USTelecom: Benefits of Title 1 Outweigh Purported Costs

USTelecom -- The Broadband Association told the Federal Communications Commission it supports a free and open Internet, just one defined as "unencumbered by unnecessary regulations." It was filing reply comments in a court remand of portions of the FCC's 2018 Restoring Internet Freedom order, most of which the court upheld. USTelecom said the RIF order benefitted public safety and did not undermine either the pole attachment regulatory framework or the Lifeline broadband subsidy.  As have other ISP commenters, USTelecom pointed to the increased investment prompted by the deregulation as benefitting first responders generally and the consumers "who rely on such infrastructure to generate and receive important public-safety communications." USTelecom says the record clearly demonstrates that "the overwhelming benefits of the restored Title I classification vastly outweigh the purported costs (if any) of abandoning the outdated, common carrier regulatory framework applicable to broadband for the scant two years preceding the RIF Order."