ACI Files FCC Comments in Internet Regulation Proceedings
Based on All Empirical Evidence, Internet Regulations Would Reduce Network Investment and Raise Consumer Prices
Washington, DC, January 14, 2010 –– Finding the record of support for net neutrality based regulations “woefully inadequate” the American Consumer Institute Center for Citizen Research (ACI) today urged the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to stay the course in its insistence that all parties provide facts, data and analysis on the possible imposition of new regulations on providers of broadband networks. ACI called attention to “…the dearth of evidence of market failure sufficient to warrant the risks of imposing economic regulation on one of the most dynamic sectors in the economy.”
In its filing today (aci-nprm-comments1) the nonpartisan institute cited declining concentration and increased consumer choice, high rates of investment, falling consumer prices, and modest earnings as clear signs of the adequacy of market forces under current rules. ACI also said it was concerned with the FCC proposed rules denying network providers the opportunity to adopt “multi-sided market” business practices, which enhance consumer welfare and are widely practiced by other Internet content and applications providers.
ACI President Steve Pociask urged that: “The Commission should discount the net neutrality rhetoric and insist that proponents of new regulations provide analyses of the real costs and benefits from a consumer perspective. Our review of the record to date found nothing to suggest that the regulations would make the average consumer better off, but the consequences of such regulation would likely reduce network investment and increase consumer prices.”
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About ACI
The Institute is a 501c3 educational and research nonprofit organization. For more information about the Institute, visit www.theamericanconsumer.org.