Using forbearance to ease the burdens of Communications...
Using forbearance to ease the burdens of Communications Act Title II regulation of broadband Internet would likely become a “regulatory morass,” NCTA said in a blog post Thursday (http://bit.ly/1vkLiBC). The FCC would have to “create an entirely new regulatory regime…
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for broadband Internet access from whole cloth,” NCTA said. Nearly all forbearance petitions are opposed, and often opposed “vigorously,” NCTA said. Forbearance petition deadlines are typically extended, and decisions on them are often made by the FCC on the last week or last day, NCTA said. The agency could also provide different relief for different types of entities or for entities in different locations, adding to the complexity, the association said. “The idea that it will be easy for the Commission to decide whether to forbear with respect to dozens of Title II provisions for hundreds of companies defies all logic and experience,” NCTA said. Many of the parties supporting forebearance have filed comments “suggesting that there are almost no provisions of Title II for which they would support forbearance,” NCTA said. “Given the entirely speculative benefits this exercise is likely to produce, the Commission should decline to start down this road at all.” NASUCA sought Title II rules, in a filing posted in the net neutrality NPRM docket Thursday. (See separate report above in this issue.)