Broadband Investment Slowed by $5.6 Billion Since Open Internet Order

In his address on April 26, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai cited Free State Foundation research estimating that the Open Internet Order "has already cost our country $5.1 billion in broadband capital investment."

Just two years after the FCC adopted the Open Internet Order, I estimate that broadband providers significantly slowed investment, despite the claims by the FCC that the opposite would occur. Taking into account the latest USTelecom investment data, I now estimate that foregone investment in 2015 and 2016 was about $5.6 billion, an amount providers likely would have invested in a business climate without Title II public utility regulation.