FCC Appears Poised To Look at Zero Rating Based on Internet Future Conduct Rule, Consultant Predicts

The FCC appears poised to take a deeper dive into zero rating next year, CCMI consultant Andrew Regitsky said Wednesday in a blog post. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler recently raised questions about zero-rated services in letters to AT&T, Comcast and T-Mobile (see 1512170030). “It seems clear that the Commission will use its Internet ‘future conduct’ rule to determine if these free data plans provide an advantage to their sponsoring companies,” Regitsky wrote. “On the one hand it would seem that these plans provide a huge advantage to large ISPs by making services such as access to Netflix seemingly free to consumers, while absorbing content acquiring costs to win market share. Smaller ISPs could never eat those costs and stay viable. On the other hand, for consumers who utilize the free data, these plans allow them to sample different Internet offerings potentially driving more Internet use.”