CWA Joins Critics of Broadband Speed Disclosure Pre-emption; NCTA-USTelecom Push Back

The Communications Workers of America "strongly opposes" an NCTA-USTelecom petition for FCC clarification of broadband speed disclosure rules to ensure regulatory harmonization and industry flexibility in light of state mandates (see 1705160063). CWA said the commission lacks authority and policy justification to issue a declaratory ruling. "Such a ruling would result in considerable harm to consumers by allowing broadband providers to make inaccurate or misleading statements about their network performance and capabilities," said the union in reply comments Thursday in docket 17-131. It said it joined a "broad consensus in opposition" to the petition, which drew objections from 35 state attorneys general and some consumer groups in initial comments (see 1706190050). But NCTA and USTelecom said the record "reflects broad support" for the petition, filed by the "leading" cable and telco trade associations and backed by the American Cable Association, Adtran and CenturyLink. The opponents "fundamentally misapprehend the scope of the Petition as a request for complete preemption of state consumer protection laws," said a joint reply, which denied they made such a request: "[I]t does not ask the Commission to issue a broad 'field preemption' ruling; rather, it seeks to confirm the primacy of federal law where, as here, there is a direct conflict between state efforts to require [broadband internet access service] providers to measure and describe their BIAS offerings based on idiosyncratic standards and the Commission’s requirements for how those offerings are measured and described under its uniform national framework for broadband disclosures."