WTA Applauds House Passage of Small Business Broadband Deployment Act
WASHINGTON, D.C. – WTA – Advocates for Rural Broadband applauds the House of Representatives for passing H.R. 288, the Small Business Broadband Deployment Act today. This bill would exempt small internet service providers (ISPs) from the Federal Communications Commission’s 2015 Open Internet Order’s enhanced transparency provisions.
The 2015 Open Internet Order exempted ISPs with under 100,000 subscribers from the enhanced transparency provisions. That exemption was set to expire in December 2015, but the FCC extended the deadline to December 2016. Unfortunately, however, the FCC failed to extend the exemption again for small ISPs this past December.
“In order for small broadband providers like our members to avoid burdensome record keeping and reporting requirements that divert scarce resources from building broadband networks, we need the FCC or Congress to act to extend the exemption that expired this past December “said Derrick Owens, WTA’s Vice President of Government Affairs. “We’re grateful that House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) and Committee member Rep. Dave Loebsack (D-IA) have made this one of their first bipatrisan priorities of 2017.”
