30 Members of Congress Tell Court to Affirm FCC’s Net Neutrality Order

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The Telecommunications Act of 1996 is a landmark law dedicated to ensuring that all Americans have access, at competitive prices, to state-of-the-art telecommunications services. To help achieve that goal, Congress adopted a broad, technology-neutral definition of “telecommunications service” regulable under Title II of the Communications Act, as amended and updated by the 1996 Act. The 1996 Act defines “telecommunications service” as “the offering of telecommunications for a fee directly to the public … regardless of the facilities used.” “Telecommunications” is in turn defined as “the transmission, between or among points specified by the user, of information of the user’s choosing, without change in the form or content of the information as sent and received.” Broadband Internet access service fits within these definitions.

When one sets aside the obfuscating argot of telecommunications lawyers and engages with the plain language of the statute in the way that Congress intended for the Federal Communications Commission and the courts to read it, it is patent that broadband Internet access service providers – both fixed and mobile – provide “telecommunications” under the terms of the 1996 Act.


30 Members of Congress Tell Court to Affirm FCC’s Net Neutrality Order