Wheeler Needs Primer on How Wireless Carriers Are Regulated, Says Campbell
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler doesn’t appear to understand how wireless carriers have long been regulated, said Fred Campbell, director of the Center for Boundless Innovation in Technology, Tuesday in a blog post. Campbell, Wireless Bureau chief under Republican Chairman Kevin…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
Martin, cited remarks by Wheeler at last week’s FCC meeting. Wheeler said reclassifying broadband under Communications Act Title II would subject major carriers to the same rules they have lived under for 20 years, Campbell said. “Hint: It looks a lot more like case-by-case review under section 706 than ‘strong’ net neutrality rules under Title II,” he said. “Though mobile voice services are subject to the Title II ‘reasonableness’ obligations" in sections 201 and 202 of the Communications Act, "the FCC has not established per se rules to ensure that wireless carriers meet those obligations,” Campbell said. “The FCC generally relies on market forces to protect wireless consumers from unreasonable rates and unreasonable discrimination subject to a case-by-case complaint process to address potential market failures.”