The Accelerating Rate of Deregulation

We’re less than eight months into the new administration, and considering that short amount of time, an unprecedented amount of deregulation has been coming out of the federal government related to broadband and telecommunications issues. Regulatory changes aren’t just coming from the Federal Communications Commission, but also from the White House, National Telecommunications and Information Administration, Congress, and other agencies like the Federal Trade Commission. Just a few of the deregulatory changes that have happened so far:

• The FCC’s signature deregulatory thrust has been labeled as Delete, Delete, Delete, which is a streamlined way to eliminate obsolete regulations. In practice, it appears that the FCC has decided to take shortcuts and has shortened the timeline or totally eliminated the ability for public comments before regulations are eliminated.
• In perhaps the biggest change, the White House ordered NTIA to cease the implementation of the $2.75 billion Digital Equity Act that was to be used for teaching people how to use computers, making sure every household had a computer or tablet, and promoting subscription to home broadband.
• NTIA weakened the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment grant program. 
• The Federal Trade Commission halted the implementation of Click to Cancel, which would have mandated that any company that lets a customer subscribe online must make it just as easy to cancel service online.