U.S. President Barack Obama, in a strong net neutrality policy statement, has given the Federal Communications Commission the political cover it needs to move ahead with new rules by reclassifying broadband as a regulated utility.
In July, Austria had said it would offer tenders for an initial 200 million euros as part of plans to invest some of the proceeds from a controversial mobile frequency auction, which is now the subject of a court case, into broadband infrastructure.
IT World report that approximately a dozen protestors calling on the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to pass net neutrality rules disrupted the commission’s meeting for a short time Thursday. Protestors shouting and carrying signs interrupted the beginning of the FCC’s meeting as commissioners were hearing from staff members, teachers and administrators about proposed changes to the agency’s E-Rate program, which subsidizes broadband service for schools and libraries.
Top Republicans in Congress plan to introduce legislation that they say will ensure net neutrality protections for Internet users and will spur U.S. economic growth. The proposal would create “unambiguous” rules prohibiting broadband providers from selectively blocking or throttling Web traffic, while avoiding a reclassification of broadband as a regulated public utility.
A Republican net neutrality proposal in the U.S. Congress would not fully protect broadband customers because it would prohibit the Federal Communications Commission from enacting new rules against selectively blocking or throttling traffic, critics said Wednesday. The Republican draft legislation would kill the FCC’s ability to act on schemes that prioritize some traffic over others, witnesses told a congressional committee. The proposal “would strip the county’s expert communications agency of authority to protect consumers on the communications platform of the 21st century,” said Jessica Gonzalez, executive vice president of the National Hispanic Media Coalition.
The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday changed the definition of broadband to increase the threshold speed. In a 3-2 vote, the commission approved a measure that increases the minimum standard for broadband speed, giving the agency more power to force internet service providers to improve their service. The definition of broadband is set to be raised from 4 megabits per second (Mbps) to 25Mbps for downloads and 1Mbps to 3Mbps for uploads.
Policy Observatory