Even as the Federal Communications Commission is proposing a new broadband labeling program — this one for Internet of Things devices — cable and telco broadband operators are looking for some movement on another labeling front, the broadband “nutrition” labels mandated by Congress.
Congress mandated the labels so consumers can better gauge just what kind of broadband service they are getting, including price, speed and quality. The FCC then came up with rules for the program, which it released in a Report and Order. A couple of those rules didn’t sit well wit cable-operator groups ACA Connects and NCTA–The Internet & Television Association, which joined in a petition to clarify or reconsider a couple of requirements, a petition that was filed Jan. 17. The rules were passed in November 2022.
The first is the requirement that operators itemize ederal, state and local government fees being passed on to consumers; the second is the mandate that ISPs “create and retain documentation” regarding “each instance when [a provider] directs a consumer to the label at an alternative sales channel,” i.e. in retail stores or phone interactions.
Also Read: Look for the Broadband Label
Seven months later and with no action yet on the petition, representatives of NCTA, ACAC and the major telco associations, pressed both points with the commission in a meeting last week.
They said documenting each instance of a labeling redirect is unwarranted and poses “significant burdens” on operators large and small “with no discernible benefit.”
If the FCC wants to make sure an operator is directing consumers to the label, they should accept a general business practices plan to that effect, with documentation retained for two years," they said.
As to itemizing all the pass-through fees on the labels, the groups said that would “add unnecessary complexity and burdens to the label for consumers and providers and could result in some providers having to create many labels for any given plan.”
