FCC Move to Restore Net Neutrality Sets Stage for Familiar Fight

The FCC's authority over telecom providers "is an expansive regime designed to regulate the old telephone monopolies," said Joe Kane, director of broadband and spectrum policy at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a nonprofit group focused on tech and innovation. "As such, its application to broadband will tend to shape the market to be more like a monopoly and less like the competitive market we see today."

Billions of dollars in private investment has gone into building a high-speed internet system, Kane said. The “broadband market is already fairly competitive, and the rise of intermodal competition is only enhancing those dynamics,” Kane said, referring to increased use of satellite-based internet in addition to land-based systems that are widely used.