On Friday, July 9, United States President Joe Biden issued an Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy. In the order, President Biden encouraged the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to take several measures related to internet service providers (ISPs), including restoring Net Neutrality—a set of rules adopted during the Obama-Biden administration and reversed during the Trump administration.
In the order, Biden encouraged the FCC to take the following actions.
- Prevent ISPs from making deals with landlords that limit tenants’ choices.
- Revive the “Broadband Nutrition Label” and require providers to report prices and subscription fees to the FCC.
- Limit excessive early termination fees.
- Restore Net Neutrality rules.
In a statement summarizing the order, the White House provided detail on its desire for the FCC to limit early termination fees. “Big providers can use their power to discriminatorily block or slow down online services,” the administration said. “The Obama-Biden Administration’s FCC adopted ‘Net Neutrality’ rules that required these companies to treat all internet services equally, but this was undone in 2017.”
The same day the executive order was issued, the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) issued the following statement: “We are circling back to the same issues from a decade ago. This is disappointing given the levels of private investment made in recent years that directly resulted in more flexible broadband networks which performed impeccably despite the massive shift in IP traffic and evolving demands as a result of the global pandemic. We share the same goal as policymakers to have broadband connectivity available to every American home. However, we must look forward for creative policy solutions—not into the past—so we can continue to incentivize the levels of investment that will bring new, cost-effective technologies and services to help ensure access for all American consumers and businesses.”