LAS VEGAS — The nation’s top telecommunications regulator indicated Wednesday that his agency sees consumer benefits in expanding regulatory authority over broadband Internet providers as part of its Net neutrality initiative, a move that would brush aside opposition from the industry.
Speaking at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler gave his strongest hints to date that his agency is planning to reclassify broadband as a telecommunications service, rather than keeping it as a lightly regulated information service.
The broadband industry, GOP lawmakers and some conservative groups oppose reclassifying broadband, arguing that doing so would burden Net services providers with unnecessary regulations. But Wheeler noted sectors of the wireless network industry have been regulated under Title II of the Communications Act for years and has been “monumentally successful” for the past two decades.
Wheeler said reclassification could work, as long as broadband providers are exempted from outdated regulations.
