We Need a Broadband Internet Pricing Equivalent of Nutrition Labels

The Federal Communications Commission does not collect broadband pricing data or analyze the price of broadband access. This is despite numerous studies detailing how cost is one of the biggest barriers to broadband adoption, a stark divide that disproportionately harms Black, Latinx, tribal, and rural communities. The COVID-19 pandemic casts this gap in a grim new light. For the incoming administration, the solution is as close at hand as the nearest jar of pasta sauce or container of ice cream. Nutrition Facts demonstrates how a standardized label can help consumers cut through a mess of confusing information.

Labeling is such a common-sense measure that it has been adopted in the broadband context before. In 2016, the FCC and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau together rolled out their version of the “broadband nutrition label.” In 2017, President Donald Trump’s newly installed FCC Chairman, Ajit Pai, abandoned the broadband nutrition label. In July, the House of Representatives passed legislation directing the FCC to revive the label and promote its widespread adoption. The Senate has yet to take up the bill, but the FCC does not need to wait for Congress to pass a law. The agency could revive the label at any time. With Ajit Pai’s pending resignation, a new FCC chair should make employing a common-sense, easily understood broadband label a top priority.

[Amir Nasr is a policy analyst at New Americas Open Technology Institute. Austin Adams a senior communications associate at the Open Technology Institute]