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Perspectives from FSF Scholars           February 5, 2015

  



Defining Broadband Progress Down

 

by

 

Randolph J. May *

 

The Hill 

February 4, 2015

 

On Jan. 29, led by Chairman Tom Wheeler, the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) three Democrats voted to redefine "broadband" service by increasing the minimum bandwidth requirement to 25 megabits per second (Mbps) for downloading and 3 Mbps for uploading. This is a 250 percent increase from the 10 Mbps definition for downloads that Wheeler proposed just this past August. The current benchmark is 4 Mbps.

 

Why the rapid redefinition of what constitutes broadband service? It's simple, really.

 

By radically increasing the broadband standard in one swift stroke, Wheeler narrows the confines of the broadband market for purposes of assessing its progress and competitiveness. The problem with this Houdini-like administrative sleight of hand is that it is not grounded in marketplace realities dictated by actual consumer demand and willingness to pay. Rather, the new definition is conjured up in the imaginations of those who wish to exert more government control over broadband Internet providers.

 

The late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.) coined the memorable phrase "defining deviancy down." What the FCC is doing is "defining broadband progress down."

 

*   *   *

 

Rather than focusing on actions that will encourage continued high rates of investment, the commission majority appears determined to do just the opposite. It is poised, in the name of mandating "net neutrality," to impose burdensome public utility-type regulations on Internet providers - reversing the deregulatory policy adopted in the early 2000s that has led to a decade of sustained progress.

 

The redefinition of broadband is part of an attempt to justify the adoption of more regulation of Internet providers. The commission wants to accomplish this goal by "defining broadband progress down."

 

Think about whether this makes sense this evening when your family, all at the same time, is streaming a super HD movie from Netflix, making a HD video call, saving files to and from the cloud, and retrieving and sending emails.

 

Read the entire piece: http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/technology/231644-defining-broadband-progress-down.

 

* Randolph J. May is President of the Free State Foundation, an independent free market-oriented think tank located in Rockville, Maryland. Defining Broadband Progress Down
was published in The Hill on January 4, 2015. 

 

 

     

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