Hank Hultquist at AT&T and Harold Feld at Public Knowledge recently had an exchange debating the application of Title II to wireline Internet access service providers. But this discussion, while interesting from a wireline perspective, didn’t shed any light on the historical application of Title II to wireless broadband access – probably because Title II has never applied to wireless broadband Internet access – either the service itself or the underlying transport. Read the rest of this entry »
Archive for April, 2010
The National Broadband Plan: Automatic Roaming and the “In-Market Exception” – Part II
I recently wrote about the policy implications of eliminating the in-market exception to the automatic roaming rule. This post highlights some legal issues related to requiring service providers to open their networks to competitors “in-market.” Read the rest of this entry »
TAGS:
broadband data ro mobile spectrum wireless wireless competition
Comcast v. FCC and the net neutrality NPRM
“Where are you going?” Aunt Beru, Star Wars (1977).
I wrote in an earlier post that the FCC lacked jurisdiction to enact its proposed net neutrality rules as written. Today the D.C. Circuit issued an opinion holding that the FCC failed to justify ancillary jurisdiction “over Comcast’s network management practices.” (Comcast v. FCC, No. 08-1291 at 3 (D.C. Cir. Apr. 6, 2010).) In this post, I explain what the court did and what options remain open to the FCC in its net neutrality proceeding. Read the rest of this entry »
TAGS:
net neutrality
Applications and Devices Dominate the S&P 500
I’ve previously written about the limited scope of the FCC’s net neutrality proposals – i.e., that they don’t apply to application or device providers. An interesting angle on this issue is the relative market caps of the largest applications and device providers compared to broadband access service providers. Read the rest of this entry »
TAGS:
net neutrality
The National Broadband Plan: Automatic Roaming and the “In-Market Exception”
Rumors continue to circulate that FCC action to eliminate the “in-market exception” to the “automatic roaming” rule is imminent. I don’t know whether these rumors are true, but the National Broadband Plan (“NBP”) does recommend that the FCC “move forward promptly in the open proceeding on data roaming.” (NBP at page 49.) But, eliminating the “in-market exception” would be inconsistent with the spectrum efficiency goals of the NBP. I explain why below. Read the rest of this entry »
TAGS:
broadband data roaming mobile spectrum wireless wireless competition