FCC Revives Common Carriage for the Internet

September 28, 2023

After five years without net neutrality rules, the fix for a problem that doesn’t exist is back.

by Berin Szóka Reason.com

Until Monday, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) had been deadlocked for 2.5 years. It took President Joe Biden six months to nominate a third Democratic commissioner—and after moderate Democrats balked, it took another 17 for him to nominate someone else. The swearing-in of Anna Gomez gave Democrats a majority—two-thirds of the way into President Joe Biden’s presidential term. With so much to cram into so little time, the next year will be the most frenzied in the FCC’s nearly 100-year history.

The key issue is broadband regulation. It’s been five years since the Republican FCC supposedly “killed net neutrality”—yet even after the pandemic’s shift towards remote work, remote school, and remote everything broadband service is better than ever thanks to $2 trillion in private investment since 1996. That’s by far the largest source of capital expenditures in the U.S., dwarfing public subsidies, even the generous grants included in pandemic stimulus bills.