The vote Thursday by the Democrat majority on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to restore Obama-era Net Neutrality rules returns the U.S. to the vulnerable place it was in before the policy was ended under Trump.
The return to Net Neutrality, which will likely be challenged in court, marks a continuing ideological obsession with a policy that could fairly be described as a form of crony socialism. The idea behind the policy is that Internet service providers (ISPs) might charge some users more for content than others, limiting access for poorer consumers and possibly restricting content. (Ironically, Silicon Valley had no problem with government censorship of conservatives.)
After the Obama FCC imposed Title II, broadband investment fell for the first time outside of a recession.
That changed after the Trump FCC scrapped the Obama rule. Investment and access to high-speed Internet surged. By the end of 2019, 94% of Americans had access to high-speed fixed and mobile broadband, up from 77% in 2015. In 2022 broadband builders laid more than 400,000 route miles of fiber, more than 50% more than in 2016.
Prices fell with more competition. A study by Casey Mulligan and Phil Kerpen for the Committee to Unleash Prosperity found that, from September 2017 to September 2023, the price index for wired internet services fell 11% compared to the overall consumer-price index. The CPI for wireless fell 21% in real terms. The biggest winners from this price decline were low-income households, which pay a higher share of their earnings on broadband.
The fact that the Trump FCC reversed Net Neutrality allowed Americans to weather the coronavirus lockdowns — largely imposed by Democrats — by working from home and entertaining their households during the pandemic.
Now, the Biden FCC is risking future broadband investment — even as President Joe Biden claims credit for federal investment in broadband. In yet another irony, the FCC may undermine Biden’s broadband infrastructure goals.
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