Defining Broadband Discrimination

One of the provisions of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) is that it requires the Federal Communications Commission to “take steps to ensure that all people of the United States benefit from equal access to broadband internet access within the service area of a provider of such service.” In legalese, the term equal access, in this case, means that consumers should be able to expect to get the same speed, capacity, and latency as other customers buying the same product from the same internet service provider (ISP) sold elsewhere. This new mandate has been labeled as a prohibition against digital discrimination. In November 2023, The FCC will issue its rules to eliminate digital discrimination. The agency will deliver its digital discrimination policy to Congress and then act on the defined principle in the future. At a minimum, I would bet that ISPs are going to have to periodically certify to the FCC that they don’t discriminate. Beyond that, the agency is going to have to define the process by which it will identify discrimination and take action to remedy violations of the principle.