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FCC overrules state laws to help two cities build out their fiber networks

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G

GK86

Homeland Security Fail
Link.

Before it tackles net neutrality, the FCC is setting a major precedent for municipal broadband: it's just voted to preempt state laws that were preventing two cities from building out their own locally run broadband networks.The decision was prompted by separate petitions from Wilson, North Carolina, and Chattanooga, Tennessee — both cities that've established high-speed, gigabit internet services, but have been barred from expanding to neighboring communities due to existing state laws. So far, 19 states have similar regulations to those that the FCC is overriding in Wilson and Chattanooga, but today's ruling affects only those two specific cases.

Even so, the FCC's 3-2 vote will serve as a landmark moment that other communities will point to as they try to compete against commercial ISPs and knock down those deeply restrictive state laws. "There are a few irrefutable truths about broadband," said FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler ahead of the vote. "One is you can’t say you’re for broadband, and then turn around and endorse limits." The commission has decided that Tennessee and North Carolina are needlessly preventing the "reasonable and timely deployment of high-speed internet access to all Americans," a senior FCC official said during a press call a few weeks ago. It's not hard to see the exact same logic being applied elsewhere when other petitions are brought forward.

If you're wondering where the FCC gets power to make these decisions, it's claiming that states are getting in the way of its authority — granted under Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act — to promote the deployment of broadband across the US. Here's how the FCC justified today's action in a press release that followed the successful vote:

Under federal law, a federal agency may preempt state laws that conflict with its regulations or policies so long as it is acting within the scope of its authority. There is a clear conflict, the Order finds, between Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which directs the FCC to take action to remove barriers to broadband investment and competition, and provisions of the Tennessee and North Carolina law that erect barriers to expansion of service into surrounding communities, including unserved and underserved areas.
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Unsurprisingly, the cable establishment and entrenched ISPs have lobbied against this becoming a trend, with the opposition (and dissenting commissioners) trying to frame it as an aggressive overreach of the FCC's authority. "We don’t take lightly the matter of preempting state laws," admitted Wheeler. But the chairman made clear this was a situation in which the FCC saw no other choice but to act. "The human faces of those who are condemned to second-rate broadband are a message to all of us."
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T

TacticalFox88

Banned
dhMeAzK.gif


Goddamn
 
W

WedgeX

Banned
Who would have thought we'd see the day that it would be the corporations, and no longer we common folk, who would utter "fuck the FCC."


Good job, FCC.
 
entremet

entremet

Member
I'm sure the private sector will win out since free market theory will guarantee more efficient use of resources and greater savings to the customer than government conglomerates.

tee hee
 
R

Roland_Gunner

Member
entrement said:
I'm sure the private sector will win out since free market theory will guarantee more efficient use of resources and greater savings to the customer than government conglomerates.

tee hee
Click to expand...

The telecoms CAN provide a better, cheaper service than cities but instead they've been happy raking in the cash. This should force them to actually compete.
 
S

Savitar

Member
Damn good job.

If big media companies can't compete with a towns own service something is definitely wrong.

Ie: Greedy fucks.
 
B

bachikarn

Member
I totally read the thread title the opposite way. Read is as:

FCC overrules state laws that help two cities build out their fiber networks
 
D

Damaniel

Banned
As big as the net neutrality vote itself was, this vote was at least as important, and perhaps more so. If this eventually leads of the overruling of laws in all the states where municipal broadband is banned, then rural areas not served by any high speed Internet access will find that they have options to fix that.

It's kind of sickening how quick state legislators (especially the Republican ones) have been to establish an environment where competition, supposedly a hallmark of conservative economics, is stifled in the name of profits for companies that have bribed their way to getting these laws passed. I'm glad that someone is starting to call these legislators out on their hypocritical bullshit.
 
T

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
Savitar said:
Damn good job.

If big media companies can't compete with a towns own service something is definitely wrong.

Ie: Greedy fucks.
Click to expand...

I mean, that's the general argument for public services. By providing a baseline standard of acceptable quality available to everyone you force private companies to provide exceptional service if they want to succeed.
 
A

AndyD

aka andydumi
Roland_Gunner said:
The telecoms CAN provide a better, cheaper service than cities but instead they've been happy raking in the cash. This should force them to actually compete.
Click to expand...

They could, but that would require meaningful infrastructure investment instead of escalating profits.

I just hope this means that more cities look at providing service. Some have some infrastructure in place already.
 
E

exmachina64

Banned
Damaniel said:
It's kind of sickening how quick state legislators (especially the Republican ones) have been to establish an environment where competition, supposedly a hallmark of conservative economics, is stifled in the name of profits for companies that have bribed their way to getting these laws passed.
Click to expand...

They've always been that way.
 
T

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
Nice. Now if we could knock this down nationwide we'd be in business to have Google/Cities just sweep through areas and get the "broadband" (lol) companies off their asses to attempt to catch up.
 
T

TxdoHawk

Member
inm8num2 said:
About fucking time.
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Pretty much. This is good news, but the fact that it took until 2015 for someone to stand up and say "hey, how about we stop holding entire cities hostage for nothing more than the sake of existing broadband monopolies?" is sad.
 
O

Opiate

Member
Damaniel said:
As big as the net neutrality vote itself was, this vote was at least as important, and perhaps more so. If this eventually leads of the overruling of laws in all the states where municipal broadband is banned, then rural areas not served by any high speed Internet access will find that they have options to fix that.

It's kind of sickening how quick state legislators (especially the Republican ones) have been to establish an environment where competition, supposedly a hallmark of conservative economics, is stifled in the name of profits for companies that have bribed their way to getting these laws passed. I'm glad that someone is starting to call these legislators out on their hypocritical bullshit.
Click to expand...

Right. Republicans are "for" competition in the same way they are "for" deficit reduction; it's a talking point that has no real basis in reality.

I don't mean there aren't conservatives reading this thread who are for deficit reduction; obviously such people do exist, and I don't mean to besmirch them. But in practice, by actual politicians, Republican leaders have not actually been very good at reducing deficits. Similarly, I'm sure there are real conservatives who are actually for increased competition (and so am I, to be clear), but in practice, most or all Republican politicians have mostly favored large corporations.
 
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