Verizon Pushes FCC on National Broadband Framework; ALEC, Internet Association Also File

Verizon pressed the FCC to create a "uniform, national" broadband framework that promotes network investment and innovation, and ensures states and localities "do not undermine that framework with a patchwork" of contrary regulation. "Any regulatory framework that applies to broadband Internet access services" should "recognize that these services are inherently interstate," and apply a "light-touch approach," said a Verizon filing posted Monday in docket 17-108 on a meeting its representatives, including Gibson Dunn attorney Helgi Walker, had with Commissioner Brendan Carr. They said "state-specific rules relating to these services simply don’t work when talking about services that freely cross state boundaries." Among others weighing in, the American Legislative Exchange Council voiced concern about "unreasonable" local fees and conditions, and "a potential patchwork of state laws" that "could threaten deployment and affordable access." The Internet Association voiced support for the FCC's existing broadband open internet framework. "The rules and the firm legal basis upon which they rest should not be undone or revisited," said an IA filing on meetings with aides to Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioners Carr, Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel, and with a Wireline Bureau official. "Having clear, legally sustainable rules in place finally established rules of the road and provided legal certainty for ISPs, edge providers, and consumers alike."