FCC's Claim That One ISP Counts As 'Competition' Faces Scrutiny In Court (arstechnica.com)

Jon Brodkin reports via Ars Technica: A Federal Communications Commission decision to eliminate price caps imposed on some business broadband providers should be struck down, advocacy groups told federal judges last week. The FCC failed to justify its claim that a market can be competitive even when there is only one Internet provider, the groups said. Led by Chairman Ajit Pai, the FCC's Republican majority voted in April of this year to eliminate price caps in a county if 50 percent of potential customers "are within a half mile of a location served by a competitive provider." That means business customers with just one choice are often considered to be located in a competitive market and thus no longer benefit from price controls. The decision affects Business Data Services (BDS), a dedicated, point-to-point broadband link that is delivered over copper-based TDM networks by incumbent phone companies like AT&T, Verizon, and CenturyLink.

But the FCC's claim that "potential competition" can rein in prices even in the absence of competition doesn't stand up to legal scrutiny, critics of the order say. "In 2016, after more than 10 years of examining the highly concentrated Business Data Services market, the FCC was poised to rein in anti-competitive pricing in the BDS market to provide enterprise customers, government agencies, schools, libraries, and hospitals with much-needed relief from monopoly rates," Phillip Berenbroick, senior policy counsel at consumer advocacy group Public Knowledge said. But after Republicans gained the FCC majority in 2017, "the commission illegally reversed course without proper notice and further deregulated the BDS market, leaving consumers at risk of paying up to $20 billion a year in excess charges from monopolistic pricing," Berenbroick said.

Comments

On what planet...

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh you're not really starving, you can smell your neighbor's dinner from here.

Re:On what planet...

[spun]

See you don't understand. It's actually harder to compete against imaginary companies. They've got unicorn cavalry and time travelling wizards. How is a real company supposed to compete against unicorn cavalry and time travelling wizards? They can't. We should give those poor monopolist companies a big tax break.

Republican Corruption, what a surprise?

[DMJC]

Is anyone really surprised by this now? This has been the way of things in America for ages. Democrats aren't even good politicians, just centrist normals. Republicans are so far to the right it's hilariously stupid. America needs a third party and has needed one for years. At least a moderate right party if not a further left party.

Re:Republican Corruption, what a surprise?

[spun]

Except that's not something you get, it's something you make. Effective, sane, and powerful organizations that fight for the rights of the little guy don't just happen by accident. People have to work really hard to create something like that, and most people are just too lazy, unless their very lives are on the line.

Re:Fuck Ajit Pai

[GrumpySteen]

Considering there are price caps in place where there isn't enough competition and Trump's FCC is the one trying to declare a single provider monopoly to be a competitive market so that they can remove those price caps, this sounds like you're grasping at straws to blame the Obama administration rather than Trump's.

Re:Fuck Ajit Pai

[TheGratefulNet]

I'll go better than that: fuck the current republicans. fuck them so bad they all get voted out of office next time.

if america needed an education about what the R's stand for, they sure got one this time around. anything that helps consumers, the R's are blatantly against. (can you cite anything that contradicts this?)

I realize that slash has been invaded by the R fans (even though as a tech forum, most of us are clearly NOT R-based in our thinking) but before you mod me down, I'd like you to cite an example of where a modern R has stood up for the regular guy and not for the ultra rich and powerful.

I'm hoping that this tire fire called 'trump admin' really ruins a lot of people; especially those in red states. they need a harsh awakening and a wake-up call. they have been misled and have been guided into voting against their own best interests.

I wonder if people really will realize this. I hear lots of talk, but when the next election comes, I have a feeling that the reds will forget all this harm that was done to our country and will follow their 'religion' and continue to fund those that work against the common man.