Martin

The former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission under President George W. Bush says the FCC doesn’t have as much authority over broadband as it might think, and cannot tell service providers not to implement policies designed to limit broadband consumption.

Kevin Martin, speaking last week in Seattle at the Mobile Broadband Breakfast told attendees he doubts the Commission has the authority under current law to implement the full scope of the National Broadband Plan, and probably cannot control what providers do with the marketing and pricing of their broadband services.

“The further it is pushed out the more difficult it is for the commission to address it,” Martin said. “The FCC’s core regulatory authority is on wireless and carriers, so its direct authority is less and less the further out you go.”

Martin is especially skeptical about controlling classic Internet Overcharging schemes like usage caps and usage-based billing.

Broadcast Engineering notes Martin doesn’t believe the Commission has any authority to stop the recent efforts of carriers and ISPs to introduce metered wired broadband, except in instances where price discrimination occurs.

Of course, Congress can grant additional authority to the Commission at any time, and with decisions looming in several broadband-related legal challenges in federal court, what authority the FCC believes it has today may not actually exist should court rulings find otherwise.  That could result in explicit increased authority granted by Congress.

Martin believes broadband improvement will ultimately come from increased deployment of fiber optics, which can also improve wireless network backhaul connections used in mobile broadband.