FCC to Verizon: Your throttling had better be about managing congestion, not cash

[Commentary] Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler isn’t impressed with Verizon’s recently announced plan to throttle the speeds on its unlimited plans. Verizon’s stated reasons for the new policy is to help it manage its LTE network congestion, but Wheeler’s query indicates he’s pretty skeptical of Verizon’s justification.

In a letter to Verizon CEO Dan Mead, Chairman Wheeler asked Verizon to respond to three questions about the company’s plans:

1. What is your rationale for treating customers differently based on the type of data plan to which they subscribe, rather than network architecture or technological factors? In particular, please explain your statement that, "If you're on an unlimited data plan and are concerned that you are in the top 5% of data users, you can switch to a usage-based data plan as customers on usage-based plans are not impacted."
2. Why is Verizon Wireless extending speed reductions from its 3G network to its much more efficient 4G LTE network?
3. How does Verizon Wireless justify this policy consistent with its continuing obligations under the 700 MHz C Block open platform rules, under which Verizon Wireless may not deny, limit, or restrict the ability of end users to download and utilize applications of their choosing on the C Block networks; how can this conduct be justified under the Commission's 2010 Open Internet rules, including the transparency rule that remains in effect?