Net neutrality repeal is benefiting consumers
CRITICS claimed that repeal of “net neutrality” regulations by the Trump administration would devastate consumer access to the internet. Instead, broadband investment is increasing, which benefits consumers through improved service and greater choice.
Activists may not like it, but the growth in broadband investment is another example of how the Trump administration’s deregulation is fueling economic growth and benefiting all Americans.
During the latter years of the Obama administration, the Federal Communications Commission voted to treat internet service providers as public utilities subject to onerous regulations originally designed for railroad monopolies in the 1880s and then revised for phone monopolies in the 1930s.
The impact of those regulations quickly became apparent. Jonathan Spalter, an official with US Telecom, a trade association representing the broadband industry, noted in a recent blog post that broadband investment declined from 2014 to 2016. But thanks to Trump’s election, and subsequent net neutrality repeal, the investment decline is now “in the rearview mirror.” Analysts believe broadband investment surged from $70.6 billion in 2016 to as much as $74 billion in 2017.
Spalter writes that “it is essential that we give substantial credit where it is clearly due — restoring U.S. innovation policy to the constructive, nimble and proconsumer framework that has guided the meteoric rise of our economy since the early days of the internet.”
He says it is “no coincidence that the broadband capex slowdown coincided with the previous FCC — in its final two years — abruptly shifting course down a sharply more regulatory path headlined by the controversial attempt to subject consumer broadband services to heavy, archaic regulations written nearly a century ago.”
“Equally true,” Spalter continued, “this capex recovery in 2017 coincides with the current FCC leadership’s emphasis on consistent, modern policies that seek to create a more level playing field across the internet ecosystem — ensuring company investments will be treated fairly and consumers will be protected consistently wherever they go online.”
The decline in broadband investment was notable because such decreases previously occurred only during recessions. The negative impact was greatest for those with the least access.
Ajit Pai, the FCC chairman who has spearheaded net neutrality repeal, previously warned Congress the regulations would severely impact “thousands of smaller internet service providers” and that many companies serving fewer than 1,000 residential broadband customers had contacted the FCC to predict negative impact. Those small providers were among the most likely to serve rural areas.
In 2015, it was estimated 49 percent of all Oklahomans and 89 percent of those in rural areas lacked access to internet service providing speeds of 25 megabits per second for downloads and 3 Mbps for uploads. That was far worse than the national rates of 17 percent and 53 percent in those two categories, respectively. Those underserved Oklahomans were among the people most harmed by adoption of net neutrality. Thanks to the Trump administration’s deregulation, now those citizens and rural communities face a brighter future.