OTI Praises Broadband Nutrition Label Order, Urges Stronger FCC Requirements

Yesterday, the Federal Communications Commission ordered internet service providers to display a standardized disclosure of prices and terms—often called a “broadband nutrition label”—and issued a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in order to seek further comment on suggestions for the labels that were not adopted within the initial order.

OTI praises the FCC for implementing a simple and transparent label that helps consumers understand what they are paying for, avoid “junk fees,” and compare different plans, just as OTI originally envisioned in 2009. We are also encouraged by the fact that the FCC has required that ISPs clearly display key information, including total monthly cost, by making these labels machine-readable and available in any languages in which they market their services in the United States—all features we recently recommended as updates to the non-mandatory label we helped the agency develop in 2016.

However, we are disappointed by the FCC’s decision to disregard advocate calls to require that ISPs display the label on a customer’s monthly bill, a concession to industry lobbying which undermines the utility of the label. We look forward to working with the FCC to improve the label so it can truly provide the transparency that consumers deserve.

The following quote can be attributed to Chhaya Kapadia, interim director of New America’s Open Technology Institute:

“Consumers in the U.S. deserve to know what they pay for when they buy internet service. The infrastructure law promised to solve the problem by directing the FCC to make common sense, standardized price and service disclosures mandatory for internet service providers. Now, the obstruction of Gigi Sohn's nomination to the agency has caused a 2-2 deadlock, watering down what was otherwise a clear win for frustrated internet users.

“Meaningful transparency requires consistent access to pricing information in the obvious place that consumers would look for that information—their monthly bill. Once Gigi Sohn is confirmed, the FCC should use this FNPRM as an opportunity to improve the new labels. It’s difficult to overstate the need for transparency when you’re buying broadband service, so we need to get this right.”