It’s Not Clear Commissioners Will Vote on Broadband Plan, McDowell Says
Whether FCC commissioners will actually vote on the National Broadband Plan when it’s presented to them at a Feb. 11 meeting remains unclear, FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell said Tuesday. He made the comment during the taping of an episode of C-SPAN’s The Communicators to be telecast Saturday. McDowell said he remains skeptical of any need for revised net neutrality rules, an expected focus of the commission in the early months of the year.
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“I'm not sure there will be a vote,” McDowell said of the broadband plan. “The statute really says the commission shall present to Congress this plan. That can mean a number of things. It could be just the broadband team presenting it to the commission and then it’s delivered to the Hill. … Unless it specifically says the commission shall vote, all commissioners shall vote, I think it allows for us to not do it that way.”
McDowell said he has received limited information on what will be in the plan from staff briefings. “It’s really going to boil down to, I think, a matter of supply and demand, as simple as that,” he said. “What can we do to make sure there’s adequate supply and faster and fatter pipes? …
What can we do to make it more affordable and what can we do to help Americans want to subscribe more to broadband?” McDowell said the plan won’t have any legal effect. “It’s something that’s presented to Congress, ideas and discussions,” he said. “I imagine the commission will have a number of spinoff proceedings -- things such as reforming our universal service subsidy program to see if that can support broadband, and things of that nature.”
McDowell said he still has deep concerns about net neutrality rules that the FCC will consider this year. McDowell and fellow Republican Commissioner Meredith Baker dissented on the substance of a rulemaking notice approved by the commission in October (CD Oct 23 p1).
“The first thing I think we need to do is examine whether there is systemic market failure” in the broadband market, McDowell said. “The Federal Trade Commission actually took this to a vote. It was a 5-0, unanimous, bipartisan vote, very strong, said there was no indication of systemic market failure that would necessitate net neutrality rules.” McDowell said industry commenters need to provide “hard evidence” of any market failure. He said he remains concerned about “unintended consequences” of new regulation. “Regulations of any kind act as a tax,” McDowell said. “When you tax or regulate something, you tend to get less of it. You tend to diminish it.” McDowell paraphrased former President Ronald Reagan: “There are those if they see something moving they want to tax it. If it keeps moving they regulate it, and if it stops moving they subsidize it. I want to make sure we don’t do that with the Internet.”
McDowell said one of his priorities as a commissioner remains spurring competition: “I think where there’s the most promise right now is in wireless. Wireless broadband is the fastest growing segment of the broadband market. It’s what consumers are saying they want.” Satellite will be important for the most remote parts of the country. McDowell recalled a trip he made to Barrow, Alaska, to discuss the DTV transition: “I want to make sure we don’t forget satellite, because there are parts of America that get nothing else.” But he conceded that identifying additional spectrum for wireless broadband won’t be easy. An audit of government frequencies probably will “raise as many questions probably as it answers,” he said. “It’s a complex, very complicated area.”