OTI Welcomes FCC Inquiry into Broadband “Data Cap” Practices

In response to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) opening an inquiry into the internet service provider (ISP) practice of placing limits on internet data usage (known as “data caps”) and penalizing consumers who exceed these limits with reduced service speeds (known as “throttling”) or overage fees, the Open Technology Institute (OTI), a New America program fostering equitable access to digital technology and its benefits, issued the following statement from Raza Panjwani, a senior policy counsel at OTI.

“We welcome the FCC’s continued focus on addressing consumer protection issues. A review of these anti-consumer business practices is long overdue.

“ISPs have long imposed arbitrary data caps on home broadband connections to maximize profits at their consumers’ expense. At the same time, mobile network operators (MNOs)—who are increasingly serving the home internet market with their ‘5G Home Internet’ fixed wireless offerings—engage in similar tactics, advertising plans with ‘unlimited data’ while burying a throttling clause in the fine print.

“We know that data caps are not essential to ensure network performance, as many wireline ISPs were able to waive these limits at the start of the pandemic during an unprecedented spike in internet usage. Without a technical justification, it becomes clear that data caps are just another means by which companies in our insufficiently competitive broadband market can exploit consumers.”