X
Government

Harold Feld has read the Ensign bill and he doesn't like what he sees

Here's Harold Feld's take on Sen. Ensign's Broadband Investment and Consumer Choice Act.
Written by Richard Koman, Contributor

Here's Harold Feld's take on Sen. Ensign's Broadband Investment and Consumer Choice Act. While there are a few positives, the list of negatives is very long. They all boil down to this: "What the act generally does is strip the states and local governments of any regulatory power over telecom and cable providers. Local franchising authorities just vanish. State commissions become enforcement arms of the FCC. The FCC, however, is likewise limited to a few very limited regulatory functions."

Specifically, Feld writes, the bill prevents local governments from building their own competing networks, an approach based on the Pennsylvania law that hemmed in Philadelphia's efforts to build city-wide Wi-Fi.

The Act basically adopts the “Pennsylvania Plan.

Editorial standards