Senators Blast FCC Efforts to Strip Broadband Price Transparency Labels for Consumers, Demand Reversal

Sens Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) led six senators to urge Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr to reverse the agency’s decision to weaken broadband label rules that help consumers understand the type of broadband services they are buying before committing to a provider. In a letter to Chairman Carr, the Senators expressed strong opposition to the FCC’s proposed rulemaking that would scale back key broadband consumer label requirements adopted unanimously in 2022. Congress gave the Commission explicit instructions in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to create these labels. "The broadband label program represents bipartisan recognition that clear information is essential to a functioning market," says the letter. "The law Congress passed was not a suggestion. It was a directive, rooted in the straightforward principle that consumers deserve to know what they are purchasing in easy-to-understand terms and what it costs when they sign a contract. We respectfully urge the Commission to withdraw or substantially revise this proposal and to maintain the comprehensive transparency protections that Congress mandated in IIJA. Families across the country are counting on the FCC to ensure that broadband providers compete in quality and price. That requires consumers to actually see and understand both."