

benefits can include network externalities (the network becomes more valuable the more

users are on the network, but individual ISPs do not capture all of these, as they are

obtained by end users on other ISPs’ networks), and improvements in productivity and

innovation that occur because broadband is a general-purpose technology. The record

provides little information that could be used to quantify such costs, but it is reasonable to

conclude that there are social costs beyond the private costs associated with the foregone

investment.

292. Next, we consider the benefits associated with maintaining the Title II

classification. The relevant comparison is what incremental benefit the Title II

classification provides over and above the Title I scenario. In the Title I scenario, the

FTC has jurisdiction over broadband Internet access service providers. The record does

not convince us that Title II classification per se provides any benefit over and above

Title I classification. We also find above that the record does not provide evidence

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supporting the conclusion that the Title II classification affects edge investment. To the

extent Title II provides a benefit, it appears to do so by serving as a legal basis relied

upon to adopt rules. Therefore, in this cost-benefit analysis we conclude the incremental

benefits of maintaining the Title II classification are approximately zero.

293. Finding that the benefits of maintaining the Title II classification are

approximately zero, coupled with our finding that the private and social costs are

positive, we conclude that maintaining the Title II classification would have net negative

benefits. Thus, maintaining the Title II classification would decrease overall economic

welfare, and our cost-benefit analysis supports the decision to reclassify broadband

Internet access service as a Title I service.

294. Evaluating Transparency Rules. As discussed already, we find that the

benefits of a transparency rule are positive based on the record. Given our decision to

classify broadband Internet access service under Title I, the benefits of a transparency

rule are expected to be of considerable magnitude since it is a key element of our

approach of relying on enforcement under antitrust and consumer protection law to

prevent and remedy harmful behaviors by ISPs. Numerous commenters indicate the

benefits of a free and open Internet are large, so to the extent a transparency rule under

our Title I approach is important for maintaining a free and open Internet, we can

conclude the benefits are positive and considerable. Furthermore, transparency can

provide other benefits in terms of consumer welfare. Namely, if transparency helps

mitigate economic deadweight loss due to information asymmetry or if it helps

consumers better satisfy their preferences in their purchasing decisions, then additional

benefits will accrue. We therefore conclude that our transparency approach, as well as

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the transparency approaches in the Open Internet Order and the Title II Order, all have

positive benefits.

295. The costs of the transparency rules may vary given differences in their

implementation. Comparing the transparency approach in the Open Internet Order and

the Title II Order, we conclude the costs were greater for the latter. Based on the record,

we determined above that the additional transparency requirements in the Title II Order

were particularly burdensome. Although the record is limited on the costs of these

transparency rules, the Commission’s Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) filings indicate

the Title II Order transparency rule increased the burden on the public by thousands of

hours per year, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. While we do not have specific

information on our transparency rule’s costs, it is fairly similar to that in the Open

Internet Order. Therefore, we conclude that a reasonable approximation for the PRA

burden associated with our rule is approximately half the preceding burden estimate. We

recognize there are other costs to this requirement not accounted for in the PRA estimate,

though the PRA estimate provides a starting point for sizing the costs, particularly as we

compare several alternative transparency approaches.

296. Combining our conclusion about the benefits of a transparency rule with

our assessments of the costs of the several transparency rules, we conclude that the

transparency rule in the Title II Order would have the smallest net positive benefit of the

three. That is because we do not believe the additional elements of the Title II Order

transparency regime have significant additional benefits but they do impose significant

additional costs. However, our transparency rule would have a larger net positive benefit

than the transparency rule in the Title II Order. Therefore, our cost-benefit analysis of

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the transparency alternatives supports our decision to adopt a transparency rule more

limited than the one in the Title II Order.

297. Maintaining the Internet Conduct Rule. We have determined elsewhere

that the Internet conduct rule has created uncertainty and ultimately deterred innovation

and investment. The record does not provide sufficient information for us to estimate the

magnitude of this effect. However, we do find that maintaining the Internet conduct rule

imposes social costs in terms of increased uncertainty, reduced investment, and reduced

innovation.

298. We also find above that the benefits of the Internet conduct standard are

limited if not approximately zero. In this cost-benefit analysis, we consider the

incremental benefit of the Internet conduct standard relative to the regulatory

environment created by this Order. The regulatory environment created by this Order

will have antitrust and consumer protection enforcement in place through the FTC. We

find that the Internet conduct standard provides approximately zero additional benefits

compared to that baseline.

299. Based on the record available, we conclude that maintaining the Internet

conduct standard would impose net negative benefits. The costs of the rule are

considerable as the evidence shows that it had large effects on consumers obtaining

innovative services (as demonstrated by the zero-rating experiences). The innovations

that were delayed or never brought to market would likely have cost many millions or

even billions of dollars in lost consumer welfare. At the same time, for the reasons

explained already, the benefits of the conduct rule are approximately zero. This leads us

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to conclude that the Internet conduct standard has a net negative effect on economic

welfare, and supports our decision not to maintain the Internet conduct rule.

300. Maintaining the Ban on Paid Prioritization. We have determined

elsewhere in this Order that the ban on paid prioritization has created uncertainty and

reduced ISP investment. We also find that the ban is likely to prevent certain types of

innovative applications from being developed or adopted. The record does not provide

sufficient information for us to estimate the magnitude of these effects. However, we do

find that maintaining the ban on paid prioritization imposes substantial social costs.

301. We also find above that the benefits of the ban on paid prioritization are

limited. In this cost-benefit analysis, we consider the incremental benefit of the ban on

paid prioritization relative to the regulatory environment created by this Order. The

regulatory environment created by this Order will have antitrust and consumer protection

enforcement in place. So we must ask what the ban on paid prioritization provides in

additional benefits when compared to that baseline. We concluded that transparency

combined with antitrust and consumer enforcement at the FTC will be able to address the

vast majority of harms the ban on paid prioritization is intended to prevent. To the extent

there are harms not well addressed by this enforcement, we would expect those cases to

be infrequent and involve relatively small amounts of harm, though the record does not

allow us to estimate this magnitude. Antitrust law, in combination with the transparency

rule we adopt, is particularly well-suited to addressing any potential or actual

anticompetitive harms that may arise from paid prioritization arrangements. While

antitrust law does not address harms that may arise from the legal use of market power,

we have found that such market power is limited, and ISPs also have countervailing

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incentives to keep edge provider output high and keep subscribers on the network. The

record therefore supports a finding of small to zero benefits.

302. Based on the record available, we conclude that maintaining the ban on

paid prioritization would impose net negative benefits. The record shows that in some

cases innovative services and business models would benefit from paid prioritization. At

the same time, for the reasons explained already, the benefits of maintaining the ban are

small or zero. We therefore conclude that the ban on paid prioritization has a net

negative effect on economic welfare. This conclusion supports our decision to not

maintain the ban on paid prioritization.

303. Maintaining the Bans on Blocking and Throttling. We find that the costs

of these bans are likely small. This is supported by the fact that ISPs voluntarily have

chosen in some cases to commit to not blocking or throttling. However, we also

recognize that these rules may create some compliance costs nonetheless. For example,

when considering new approaches to managing network traffic, an ISP must apply due

diligence in evaluating whether the practice might be perceived as running afoul of the

rules. As network management becomes increasingly complex, the compliance costs of

these rules could increase.

304. Having adopted a transparency rule, we find the benefits of bans on

blocking and throttling are approximately zero since the transparency rule will allow

antitrust and consumer protection law, coupled with consumer expectations and ISP

incentives, to mitigate potential harms. That is, we have determined that replacing the

prohibitions on blocking and throttling with a transparency rule implements a lower-cost

method of ensuring that threats to Internet openness are exposed and deterred by market

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forces, public opprobrium, and enforcement of the consumer protection laws. We

conclude therefore that maintaining the bans on blocking and throttling has a small net

negative benefit, compared to the new regulatory environment we create (i.e. Title I

classification and our transparency rule).

IV. ORDER

A. Denial of INCOMPAS Petition to Modify Protective Orders

305. INCOMPAS requests that we modify the protective orders in four recent

major transaction proceedings involving Internet service providers to allow confidential

materials submitted in those dockets to be used in this proceeding. INCOMPAS argues

that the materials “are necessary to understanding and fully analyzing incumbent

broadband providers’ ability and incentives to harm edge providers.” The motion is

opposed by the three companies whose materials would be most affected—Comcast,

Charter and AT&T—as well as by Verizon. For the reasons set forth below, after

carefully “balancing . . . the public and private interests involved,” we deny

INCOMPAS’s request.

306. The Commission’s protective orders limit parties’ use of the materials

obtained under the protective order solely to “the preparation and conduct” of that

particular proceeding, and expressly prohibit the materials being used “for any other

purpose, including . . . in any other administrative, regulatory or judicial proceedings.”

The terms of the relevant protective orders therefore prohibit INCOMPAS from using the

confidential materials it obtained in those prior dockets in the current proceeding.

Further, parties reasonably expect that the information they submit pursuant to the

strictures of a protective order will be used in accordance with the terms of that order and

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that the order’s explicit prohibitions will not be changed years later. That is not to imply,

however, that the Commission cannot request the submission of information in a

proceeding simply because it has been provided pursuant to a protective order in another

proceeding.

307. Before discussing the substance of INCOMPAS’s request, we note that, as

a formal matter, the Commission does not modify protective orders to allow materials to

be used in a different proceeding. Rather, where we find that the public interest is served

by submitting certain materials into a docket, we do so, subject to a protective order

specific to that proceeding if the material is confidential. That is true whether the

materials have been submitted in prior proceedings or not. The question before us, then,

is whether we will require the relevant parties to submit into this docket the

presumptively confidential information INCOMPAS has identified.

308. The Commission is not required to enter into the record and review every

document that a party to a proceeding deems relevant, especially where, as here, those

documents may number in the tens of thousands. Nor, as a general matter, does the

Commission allow for discovery by parties—which is essentially what INCOMPAS

seeks here—except in adjudications that have been set for hearing. The Commission has

broad discretion in how to manage its own proceedings, and we find several problems

with requiring the materials INCOMPAS seeks to be submitted into this rulemaking

docket.

309. First, much of the material INCOMPAS seeks is now several years old

and INCOMPAS has offered little demonstration of its relevance to this proceeding. For

example, Comcast’s ability to discriminate against online video providers in 2009 and

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2010 shines little light on its ability to do so now. Also, as the opponents argue, many of

the confidential materials cited by the Commission in its prior transaction decisions were

cited as part of a larger group of mostly publicly available information. Having the

competitively sensitive information from those transactions in this record would therefore

not significantly add to the Commission’s understanding of the issues, especially since

the participants in the current proceeding and the Commission already have available the

Commission’s prior conclusions and reasoning, as well as the underlying public

information.

310. Second, INCOMPAS asks for information only from the few industry

participants who happen to have had large transactions before the Commission. But

where the Commission has sought information in large rulemaking proceedings, it sought

information from the entire industry, not just from a select few participants. Transaction

review is an adjudicatory matter, involving the entities engaging in the transaction—not

the entire industry or marketplace. Particularly given that there are thousands of ISPs

doing business in the United States, INCOMPAS does not address how a quite

incomplete picture of industry practices could meaningfully improve the Commission’s

analysis.

311. Third, granting the request would pose several administrative difficulties.

It is unclear how much of the material INCOMPAS seeks is still in the possession of the

parties: the relevant portions of the proceedings are finished, and many of the materials

may have been destroyed. And what is available at the Commission would be difficult

and costly to produce. Making the information available to others also would be

administratively difficult. For example, in the recent Business Data Services proceeding,

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the Commission made the competitively sensitive data available for review only through

a secure data enclave, a process which took significant time and resources to establish.

And in most Commission proceedings, the parties who own the confidential information

are required to provide that material directly to persons who seek to review it pursuant to

terms outlined in the applicable protective order. Here, in contrast, it is likely that the

Commission itself would have to make the confidential information available, further

depleting scarce Commission resources.

312. Finally, as noted above, the materials INCOMPAS seeks were provided

pursuant to express assurances against their use in future proceedings.

313. INCOMPAS cites two examples in which the Commission staff placed

into the record competitively sensitive materials originally submitted in another docket.

We find both inapposite. As an initial matter, we note that the Commission is not bound

by its staff’s prior decisions. The first example INCOMPAS cites involved a series of

spectrum license transfers between wireless telecommunications companies where the

Commission added confidential data to the docket under a new protective order. When

evaluating transactions such as these, the Commission regularly uses subscriber data

derived from regular periodic confidential filings made by all telecommunications

companies to determine market shares. In such transactions, this use of subscriber data is

often the only way to calculate market share, which is a critical element to analyzing the

potential competitive harms of the proposed transaction. Balancing that need against the

potential competitive harm to providers, we have determined that allowing that material

to be reviewed pursuant to a protective order best serves the public interest. For the

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reasons expressed above, we do not reach the same conclusions with respect to the

materials here.

314. INCOMPAS also cites the recent investigation of certain business data

services tariffs, in which the Commission placed the record of the contemporaneous

business data services rulemaking proceeding into the docket of the tariff investigations.

As the opponents note, the tariff investigation was not only related to the rulemaking

proceeding, it actually was determined by the staff to be “an outgrowth” of that

proceeding. Further, there was no Commission decision in the rulemaking proceeding on

which the participants in the tariff proceeding could rely; the proceeding was still

ongoing. All of the participants in the tariff proceeding, moreover, were participating in

the rulemaking proceeding. Here, by contrast, the current rulemaking is not related to the

prior transactions; the parties may rely on prior written Commission decisions; and

literally millions more comments have been submitted in this rulemaking than in the prior

transaction proceedings. Finally, we note that none of the parties that owned the

confidential information in the Business Data Services rulemaking proceeding raised

confidentiality concerns with respect to that information being placed into the tariff

investigation docket. Here, they do.

315. Even absent the legal and administrative barriers discussed above, the

substance of the past transaction orders compels us to deny INCOMPAS’ motion. When,

as it has in the past, the Commission determines a specific transaction involving certain

large broadband providers is likely to create competitive or other public interest harm, the

conditions imposed are applicable only to those entities engaging in the transaction.

Those proceedings involved some of the nation’s largest broadband providers, and the

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Commission’s conclusions were based on the specific circumstances involved. This is

because transaction review is an adjudicatory matter, involving the motives, plans, and

capabilities of the entities engaging in the transaction—not the entire industry or

marketplace. Indeed, transaction reviews specifically do not address issues that are not

transaction-specific but are industry-wide. The targeted and flexible approach the

Commission used to ameliorate the potential harms it found in those transactions is not

transferable to a permanent, one-size-fits-all approach in this rulemaking applicable to

hundreds of ISPs.

316. Further, in those limited instances in which the Commission found

conduct remedies necessary, it almost always applied them on a temporary basis, in

recognition that markets change over time. That is true even more so in industries that

are characterized by rapidly changing technologies. Similarly, the Commission often has

provided that it will “consider a petition for modification of this condition if it can be

demonstrated that there has been a material change in circumstance or the condition has

proven unduly burdensome, rendering the condition no longer necessary in the public

interest,” and has acted accordingly. None of this would be the case with respect to the

regulations that some commenters urge us to adopt in this rulemaking.

317. INCOMPAS argues that “[l]ooking to the past is the standard way for

administrative agencies to make predictive judgments.” However, the analysis

supporting our decision to re-classify broadband Internet access service as an information

service is quite different from the analysis the Commission employs when conducting a

transaction review. In this rulemaking, we are not considering whether, as a result of a

transfer of a Commission license, a licensee is likely to gain market power, allowing it to

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take anticompetitive actions that it otherwise could not. Instead, we are reasonably

considering the long-term costs and benefits of Title II and other ex ante regulation in an

increasingly dynamic market. As such, we choose a conservative and administrable

approach to formulating a light-touch regulatory framework—which is appropriate in a

rulemaking.

318. In addition to rejecting the INCOMPAS petition on the merits, we find

that the petition is procedurally flawed. Although some of the companies that objected to

INCOMPAS’s request were the applicants in the proceedings from which INCOMPAS

seeks confidential information, they are not the only owners of confidential information

submitted in those dockets. INCOMPAS did not file its request in those dockets—which

are long dormant—and others whose confidential information would be disclosed if we

were to grant INCOMPAS’s request have not been notified of the request to have the

opportunity to object. That would need to occur before any of their information could be

made available, even pursuant to a protective order.

319. Taking into account and sensibly balancing the factors discussed above,

we find that the public interest would not be served by requiring the submission into the

docket of the current proceeding the presumptively confidential information INCOMPAS

seeks. We therefore deny INCOMPAS’s request.

B. Denial of NHMC Motion Regarding Informal Consumer Complaints

320. The National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC) requests that we

incorporate in the record of this proceeding the informal complaint materials released as

part of NHMC’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request and establish a new

pleading cycle for public comment on those materials. NHMC argues that the materials

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“are directly relevant to the [NPRM’s] questions regarding the effectiveness of the [Title

II Order]” and that if we deny NHMC’s request, “any decision in this proceeding would

be based on an insufficient and fundamentally flawed record.” The motion is opposed by

several parties who argue that the informal complaint materials are not relevant to this

proceeding, and that the motion “appears to be . . . aimed [] at prolonging this proceeding

unnecessarily.” For the reasons set forth below, we deny NHMC’s request.

321. In responding to NHMC’s underlying FOIA requests, we produced nearly

70,000 pages of records responsive to the requests. The documents we provided to

NHMC included informal consumer complaints filed with the Consumer and

Governmental Affairs Bureau, data relating to the complaints, responses to the informal

complaints from the carrier involved in a specific complaint—all filed by the consumer

under the category of Open Internet/Net Neutrality—and consumer complaint

correspondence with the Open Internet Ombudsperson. We provided this large quantity

of documents to NHMC on a rolling basis and made all of the documents available to the

public in our FOIA Electronic Reading Room.

322. Under Commission rules, and as noted by opponents to the motion,

“NHMC is free to put into the record whatever it believes to be relevant via ex parte

letters.” NHMC began receiving the documents it claims are relevant to the proceeding

on June 20, 2017. During the following months, NHMC engaged with Commission staff

to discuss the consumer complaint documents. NHMC also conducted an Expert

Analysis of the consumer complaint documents and submitted the analysis along with the

complaints it found relevant in the record, in addition to submitting the full universe of

consumer complaints it received under the FOIA request into the record on December

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1—nearly three months after the Commission produced them all. Thus, we remain

unpersuaded that NHMC requires additional time to review the documents and instead

agree with commenters that NHMC has raised “the mere existence of these complaints as

a pretext for delay.”

323. The Internet Freedom NPRM sought comment on consumer harm in a

variety of contexts and, in response, received over 22 million comments discussing

consumers’ view of the Title II Order, including any harm that may or may not have

occurred under its rules. After routinely reviewing the consumer complaints over the past

two years, and conducting a robust review of the voluminous record in this proceeding,

we agree with opponents to the motion that “it is exceedingly unlikely that these informal

complaints identify any net neutrality ‘problem’ that [advocates] have somehow

overlooked in their many massive submissions in this docket.” The Commission takes

consumer complaints seriously and finds them valuable in informing us about trends in

the marketplace, but we reiterate that they are informal complaints that, in most instances,

have not been verified. Further, the overwhelming majority of these informal complaints

do not allege conduct implicating the Open Internet rules. Of the complaints that do

discuss ISPs, they often allege frustration with a person or entity, but do not allege

wrongdoing under the Open Internet rules. The consumer complaints NHMC submitted

in the record as part of the Expert Analysis further support this point. Further, we are not

required to resolve all of these informal complaints before proceeding with a rulemaking.

Since we do not rely on these informal complaints as the basis for the decisions we make

today, we do not have an obligation to incorporate them into the record.

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 324. We are convinced that we have a full and complete record on which to

base our determination today without incorporating the materials requested by NHMC.

Further, because the record remained open for over three months after the complete

production of documents under NHMC FOIA’s request, and NHMC filed an analysis the

materials it deemed relevant in the record, we believe that NHMC had ample opportunity

to “meaningfully review the informal complaint materials and provide comment.”

V. PROCEDURAL MATTERS

A. The Administrative Record

325. In reviewing the record in this rulemaking, the Commission complied with

its obligations under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), including the obligation to

consider all “relevant matter” received, to adequately consider “important aspect[s] of the

problem,” and to “reasonably respond to those comments that raise significant problems.”

Consistent with these obligations, the Commission focused its review of the record on the

submitted comments that bear substantively on the legal and public policy consequences

of the actions we take today. Thus, our decision to restore Internet freedom did not rely

on comments devoid of substance, or the thousands of identical or nearly-identical non-

substantive comments that simply convey support or opposition to the proposals in the

Internet Freedom NPRM.

326. Because we have complied with our obligations under the APA, we reject

calls to delay adoption of this Order out of concerns that certain non-substantive

comments (on which the Commission did not rely) may have been submitted under

multiple different names or allegedly “fake” names. The Commission is under no legal

obligation to adopt any “procedural devices” beyond what the APA requires, such as

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identity-verification procedures. In addition, the Commission has previously decided not

to apply its internal rules regarding false statements in the rulemaking context because we

do not want “to hinder full and robust public participation in such policymaking

proceedings by encouraging collateral wrangling over the truthfulness of the parties’

statements.” To the extent that members of the public are concerned about the presence

in the record of identical or nearly-identical non-substantive comments that simply

convey support or opposition to the proposals in the Internet Freedom NPRM, those

comments in no way impeded the Commission’s ability to identify or respond to material

issues in the record. Indeed, the Order demonstrates the Commission’s deep engagement

with the substantive legal and public policy questions presented in this proceeding.

B. Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis

327. As required by the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA), an Initial Regulatory

Flexibility Analysis (IRFA) was incorporated into the Internet Freedom NPRM. The

Commission sought written public comment on the possible significant economic impact

on small entities regarding the proposals addressed in the Internet Freedom NPRM,

including comments on the IRFA. Pursuant to the RFA, a Final Regulatory Flexibility

Analysis is set forth in the Order.

C. Paperwork Reduction Act Analysis

328. This document contains new or modified information collection

requirements subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), Public Law 104-

13. It will be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review

under Section 3507(d) of the PRA. OMB, the general public, and other federal agencies

will be invited to comment on the new information collection requirements contained in

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this proceeding. In addition, we note that pursuant to the Small Business Paperwork

Relief Act of 2002, Public Law 107-198, see 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(4), we previously sought

specific comment on how the Commission might further reduce the information

collection burden for small business concerns with fewer than 25 employees.

329. In this present document, we require any person providing broadband

Internet access service to publicly disclose accurate information regarding the network

management practices, performance, and commercial terms of their broadband Internet

access services sufficient to enable consumers to make informed choices regarding the

purchase and use of such services and entrepreneurs and other small businesses to

develop, market, and maintain Internet offerings. We have assessed the effects of this

rule and find that any burden on small businesses will be minimal because (1) the rule

gives ISPs flexibility in how to implement the disclosure rule, (2) the rule gives providers

adequate time to develop cost-effective methods of compliance, and (3) the rule

eliminates the additional reporting obligations adopted in the Title II Order.

D. Congressional Review Act

330. The Commission will send a copy of the Report and Order to Congress

and the Government Accountability Office pursuant to the Congressional Review Act,

see 5 U.S.C. 801(a)(1)(A).

E. Data Quality Act

331. The Commission certifies that it has complied with the Office of

Management and Budget Final Information Quality Bulletin for Peer Review, 70 FR

2664, January 14, 2005, and the Data Quality Act, Pub. L. 106-554 (2001), codified at 44

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U.S.C. 3516 note, with regard to its reliance on influential scientific information in the

Declaratory Ruling, Report and Order, and Order in WC Docket No. 17-108.

F. Accessible Formats

332. To request materials in accessible formats for people with disabilities

(braille, large print, electronic files, audio format), send an e-mail to [email protected] or

call the Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau at 202-418-0530 (voice), 202-418-

0432 (tty). Contact the FCC to request reasonable accommodations for filing comments

(accessible format documents, sign language interpreters, CARTS, etc.) by e-mail:

[email protected]; phone: (202) 418-0530 (voice), (202) 418-0432 (TTY).

VI. FINAL REGULATORY FLEXIBILITY ANALYSIS

333. As required by the Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980 (RFA), as amended,

Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (IRFAs) was incorporated in the Notice of

Proposed Rule Making (Internet Freedom NPRM) for this proceeding. The Commission

sought written public comment on the proposals in the Internet Freedom NPRM,

including comment on the IRFA. The Commission received comments on the Internet

Freedom NPRM IRFA, which are discussed below. This present Final Regulatory

Flexibility Analysis (FRFA) conforms to the RFA.

A. Need for, and Objectives of, the Final Rules

334. In order to return the Internet to the light-touch regulatory environment

that allowed investment to increase and consumers to benefit, we return broadband

Internet access service to its longstanding classification as an information service, and

eliminate several rules adopted in the Title II Order, including the general conduct

standard, the ban on paid prioritization, and the no-blocking and no-throttling rules. We

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retain the transparency rule adopted in the Open Internet Order, with modifications,

while eliminating the additional reporting obligations created in the Title II Order, the

Title II Order’s direct notification requirement, and the broadband label “safe harbor.”

335. We also eliminate the formal complaint procedures under Part 8 of the

Act, because the informal complaint procedures are sufficient. We eliminate the other

components of the enforcement regime created in the Title II Order, including the

position of Open Internet Ombudsperson and the issuance of advisory opinions. We also

return mobile broadband Internet access service to its longstanding definition as a private

mobile radio service under Section 332 of the Communications Act.

The transparency rule we adopt is necessary because properly tailored transparency

disclosures provide valuable information to the Commission to enable it to meet its

statutory obligation to observe the communications marketplace to monitor the

introduction of new services and technologies, and to identify and eliminate potential

marketplace barriers for the provision of information service. Such disclosures also

provide valuable information to other Internet ecosystem participants; transparency

substantially reduces the possibility that ISPs will engage in harmful practices, and it

incentivizes quick corrective measures by providers if problematic conduct is identified.

Appropriate disclosures help consumers make informed choices about their purchase and

use of broadband services. Moreover, clear disclosures improve consumer confidence in

ISPs’ practices, ultimately increasing user adoption and leading to additional investment

and innovation, while providing entrepreneurs and other small businesses the necessary

information to innovate and improve products.

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 336. Our enforcement changes will ensure that ISPs will be held accountable

for any violations of the transparency rule. We eliminate the formal complaint

procedures because the informal complaint procedure, in conjunction with other redress

options including consumer protection laws, will sufficiently protect consumers.

Additionally, we eliminate the position of Open Internet Ombudsperson because the staff

from the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau—other than the Ombudsperson—

have been performing the Ombudsperson functions envisioned by the Title II Order. We

also eliminate the issuance of enforcement advisory opinions, because enforcement

advisory opinions do not diminish regulatory uncertainty, particularly for small providers.

Instead, they add costs and uncertain timelines since there is no specific timeframe within

which to act, which can also inhibit innovation.

337. We return mobile broadband Internet access service to its original

classification as a private mobile radio service because we find that the definitions of the

terms “public switched network” and “interconnected service” that the Commission

adopted in the 1994 Second CMRS Report and Order reflect a better reading of the Act.

Accordingly, we readopt those definitions.

338. We restore the definition of interconnected service that existed prior to the

Title II Order. Prior to that Order, the term “interconnected service” was defined under

the Commission’s rules as a service “that gives subscribers the capability to communicate

to or receive communication from all other users on the public switched network.” The

Title II Order modified this definition by deleting the word “all,” finding that mobile

broadband Internet access service should still be considered an interconnected service

even if it only enabled users to communicate with “some” other users of the public

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switched network rather than all. We conclude that the better reading of “interconnected

service” is one that enables communication between its users and all other users of the

public switched network.

339. The legal basis for the rules we adopt today includes sections 3, 4, 201(b),

230, 231, 257, 303, 332, 403, 501, and 503 of the Communications Act of 1934, as

amended, 47 U.S.C. 153, 154, 201(b), 230, 231, 257, 303, 332, 403, 501, 503. The

transparency rule we adopt today relies on Section 257 of the Communications Act.

Section 257 requires the Commission to make triennial reports to Congress, and those

triennial reports must identify “market entry barriers for entrepreneurs and other small

businesses in the provision and ownership of telecommunications services and

information services.”

B. Summary of Significant Issues Raised by Public Comments to the

IRFA

340. The Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (WISPA) argued that

the IRFA was incomplete and inaccurate. We find that this FRFA suffic iently addresses

WISPA’s concerns and explains how we “alleviate many of the significant financial

harms on small providers imposed by the [Title II Order].”

C. Response to Comments by the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the

Small Business Administration

341. Pursuant to the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010, which amended the

RFA, the Commission is required to respond to any comments filed by the Chief Counsel

of the Small Business Administration (SBA), and to provide a detailed statement of any

change made to the proposed rule(s) as a result of those comments.

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 342. The Chief Counsel did not file any comments in response to the proposed

rule(s) in this proceeding.

D. Description and Estimate of the Number of Small Entities to Which

the Final Rule May Apply

343. The RFA directs agencies to provide a description of and, where feasible,

an estimate of the number of small entities that may be affected by the proposed rules, if

adopted. The RFA generally defines the term “small entity” as having the same meaning

as the terms “small business,” “small organization,” and “small governmental

jurisdiction.” In addition, the term “small business” has the same meaning as the term

“small business concern” under the Small Business Act. A small business concern is one

that: (1) is independently owned and operated; (2) is not dominant in its field of

operation; and (3) satisfies any additional criteria established by the Small Business

Administration (SBA). Nationwide, there are a total of approximately 28.2 million small

businesses, according to the SBA. A “small organization” is generally “any not-for-profit

enterprise which is independently owned and operated and is not dominant in its field.”

1. Total Small Entities

344. Small Entities, Small Organizations, Small Governmental Jurisdictions.

Our actions, over time, may affect small entities that are not easily categorized at present.

We therefore describe here, at the outset, three comprehensive small entity size standards

that could be directly affected herein. First, while there are industry specific size

standards for small businesses that are used in the regulatory flexibility analysis,

according to data from the SBA’s Office of Advocacy, in general a small business is an

independent business having fewer than 500 employees. These types of small businesses

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represent 99.9 percent of all businesses in the United States which translates to 28.8

million businesses. Next, the type of small entity described as a “small organization” is

generally “any not-for-profit enterprise which is independently owned and operated and

is not dominant in its field.” Nationwide, as of August 2016, there were approximately

356,494 small organizations based on registration and tax data filed by nonprofits with

the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Finally, the small entity described as a “small

governmental jurisdiction” is defined generally as “governments of cities, towns,

townships, villages, school districts, or special districts, with a population of less than

fifty thousand.” U.S. Census Bureau data from the 2012 Census of Governments

indicates that there were 90,056 local governmental jurisdictions consisting of general

purpose governments and special purpose governments in the United States. Of this

number there were 37,132 General purpose governments (county, municipal and town or

township) with populations of less than 50,000 and 12,184 Special purpose governments

(independent school districts and special districts) with populations of less than 50,000.

The 2012 U.S. Census Bureau data for most types of governments in the local

government category shows that the majority of these governments have populations of

less than 50,000. Based on this data we estimate that at least 49,316 local government

jurisdictions fall in the category of “small governmental jurisdictions.”

2. Broadband Internet Access Service Providers

345. The rules we adopt apply to broadband Internet access service providers.

The Economic Census places these firms, whose services might include Voice over

Internet Protocol (VoIP), in either of two categories, depending on whether the service is

provided over the provider’s own telecommunications facilities (e.g., cable and DSL

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ISPs), or over client-supplied telecommunications connections (e.g., dial-up ISPs). The

former are within the category of Wired Telecommunications Carriers, which has an

SBA small business size standard of 1,500 or fewer employees. These are also labeled

“broadband.” The latter are within the category of All Other Telecommunications, which

has a size standard of annual receipts of $32.5 million or less. These are labeled non-

broadband. Census data for 2012 show that there were 3,117 firms that operated that

year. Of this total, 3,083 operated with fewer than 1,000 employees. For the second

category, census data for 2012 show that there were 1,442 firms that operated for the

entire year. Of those firms, a total of 1,400 had annual receipts less than $25 million.

Consequently, we estimate that the majority of broadband Internet access service

provider firms are small entities.

346. The broadband Internet access service provider industry has changed since

this definition was introduced in 2007. The data cited above may therefore include

entities that no longer provide broadband Internet access service, and may exclude

entities that now provide such service. To ensure that this FRFA describes the universe

of small entities that our action might affect, we discuss in turn several different types of

entities that might be providing broadband Internet access service. We note that,

although we have no specific information on the number of small entities that provide

broadband Internet access service over unlicensed spectrum, we include these entities in

our Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis.

3. Wireline Providers

347. Wired Telecommunications Carriers. The U.S. Census Bureau defines

this industry as “establishments primarily engaged in operating and/or providing access

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to transmission facilities and infrastructure that they own and/or lease for the

transmission of voice, data, text, sound, and video using wired communications networks.

Transmission facilities may be based on a single technology or a combination of

technologies. Establishments in this industry use the wired telecommunications network

facilities that they operate to provide a variety of services, such as wired telephony

services, including VoIP services, wired (cable) audio and video programming

distribution, and wired broadband Internet services. By exception, establishments

providing satellite television distribution services using facilities and infrastructure that

they operate are included in this industry.” The SBA has developed a small business size

standard for Wired Telecommunications Carriers, which consists of all such companies

having 1,500 or fewer employees. Census data for 2012 show that there were 3,117 firms

that operated that year. Of this total, 3,083 operated with fewer than 1,000 employees.

Thus, under this size standard, the majority of firms in this industry can be considered

small.

348. Local Exchange Carriers (LECs). Neither the Commission nor the SBA

has developed a size standard for small businesses specifically applicable to local

exchange services. The closest applicable NAICS Code category is for Wired

Telecommunications Carriers, as defined in paragraph 12 of this FRFA. Under that size

standard, such a business is small if it has 1,500 or fewer employees. Census data for

2012 show that there were 3,117 firms that operated that year. Of this total, 3,083

operated with fewer than 1,000 employees. The Commission therefore estimates that

most providers of local exchange carrier service are small entities that may be affected by

the rules adopted.

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 349. Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers (incumbent LECs). Neither the

Commission nor the SBA has developed a small business size standard specifically for

incumbent local exchange services. The closest applicable NAICS Code category is

Wired Telecommunications Carriers as defined in paragraph 17 of this FRFA. Under that

size standard, such a business is small if it has 1,500 or fewer employees. According to

Commission data, 3,117 firms operated in that year. Of this total, 3,083 operated with

fewer than 1,000 employees. Consequently, the Commission estimates that most

providers of incumbent local exchange service are small businesses that may be affected

by the rules and policies adopted. One thousand three hundred and seven (1,307)

Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers reported that they were incumbent local exchange

service providers. Of this total, an estimated 1,006 have 1,500 or fewer employees.

350. Competitive Local Exchange Carriers (Competitive LECs), Competitive

Access Providers (CAPs), Shared-Tenant Service Providers, and Other Local Service

Providers. Neither the Commission nor the SBA has developed a small business size

standard specifically for these service providers. The appropriate NAICS Code category

is Wired Telecommunications Carriers, as defined in paragraph 17 of this FRFA. Under

that size standard, such a business is small if it has 1,500 or fewer employees. U.S.

Census data for 2012 indicate that 3,117 firms operated during that year. Of that number,

3,083 operated with fewer than 1,000 employees. Based on this data, the Commission

concludes that the majority of Competitive LECs, CAPs, Shared-Tenant Service

Providers, and Other Local Service Providers are small entities. According to

Commission data, 1,442 carriers reported that they were engaged in the provision of

either competitive local exchange services or competitive access provider services. Of

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these 1,442 carriers, an estimated 1,256 have 1,500 or fewer employees. In addition, 17

carriers have reported that they are Shared-Tenant Service Providers, and all 17 are

estimated to have 1,500 or fewer employees. In addition, 72 carriers have reported that

they are Other Local Service Providers. Of this total, 70 have 1,500 or fewer employees.

Consequently, the Commission estimates that most providers of competitive local

exchange service, competitive access providers, Shared-Tenant Service Providers, and

Other Local Service Providers are small entities that may be affected by the adopted

rules.

351. We have included small incumbent LECs in this present RFA analysis.

As noted above, a “small business” under the RFA is one that, inter alia, meets the

pertinent small business size standard (e.g., a telephone communications business having

1,500 or fewer employees), and “is not dominant in its field of operation.” The SBA’s

Office of Advocacy contends that, for RFA purposes, small incumbent LECs are not

dominant in their field of operation because any such dominance is not “national” in

scope. We have therefore included small incumbent LECs in this RFA analysis, although

we emphasize that this RFA action has no effect on Commission analyses and

determinations in other, non-RFA contexts.

352. Interexchange Carriers (IXCs). Neither the Commission nor the SBA has

developed a definition for Interexchange Carriers. The closest NAICS Code category is

Wired Telecommunications Carriers as defined in paragraph 17 of this FRFA. The

applicable size standard under SBA rules is that such a business is small if it has 1,500 or

fewer employees. According to Commission data, 359 companies reported that their

primary telecommunications service activity was the provision of interexchange services.

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Of this total, an estimated 317 have 1,500 or fewer employees and 42 have more than

1,500 employees. Consequently, the Commission estimates that the majority of

interexchange service providers are small entities that may be affected by rules adopted.

353. Operator Service Providers (OSPs). Neither the Commission nor the

SBA has developed a small business size standard specifically for operator service

providers. The appropriate size standard under SBA rules is for the category Wired

Telecommunications Carriers. Under that size standard, such a business is small if it has

1,500 or fewer employees. According to Commission data, 33 carriers have reported that

they are engaged in the provision of operator services. Of these, an estimated 31 have

1,500 or fewer employees and two have more than 1,500 employees. Consequently, the

Commission estimates that the majority of OSPs are small entities that may be affected

by our adopted rules.

354. Other Toll Carriers. Neither the Commission nor the SBA has developed

a definition for small businesses specifically applicable to Other Toll Carriers. This

category includes toll carriers that do not fall within the categories of interexchange

carriers, operator service providers, prepaid calling card providers, satellite service

carriers, or toll resellers. The closest applicable NAICS Code category is for Wired

Telecommunications Carriers as defined above. Under the applicable SBA size standard,

such a business is small if it has 1,500 or fewer employees. Census data for 2012 shows

that there were 3,117 firms that operated that year. Of this total, 3,083 operated with

fewer than 1,000 employees. Thus, under this category and the associated small business

size standard, the majority of Other Toll Carriers can be considered small. According to

internally developed Commission data, 284 companies reported that their primary

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telecommunications service activity was the provision of other toll carriage. Of these, an

estimated 279 have 1,500 or fewer employees. Consequently, the Commission estimates

that most Other Toll Carriers are small entities that may be affected by rules adopted

pursuant to the Order.

4. Wireless Providers- Fixed and Mobile

355. The broadband Internet access service provider category covered by these

rules may cover multiple wireless firms and categories of regulated wireless services.

Thus, to the extent the wireless services listed below are used by wireless firms for

broadband Internet access service, the proposed actions may have an impact on those

small businesses as set forth above and further below. In addition, for those services

subject to auctions, we note that, as a general matter, the number of winning bidders that

claim to qualify as small businesses at the close of an auction does not necessarily

represent the number of small businesses currently in service. Also, the Commission

does not generally track subsequent business size unless, in the context of assignments

and transfers or reportable eligibility events, unjust enrichment issues are implicated.

356. Wireless Telecommunications Carriers (except Satellite). This industry

comprises establishments engaged in operating and maintaining switching and

transmission facilities to provide communications via the airwaves, such as cellular

services, paging services, wireless internet access, and wireless video services. The

appropriate size standard under SBA rules is that such a business is small if it has 1,500

or fewer employees. For this industry, Census data for 2012 show that there were 967

firms that operated for the entire year. Of this total, 955 firms had fewer than 1,000

employees. Thus under this category and the associated size standard, the Commission

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estimates that the majority of wireless telecommunications carriers (except satellite) are

small entities. Similarly, according to internally developed Commission data, 413

carriers reported that they were engaged in the provision of wireless telephony, including

cellular service, Personal Communications Service (PCS), and Specialized Mobile Radio

(SMR) services. Of this total, an estimated 261 have 1,500 or fewer employees.

Consequently, the Commission estimates that approximately half of these firms can be

considered small. Thus, using available data, we estimate that the majority of wireless

firms can be considered small.

357. The Commission’s own data—available in its Universal Licensing

System—indicate that, as of October 25, 2016, there are 280 Cellular licensees that will

be affected by our actions today. The Commission does not know how many of these

licensees are small, as the Commission does not collect that information for these types

of entities. Similarly, according to internally developed Commission data, 413 carriers

reported that they were engaged in the provision of wireless telephony, including cellular

service, Personal Communications Service, and Specialized Mobile Radio Telephony

services. Of this total, an estimated 261 have 1,500 or fewer employees, and 152 have

more than 1,500 employees. Thus, using available data, we estimate that the majority of

wireless firms can be considered small.

358. Wireless Communications Services. This service can be used for fixed,

mobile, radiolocation, and digital audio broadcasting satellite uses. The Commissio n

defined “small business” for the wireless communications services (WCS) auction as an

entity with average gross revenues of $40 million for each of the three preceding years,

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and a “very small business” as an entity with average gross revenues of $15 million for

each of the three preceding years. The SBA has approved these definitions.

359. 1670–1675 MHz Services. This service can be used for fixed and mobile

uses, except aeronautical mobile. An auction for one license in the 1670–1675 MHz

band was conducted in 2003. One license was awarded. The winning bidder was not a

small entity.

360. Wireless Telephony. Wireless telephony includes cellular, personal

communications services, and specialized mobile radio telephony carriers. As noted, the

SBA has developed a small business size standard for Wireless Telecommunications

Carriers (except Satellite). Under the SBA small business size standard, a business is

small if it has 1,500 or fewer employees. According to Commission data, 413 carriers

reported that they were engaged in wireless telephony. Of these, an estimated 261 have

1,500 or fewer employees and 152 have more than 1,500 employees. Therefore, a little

less than one third of these entities can be considered small.

361. Broadband Personal Communications Service. The broadband personal

communications services (PCS) spectrum is divided into six frequency blocks designated

A through F, and the Commission has held auctions for each block. The Commission

initially defined a “small business” for C- and F-Block licenses as an entity that has

average gross revenues of $40 million or less in the three previous calendar years. For F-

Block licenses, an additional small business size standard for “very small business” was

added and is defined as an entity that, together with its affiliates, has average gross

revenues of not more than $15 million for the preceding three calendar years. These

small business size standards, in the context of broadband PCS auctions, have been

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approved by the SBA. No small businesses within the SBA-approved small business size

standards bid successfully for licenses in Blocks A and B. There were 90 winning

bidders that claimed small business status in the first two C-Block auctions. A total of 93

bidders that claimed small business status won approximately 40 percent of the 1,479

licenses in the first auction for the D, E, and F Blocks. On April 15, 1999, the

Commission completed the reauction of 347 C-, D-, E-, and F-Block licenses in Auction

No. 22. Of the 57 winning bidders in that auction, 48 claimed small business status and

won 277 licenses.

362. On January 26, 2001, the Commission completed the auction of 422 C and

F Block Broadband PCS licenses in Auction No. 35. Of the 35 winning bidders in that

auction, 29 claimed small business status. Subsequent events concerning Auction 35,

including judicial and agency determinations, resulted in a total of 163 C and F Block

licenses being available for grant. On February 15, 2005, the Commission completed an

auction of 242 C-, D-, E-, and F-Block licenses in Auction No. 58. Of the 24 winning

bidders in that auction, 16 claimed small business status and won 156 licenses. On May

21, 2007, the Commission completed an auction of 33 licenses in the A, C, and F Blocks

in Auction No. 71. Of the 12 winning bidders in that auction, five claimed small business

status and won 18 licenses. On August 20, 2008, the Commission completed the auction

of 20 C-, D-, E-, and F-Block Broadband PCS licenses in Auction No. 78. Of the eight

winning bidders for Broadband PCS licenses in that auction, six claimed small business

status and won 14 licenses.

363. Specialized Mobile Radio Licenses. The Commission awards “small

entity” bidding credits in auctions for Specialized Mobile Radio (SMR) geographic area

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licenses in the 800 MHz and 900 MHz bands to firms that had revenues of no more than

$15 million in each of the three previous calendar years. The Commission awards “very

small entity” bidding credits to firms that had revenues of no more than $3 million in

each of the three previous calendar years. The SBA has approved these small business

size standards for the 900 MHz Service. The Commission has held auctions for

geographic area licenses in the 800 MHz and 900 MHz bands. The 900 MHz SMR

auction began on December 5, 1995, and closed on April 15, 1996. Sixty bidders

claiming that they qualified as small businesses under the $15 million size standard won

263 geographic area licenses in the 900 MHz SMR band. The 800 MHz SMR auction for

the upper 200 channels began on October 28, 1997, and was completed on December 8,

1997. Ten bidders claiming that they qualified as small businesses under the $15 million

size standard won 38 geographic area licenses for the upper 200 channels in the 800 MHz

SMR band. A second auction for the 800 MHz band was held on January 10, 2002 and

closed on January 17, 2002 and included 23 BEA licenses. One bidder claiming small

business status won five licenses.

364. The auction of the 1,053 800 MHz SMR geographic area licenses for the

General Category channels began on August 16, 2000, and was completed on September

1, 2000. Eleven bidders won 108 geographic area licenses for the General Category

channels in the 800 MHz SMR band and qualified as small businesses under the $15

million size standard. In an auction completed on December 5, 2000, a total of 2,800

Economic Area licenses in the lower 80 channels of the 800 MHz SMR service were

awarded. Of the 22 winning bidders, 19 claimed small business status and won 129

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licenses. Thus, combining all four auctions, 41 winning bidders for geographic licenses

in the 800 MHz SMR band claimed status as small businesses.

365. In addition, there are numerous incumbent site-by-site SMR licenses and

licensees with extended implementation authorizations in the 800 and 900 MHz bands.

We do not know how many firms provide 800 MHz or 900 MHz geographic area SMR

service pursuant to extended implementation authorizations, nor how many of these

providers have annual revenues of no more than $15 million. One firm has over $15

million in revenues. In addition, we do not know how many of these firms have 1,500 or

fewer employees, which is the SBA-determined size standard. We assume, for purposes

of this analysis, that all of the remaining extended implementation authorizations are held

by small entities, as defined by the SBA.

366. Lower 700 MHz Band Licenses. The Commission previously adopted

criteria for defining three groups of small businesses for purposes of determining their

eligibility for special provisions such as bidding credits. The Commission defined a

“small business” as an entity that, together with its affiliates and controlling principals,

has average gross revenues not exceeding $40 million for the preceding three years. A

“very small business” is defined as an entity that, together with its affiliates and

controlling principals, has average gross revenues that are not more than $15 million for

the preceding three years. Additionally, the lower 700 MHz Service had a third category

of small business status for Metropolitan/Rural Service Area (MSA/RSA) licenses—

“entrepreneur”—which is defined as an entity that, together with its affiliates and

controlling principals, has average gross revenues that are not more than $3 million for

the preceding three years. The SBA approved these small size standards. An auction of

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740 licenses (one license in each of the 734 MSAs/RSAs and one license in each of the

six Economic Area Groupings (EAGs)) commenced on August 27, 2002, and closed on

September 18, 2002. Of the 740 licenses available for auction, 484 licenses were won by

102 winning bidders. Seventy-two of the winning bidders claimed small business, very

small business or entrepreneur status and won a total of 329 licenses. A second auction

commenced on May 28, 2003, closed on June 13, 2003, and included 256 licenses: 5

EAG licenses and 476 Cellular Market Area licenses. Seventeen winning bidders

claimed small or very small business status and won 60 licenses, and nine winning

bidders claimed entrepreneur status and won 154 licenses. On July 26, 2005, the

Commission completed an auction of 5 licenses in the Lower 700 MHz band (Auction

No. 60). There were three winning bidders for five licenses. All three winning bidders

claimed small business status.

367. In 2007, the Commission reexamined its rules governing the 700 MHz

band in the 700 MHz Second Report and Order. An auction of 700 MHz licenses

commenced January 24, 2008 and closed on March 18, 2008, which included, 176

Economic Area licenses in the A Block, 734 Cellular Market Area licenses in the B

Block, and 176 EA licenses in the E Block. Twenty winning bidders, claiming small

business status (those with attributable average annual gross revenues that exceed $15

million and do not exceed $40 million for the preceding three years) won 49 licenses.

Thirty three winning bidders claiming very small business status (those with attributable

average annual gross revenues that do not exceed $15 million for the preceding three

years) won 325 licenses.

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 368. Upper 700 MHz Band Licenses. In the 700 MHz Second Report and

Order, the Commission revised its rules regarding Upper 700 MHz licenses. On January

24, 2008, the Commission commenced Auction 73 in which several licenses in the Upper

700 MHz band were available for licensing: 12 Regional Economic Area Grouping

licenses in the C Block, and one nationwide license in the D Block. The auction

concluded on March 18, 2008, with 3 winning bidders claiming very small business

status (those with attributable average annual gross revenues that do not exceed $15

million for the preceding three years) and winning five licenses.

369. 700 MHz Guard Band Licensees. In 2000, in the 700 MHz Guard Band

Order, the Commission adopted size standards for “small businesses” and “very small

businesses” for purposes of determining their eligibility for special provisions such as

bidding credits and installment payments. A small business in this service is an entity

that, together with its affiliates and controlling principals, has average gross revenues not

exceeding $40 million for the preceding three years. Additionally, a very small business

is an entity that, together with its affiliates and controlling principals, has average gross

revenues that are not more than $15 million for the preceding three years. SBA approval

of these definitions is not required. An auction of 52 Major Economic Area licenses

commenced on September 6, 2000, and closed on September 21, 2000. Of the 104

licenses auctioned, 96 licenses were sold to nine bidders. Five of these bidders were

small businesses that won a total of 26 licenses. A second auction of 700 MHz Guard

Band licenses commenced on February 13, 2001, and closed on February 21, 2001. All

eight of the licenses auctioned were sold to three bidders. One of these bidders was a

small business that won a total of two licenses.

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 370. Air-Ground Radiotelephone Service. The Commission has previously

used the SBA’s small business size standard applicable to Wireless Telecommunications

Carriers (except Satellite), i.e., an entity employing no more than 1,500 persons. There

are approximately 100 licensees in the Air-Ground Radiotelephone Service, and under

that definition, we estimate that almost all of them qualify as small entities under the

SBA definition. For purposes of assigning Air-Ground Radiotelephone Service licenses

through competitive bidding, the Commission has defined “small business” as an entity

that, together with controlling interests and affiliates, has average annual gross revenues

for the preceding three years not exceeding $40 million. A “very small business” is

defined as an entity that, together with controlling interests and affiliates, has average

annual gross revenues for the preceding three years not exceeding $15 million. These

definitions were approved by the SBA. In May 2006, the Commission completed an

auction of nationwide commercial Air-Ground Radiotelephone Service licenses in the

800 MHz band (Auction No. 65). On June 2, 2006, the auction closed with two winning

bidders winning two Air-Ground Radiotelephone Services licenses. Neither of the

winning bidders claimed small business status.

371. AWS Services (1710–1755 MHz and 2110–2155 MHz bands (AWS-1);

1915–1920 MHz, 1995–2000 MHz, 2020–2025 MHz and 2175–2180 MHz bands (AWS-

2); 2155–2175 MHz band (AWS-3)). For the AWS-1 bands, the Commission has defined

a “small business” as an entity with average annual gross revenues for the preceding three

years not exceeding $40 million, and a “very small business” as an entity with average

annual gross revenues for the preceding three years not exceeding $15 million. For

AWS-2 and AWS-3, although we do not know for certain which entities are likely to

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apply for these frequencies, we note that the AWS-1 bands are comparable to those used

for cellular service and personal communications service. The Commission has not yet

adopted size standards for the AWS-2 or AWS-3 bands but proposes to treat both AWS-2

and AWS-3 similarly to broadband PCS service and AWS-1 service due to the

comparable capital requirements and other factors, such as issues involved in relocating

incumbents and developing markets, technologies, and services.

372. 3650–3700 MHz band. In March 2005, the Commission released a Report

and Order and Memorandum Opinion and Order that provides for nationwide, non-

exclusive licensing of terrestrial operations, utilizing contention-based technologies, in

the 3650 MHz band (i.e., 3650–3700 MHz). As of April 2010, more than 1270 licenses

have been granted and more than 7433 sites have been registered. The Commission has

not developed a definition of small entities applicable to 3650–3700 MHz band

nationwide, non-exclusive licensees. However, we estimate that the majority of these

licensees are Internet Access Service Providers (ISPs) and that most of those licensees

are small businesses.

373. Fixed Microwave Services. Microwave services include common carrier,

private-operational fixed, and broadcast auxiliary radio services. They also include the

Local Multipoint Distribution Service (LMDS), the Digital Electronic Message Service

(DEMS), and the 24 GHz Service, where licensees can choose between common carrier

and non-common carrier status. At present, there are approximately 36,708 common

carrier fixed licensees and 59,291 private operational- fixed licensees and broadcast

auxiliary radio licensees in the microwave services. There are approximately 135 LMDS

licensees, three DEMS licensees, and three 24 GHz licensees. The Commission has not

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yet defined a small business with respect to microwave services. For purposes of the

IRFA, we will use the SBA’s definition applicable to Wireless Telecommunications

Carriers (except satellite)—i.e., an entity with no more than 1,500 persons. Under the

present and prior categories, the SBA has deemed a wireless business to be small if it has

1,500 or fewer employees. The Commission does not have data specifying the number of

these licensees that have more than 1,500 employees, and thus is unable at this time to

estimate with greater precision the number of fixed microwave service licensees that

would qualify as small business concerns under the SBA’s small business size standard.

Consequently, the Commission estimates that there are up to 36,708 common carrier

fixed licensees and up to 59,291 private operational-fixed licensees and broadcast

auxiliary radio licensees in the microwave services that may be small and may be

affected by the rules and policies adopted herein. We note, however, that the common

carrier microwave fixed licensee category includes some large entities.

374. Broadband Radio Service and Educational Broadband Service.

Broadband Radio Service systems, previously referred to as Multipoint Distribution

Service (MDS) and Multichannel Multipoint Distribution Service (MMDS) systems, and

“wireless cable,” transmit video programming to subscribers and provide two-way high

speed data operations using the microwave frequencies of the Broadband Radio Service

(BRS) and Educational Broadband Service (EBS) (previously referred to as the

Instructional Television Fixed Service (ITFS)). In connection with the 1996 BRS

auction, the Commission established a small business size standard as an entity that had

annual average gross revenues of no more than $40 million in the previous three calendar

years. The BRS auctions resulted in 67 successful bidders obtaining licensing

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opportunities for 493 Basic Trading Areas (BTAs). Of the 67 auction winners, 61 met

the definition of a small business. BRS also includes licensees of stations authorized

prior to the auction. At this time, we estimate that of the 61 small business BRS auction

winners, 48 remain small business licensees. In addition to the 48 small businesses that

hold BTA authorizations, there are approximately 392 incumbent BRS licensees that are

considered small entities. After adding the number of small business auction licensees to

the number of incumbent licensees not already counted, we find that there are currently

approximately 440 BRS licensees that are defined as small businesses under either the

SBA or the Commission’s rules.

375. In 2009, the Commission conducted Auction 86, the sale of 78 licenses in

the BRS areas. The Commission offered three levels of bidding credits: (i) a bidder with

attributed average annual gross revenues that exceed $15 million and do not exceed $40

million for the preceding three years (small business) received a 15 percent discount on

its winning bid; (ii) a bidder with attributed average annual gross revenues that exceed $3

million and do not exceed $15 million for the preceding three years (very small business)

received a 25 percent discount on its winning bid; and (iii) a bidder with attributed

average annual gross revenues that do not exceed $3 million for the preceding three years

(entrepreneur) received a 35 percent discount on its winning bid. Auction 86 concluded

in 2009 with the sale of 61 licenses. Of the ten winning bidders, two bidders that claimed

small business status won 4 licenses; one bidder that claimed very small business status

won three licenses; and two bidders that claimed entrepreneur status won six licenses.

5. Satellite Service Providers

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 376. Satellite Telecommunications Providers. Two economic census categories

address the satellite industry. Both categories have a small business size standard of

$32.5 million or less in average annual receipts, under SBA rules.

377. Satellite Telecommunications. This category comprises firms “primarily

engaged in providing telecommunications services to other establishments in the

telecommunications and broadcasting industries by forwarding and receiving

communications signals via a system of satellites or reselling satellite

telecommunications.” The category has a small business size standard of $32.5 million

or less in average annual receipts, under SBA rules. For this category, Census Bureau

data for 2012 show that there were a total of 333 firms that operated for the entire year.

Of this total, 299 firms had annual receipts of less than $25 million. Consequently, we

estimate that the majority of satellite telecommunications providers are small entities.

378. All Other Telecommunications. “All Other Telecommunications” is

defined as follows: “This U.S. industry is comprised of establishments that are primarily

engaged in providing specialized telecommunications services, such as satellite tracking,

communications telemetry, and radar station operation. This industry also includes

establishments primarily engaged in providing satellite terminal stations and associated

facilities connected with one or more terrestrial systems and capable of transmitting

telecommunications to, and receiving telecommunications from, satellite systems.

Establishments providing Internet services or voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) services

via client supplied telecommunications connections are also included in this industry.”

The SBA has developed a small business size standard for “All Other

Telecommunications,” which consists of all such firms with gross annual receipts of

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$32.5 million or less. For this category, Census Bureau data for 2012 show that there

were 1,442 firms that operated for the entire year. Of those firms, a total of 1,400 had

annual receipts less than $25 million. Consequently, we conclude that the majority of All

Other Telecommunications firms can be considered small.

6. Cable Service Providers

379. Because Section 706 requires us to monitor the deployment of broadband

using any technology, we anticipate that some broadband service providers may not

provide telephone service. Accordingly, we describe below other types of firms that may

provide broadband services, including cable companies, MDS providers, and utilities,

among others.

380. Cable and Other Subscription Programming. This industry comprises

establishments primarily engaged in operating studios and facilities for the broadcasting

of programs on a subscription or fee basis. The broadcast programming is typically

narrowcast in nature (e.g., limited format, such as news, sports, education, or youth-

oriented). These establishments produce programming in their own facilities or acquire

programming from external sources. The programming material is usually delivered to a

third party, such as cable systems or direct-to-home satellite systems, for transmission to

viewers. The SBA size standard for this industry establishes as small, any company in

this category which has annual receipts of $38.5 million or less. According to 2012 U.S.

Census Bureau data, 367 firms operated for the entire year. Of that number, 319 operated

with annual receipts of less than $25 million a year and 48 firms operated with annual

receipts of $25 million or more. Based on this data, the Commission estimates that the

majority of firms operating in this industry are small.

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 381. Cable Companies and Systems (Rate Regulation). The Commission has

developed its own small business size standards for the purpose of cable rate regulation.

Under the Commission’s rules, a “small cable company” is one serving 400,000 or fewer

subscribers nationwide. Industry data indicate that there are currently 4,600 active cable

systems in the United States. Of this total, all but nine cable operators nationwide are

small under the 400,000-subscriber size standard. In addition, under the Commission's

rate regulation rules, a “small system” is a cable system serving 15,000 or fewer

subscribers. Current Commission records show 4,600 cable systems nationwide. Of this

total, 3,900 cable systems have fewer than 15,000 subscribers, and 700 systems have

15,000 or more subscribers, based on the same records. Thus, under this standard as

well, we estimate that most cable systems are small entities.

382. Cable System Operators (Telecom Act Standard). The Communications

Act of 1934, as amended, also contains a size standard for small cable system operators,

which is “a cable operator that, directly or through an affiliate, serves in the aggregate

fewer than one percent of all subscribers in the United States and is not affiliated with

any entity or entities whose gross annual revenues in the aggregate exceed $250,000,000

are approximately 52,403,705 cable video subscribers in the United States today.

Accordingly, an operator serving fewer than 524,037 subscribers shall be deemed a small

operator if its annual revenues, when combined with the total annual revenues of all its

affiliates, do not exceed $250 million in the aggregate. Based on available data, we find

that all but nine incumbent cable operators are small entities under this size standard. We

note that the Commission neither requests nor collects information on whether cable

system operators are affiliated with entities whose gross annual revenues exceed $250

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million. Although it seems certain that some of these cable system operators are

affiliated with entities whose gross annual revenues exceed $250,000,000, we are unable

at this time to estimate with greater precision the number of cable system operators that

would qualify as small cable operators under the definition in the Communications Act.

7. All Other Telecommunications

383. “All Other Telecommunications” is defined as follows: “This U.S.

industry is comprised of establishments that are primarily engaged in providing

specialized telecommunications services, such as satellite tracking, communications

telemetry, and radar station operation. This industry also includes establishments

primarily engaged in providing satellite terminal stations and associated facilities

connected with one or more terrestrial systems and capable of transmitting

telecommunications to, and receiving telecommunications from, satellite systems.

Establishments providing Internet services or voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) services

via client supplied telecommunications connections are also included in this industry.”

The SBA has developed a small business size standard for “All Other

Telecommunications,” which consists of all such firms with gross annual receipts of

$32.5 million or less. For this category, Census Bureau data for 2012 show that there

were 1,442 firms that operated for the entire year. Of those firms, a total of 1,400 had

annual receipts less than $25 million. Consequently, we conclude that the majority of All

Other Telecommunications firms can be considered small.

E. Description of Projected Reporting, Recordkeeping, and Other

Compliance Requirements for Small Entities

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 384. Today’s action requires broadband Internet access service providers to

“publicly disclose accurate information regarding the network management practices,

performance, and commercial terms of its broadband Internet access services sufficient to

enable consumers to make informed choices regarding the purchase and use of such

services and entrepreneurs and other small businesses to develop, market, and maintain

Internet offerings.”

385. Broadband Internet access service providers must disclose performance

characteristics, network practices, and commercial terms. The required disclosures must

either be posted on a publicly available, easily accessible website, or they must be

submitted to the Commission, which will post the disclosures on a publicly available,

easily accessible website.

386. Because the disclosure requirements we adopt today eliminate the

additional reporting obligations found in the Title II Order, we decline to provide an

exemption for smaller providers at this time. While a commenter emphasized that small

broadband Internet access service providers had an even more pressing need to be

classified as information service providers, today’s action applies equally to all providers

of broadband Internet access service, and therefore does even more than the initial

comment requested.

F. Steps Taken to Minimize the Significant Economic Impact on Small

Entities, and Significant Alternatives Considered

387. Today’s action restores broadband Internet access service’s original

classification as an information service. This will significantly decrease the burdens on

small entities. Additionally, the removal of the additional reporting obligations, the

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direct notification requirement, and the broadband provider safe harbor form will

minimize the burdens providers face.

388. The transparency rule we adopt today strikes an appropriate balance by

requiring ISPs to disclose information that will allow consumers to make informed

choices and that will enable the Commission to enable it to meet its statutory obligation

to observe the communications marketplace to monitor the introduction of new services

and technologies and to identify and eliminate potential marketplace barriers for the

provision of information service, while simultaneously freeing providers from onerous

burdens that produce little public benefit. While retaining the transparency rule, with

modifications, from the Open Internet Order, we eliminate the additional reporting

obligations, the direct notification requirements, and the broadband label “safe harbor,”

all of which will reduce the burdens on ISPs. The additional reporting obligations, the

direct notification requirement, and the “safe harbor” all required ISPs to expend

significant resources without a corresponding gain to consumers, entrepreneurs, or other

small businesses.

389. We also eliminate several rules adopted in the Title II Order, including the

general conduct standard, the ban on paid prioritization, and the no-blocking and no-

throttling rules. We eliminate these rules for three reasons. First, the transparency rule

we adopt, in combination with the state of broadband Internet access service competition

and the antitrust and consumer protection laws, obviate the need for conduct rules by

achieving comparable benefits at lower cost. Second, the record does not identify any

legal authority to adopt conduct rules for all ISPs, and we decline to distort the market

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with a patchwork of non-uniform, limited-purpose rules. Third, scrutinizing closely each

prior conduct rule, we find that the costs of each rule outweigh its benefits.

390. We also eliminate the position of Open Internet Ombudsperson, the formal

complaint process, and the issuance of advisory opinions, because the work of the Open

Internet Ombudsperson is more appropriately handled by Commission staff, and because

the issuance of advisory opinions and the formal complaint process have not been shown

to provide any benefit to broadband Internet access service providers or consumers.

391. Finally, we return mobile broadband Internet access service to its original

classification as a private mobile radio service and restore the definition of interconnected

service that existed prior to the Title II Order. This will remove regulatory burdens from

providers of mobile broadband Internet access service, including small providers.

G. Report to Congress:

392. The Commission will send a copy of this Declaratory Ruling, Report and

Order, and Order, including this FRFA, in a report to be sent to Congress pursuant to the

SBREFA. In addition, the Commission will send a copy of this Declaratory Ruling,

Report and Order, and Order, including the FRFA, to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of

the SBA. A copy of the Declaratory Ruling, Report and Order, and Order, and the FRFA

(or summaries thereof) will also be published in the Federal Register.

VII. ORDERING CLAUSES

393. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that, pursuant to Sections 3, 4, 201(b),

230, 231, 257, 303, 332, 403, 501, and 503 of the Communications Act of 1934, as

amended, 47 U.S.C. 153, 154, 201(b), 230, 231, 257, 303, 332, 403, 501, 503, this

Declaratory Ruling, Report and Order, and Order IS ADOPTED.

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 394. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that parts 1, 8, and 20 of the Commission’s

rules ARE AMENDED as set forth in the Final Rules of the Order.

395. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that this Declaratory Ruling, Report and

Order, and Order, including those amendments which contain new or modified

information collection requirements that require approval by the Office of Management

and Budget (OMB) under the Paperwork Reduction Act WILL BECOME EFFECTIVE

upon the effective date announced when the Commission publishes a document in the

Federal Register announcing such OMB approval and the effective date. It is our

intention in adopting the foregoing Declaratory Ruling and these rule changes that, if any

provision of the Declaratory Ruling or the rules, or the application thereof to any person

or circumstance, is held to be unlawful, the remaining portions of such Declaratory

Ruling and the rules not deemed unlawful, and the application of such Declaratory Ruling

and the rules to other person or circumstances, shall remain in effect to the fullest extent

permitted by law.

396. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the INCOMPAS Petition to Modify

Protective Orders is DENIED.

397. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the National Hispanic Media Coalition

(NHMC) Motion Regarding Informal Consumer Complaints is DENIED.

398. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Commission’s Consumer &

Governmental Affairs Bureau, Reference Information Center, SHALL SEND a copy of

this Declaratory Ruling, Report and Order, and Order to Congress and the Government

Accountability Office pursuant to the Congressional Review Act, see 5 U.S.C.

801(a)(1)(A).

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 399. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that, pursuant to 47 CFR 1.4(b)(1), the

period for filing petitions for reconsideration or petitions for judicial review of this

Declaratory Ruling, Report and Order, and Order will commence on the date that a

summary of this Declaratory Ruling, Report and Order, and Order is published in the

Federal Register.

List of Subjects in 47 CFR Parts 1, 8, and 20

Administrative practice and procedure, Cable television, Common carriers,

Communications common carriers, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements,

Satellites, Telecommunications, Telephone, Radio.

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

Marlene H. Dortch,
Secretary.
Office of the Secretary.

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 Final Rules

For the reasons discussed in the preamble, the Federal Communications Commission

amends 47 CFR parts 1, 8, and 20 as follows:

PART 1 – PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE

1. The authority citation for part 1 continues to read as follows:

Authority: 47 U.S.C. 34-39, 151, 154(i), 154(j), 155, 157, 160, 201, 225, 227, 303, 309,

332, 1403, 1404, 1451, 1452, and 1455.

2. Amend § 1.49 by revising paragraph (f)(1)(i) to read as follows:

§ 1.49 Specifications as to pleadings and documents.

* * * * *

(f) * * *

(1) * * *

(i) Formal complaint proceedings under section 208 of the Act and in §§ 1.720 through

1.736, and pole attachment complaint proceedings under section 224 of the Act and in §§

1.1401 through 1.1424;

* * * * *

PART 8 – INTERNET FREEDOM

3. The authority citation for part 8 is revised to read as follows:

Authority: 47 U.S.C. 154, 201(b), 257, and 303(r).

4. Amend part 8 by revising the part heading to read as set forth above.

5. Revise § 8.1 to read as follows:

§ 8.1 Transparency.
(a) Any person providing broadband Internet access service shall publicly disclose

accurate information regarding the network management practices, performance

characteristics, and commercial terms of its broadband Internet access services sufficient

to enable consumers to make informed choices regarding the purchase and use of such

services and entrepreneurs and other small businesses to develop, market, and maintain

Internet offerings. Such disclosure shall be made via a publicly available, easily

accessible website or through transmittal to the Commission.

(b) Broadband Internet access service is a mass-market retail service by wire or radio that

provides the capability to transmit data to and receive data from all or substantially all

Internet endpoints, including any capabilities that are incidental to and enable the

operation of the communications service, but excluding dial-up Internet access service.

This term also encompasses any service that the Commission finds to be providing a

functional equivalent of the service described in the previous sentence or that is used to

evade the protections set forth in this part.

(c) A network management practice is reasonable if it is appropriate and tailored to

achieving a legitimate network management purpose, taking into account the particular

network architecture and technology of the broadband Internet access service.

§§ 8.2, 8.3, 8.5, 8.7, 8.9, 8.11, 8.12, 8.13, 8.14, 8.15, 8.16, 8.17, 8.18, and 8.19

[Removed]

6. Remove §§ 8.2, 8.3, 8.5, 8.7, 8.9, 8.11, 8.12, 8.13, 8.14, 8.15, 8.16, 8.17, 8.18,

and 8.19.

PART 20 – COMMERCIAL MOBILE SERVICES

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7. The authority citation for part 20 continues to read as follows:

Authority: 47 U.S.C. 151, 152(a) 154(i), 157, 160, 201, 214, 222, 251(e), 301, 302, 303,

303(b), 303(r), 307, 307(a), 309, 309(j)(3), 316, 316(a), 332, 610, 615, 615a, 615b, 615c,

unless otherwise noted.

8. Amend § 20.3 by:

a. In the definition of “Commercial mobile radio service,” revising paragraph (b);

b. In the definition of “Interconnected Service,” revising paragraph (a); and

c. Revising the definition of “Public Switched Network.”

The revisions read as follows:

§ 20.3 Definitions.

* * * * *

Commercial mobile radio service. * * *

* * * * *

(b) The functional equivalent of such a mobile service described in paragraph (a) of this

definition.

* * * * *

Interconnected Service. * * *

(a) That is interconnected with the public switched network, or interconnected with the

public switched network through an interconnected service provider, that gives

subscribers the capability to communicate to or receive communication from all other

users on the public switched network; or

* * * * *

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Public Switched Network. Any common carrier switched network, whether by wire or

radio, including local exchange carriers, interexchange carriers, and mobile service

providers, that uses the North American Numbering Plan in connection with the

provision of switched services.

* * * * *

[FR Doc. 2018-03464 Filed: 2/21/2018 8:45 am; Publication Date: 2/22/2018]

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