Baker Says Compromise Remains Possible on Reclassification

A divided FCC will approve a reclassification notice of inquiry (NOI) at the June 17 meeting, but work on a compromise will continue, Baker predicted. Baker said she spoke with Genachowski Thursday morning: “He asked me to keep up an open mind … and he promised he would do the same.” The last Baker checked, there were “three votes for [the NOI] next Thursday,” she said. She predicted the commission will vote on a final order based on the NOI in October. Baker said the FCC has received a strong message from Congress not to move forward: “I hope that getting those letters, hearing those voices, will cause the FCC to put a pause on the net neutrality agenda.”

Baker said she remains convinced that reclassification would be a mistake. “If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it. And, our Title I regime for broadband is certainly not broken,” she said. “While the chairman continues to speak about the need for regulatory certainty, he seems to overlook that we had certainty until this classification debate began last month.”

The reclassification push comes at a time when investment in broadband is critical per the national plan, Baker said. “We need to create incentives for those with capital to invest aggressively in our field,” she said. “I am afraid this reclassification debate will have the opposite result -- a feeling shared by over half the members of Congress” who have gone on record in opposition to reclassification.

International regulators are watching the FCC closely, Baker said. They “will feel compelled to act if we do,” she said. “Regulating any part of the Internet as a telecommunications service carries significance in the ITU and in other international regulatory bodies. Even more troubling, the stated goal to maintain Internet openness may well be used as a pretense for closing it in other parts of the world.”

Baker made clear she remains an opponent of net neutrality rules as proposed by Genachowski last year. “There is no consensus … that the government should step in and adopt rules to preserve the openness provided today by competitive markets,” she said. “We are ill-equipped to define reasonable network management or managed services, or to distinguish good prioritization from bad in a workable and consistent manner across the Internet.” Baker said she was pleased to see the announcement Wednesday (CD June 10 p1) of the new Broadband Internet Technical Advisory Group (TAG). “I am hopeful that the formation of this group represents a significant first step towards a viable self-governance model to address open Internet challenges,” she said.

Baker said in an interview that TAG “could be a key part of the solution. It’s engineering based. It’s industry self-regulating,” she said. “It can be flexible enough to address the situation as the Internet evolves. I have great hope for the TAG.” Compromise is possible on reclassification, but not before next week’s vote on the third-way proposal, she said. “I want the commission to focus on the real important deployment and adoption issues of the National Broadband Plan.”

Broadband Forum Notebook

A survey by the conference sponsor mainly of communications executives that also included academics in the field and government officials found skepticism that FCC proposals for reallocating spectrum will free up enough to satisfy demand for wireless broadband. One-third of the 99 survey respondents -- who may not have been a representative sample of the telecom and media industry because they weren’t randomly selected -- said they believe the 500 MHz of spectrum that the National Broadband Plan seeks to reallocate to high-speed Internet service over 10 years isn’t sufficient to meet demand. One-third said it is. The rest were undecided, said Pike & Fischer, which ran the survey in April and May. “Respondents predict that network equipment vendors and consumer electronics manufacturers will gain the most from the broadband plan,” said the research firm. “Few see software vendors as garnering major benefits from the plan.” Thirty-six percent said network-gear makers have the most to gain immediately from follow-through on the plan, and 15 percent said CE makers do. Public safety agencies came in third at 12 percent of respondents. Three percent said software vendors have the most to gain, Pike & Fisher said. “Industry professionals generally believe all forms of broadband technology should be given equal support in the implementation of the broadband plan, although sizeable chunks of professionals view fiber-to-the-home or premises and WiMAX as the most important platforms,” the researcher said. “A large percentage of industry professionals believe building broadband infrastructure should be the FCC’s primary objective, ranking the importance of that step over promoting broadband adoption, reforming the Universal Service Fund (USF), and other telecommunications policy initiatives.” Twenty-eight percent of respondents said the broadband plan’s top priority should be supporting infrastructure construction, and 13 percent said it should be funding a nationwide, interoperable public-safety network.