- The Supreme Court has declined to intervene in New York's law requiring $15 broadband for low-income households
- The New York law will go into effect in about 1 month
- Telecom trade groups don't like federal regulation, but now they're faced with the states having the power to set broadband price rules
Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review a petition from telecom groups challenging New York’s Affordable Broadband Act. The act requires service providers to offer a 25 Mbps plan for $15 to eligible low-income households. With the Supreme Court’s decision not to intervene, the law will go into effect on January 15.
This is a blow to telecom trade groups and their members who vehemently oppose rate regulation.
Earlier this year, telecom trade groups celebrated when events seemed to move in their favor. They liked the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the Chevron case because it means that regulatory agencies such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will have less power, with more power going back to Congress. They also liked when the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals imposed a stay on the FCC’s net neutrality rules, because they didn’t want more regulation from the FCC.
But yesterday, these same telecom trade groups felt the flip side of the coin. The Supreme Court’s decision not to intervene in New York’s Affordable Broadband Act means that states can create their own rate regulation laws. And with the FCC’s diminished authority, the telecom trade groups won’t have any recourse with the FCC.
Blair Levin, policy analyst with New Street Research, wrote that the new Republican FCC is likely to say that the FCC has no authority to regulate broadband and the FCC cannot exclude states from regulating in an area where the agency itself lacks regulatory authority.
In response to the Supreme Court’s move, NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association, ACA Connects, CTIA, New York State Telecommunications Association, Satellite Broadcasting & Communications Association and USTelecom released the following joint statement:
“Today’s decision leaves in place harmful rate regulations that will undermine the effective delivery of broadband services and discourage investment in broadband networks, particularly in unserved and underserved areas.”
The trade groups have previously written that the Affordable Broadband Act “threatens to spark a nationwide, state-by-state race to dictate the prices at which broadband service is sold to consumers.”
Levin agrees. He said that with the expiration of the Affordable Connectivity Program, other states may try to assist low-income households to keep them connected. And they may look to the New York law as a model.