Federal appeals court reverses FCC municipal broadband order preempting state law

Chattanooga, Tennessee’s municipal electricity provider has offered broadband service since 2009. But when the utility tried to expand its broadband deployment beyond the municipal boundaries, Tennessee law limited the expansion. Last year, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) attempted to preempt state law, releasing an order that argued Congress authorizes the Commission to remove barriers to broadband investment.

But a federal appeals court found that the FCC overstepped its authority: Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the basis of the Commission’s preemption decision, doesn’t give the FCC the legal jurisdiction to preempt state law – whether it encourages broadband expansion or not.

Cities looking to expand broadband networks still have many options. They can form public-private partnerships – like the successful North Carolina Next Generation Network – to facilitate investment in high-speed broadband infrastructure. The federal government’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration Community Connectivity Initiative has many resources to help communities develop programs to expand high-speed networks.

It’s clear that we need to do much more to incent investments in gigabit networks. This court ruling should not stand in the way.

Links:

U.S. court blocks FCC bid to expand public broadband (Reuters, Aug. 10, 2016)

States win the right to limit municipal broadband, beating FCC in court (Ars Technica, Aug. 10, 2016)