For Immediate Release
Contact: Laura Withers, 703-351-2087, [email protected]
Arlington, Va. (January 10, 2017)—NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association today issued the following statement from Chief Executive Officer Shirley Bloomfield applauding passage of legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives that would exempt small Internet Service Providers (ISPs) from the FCC’s net neutrality enhanced transparency rules for five years.
H.R. 288, sponsored by House Energy & Commerce Committee Chairman Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), exempts small ISPs with fewer than 250,000 subscribers from certain disclosure requirements detailing network practices and performance metrics such as packet loss. A temporary exemption from these rules granted to smaller businesses by the FCC is scheduled to expire in one week notwithstanding the clear consensus among policymakers in Congress and at the commission alike to renew it.
“We greatly appreciate Chairman Walden’s leadership on this bill to relieve smaller broadband providers from compliance with the burdensome and costly enhanced transparency requirements,” Bloomfield said. “Advancing this legislation, which received overwhelming bipartisan support in the last Congress as well, will enable smaller ISPs to remain focused on providing high-quality broadband service to their customers rather than dealing with these onerous regulations.”
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NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association is the premier association representing more than 800 independent, community-based telecommunications companies that are leading innovation in rural and small-town America. NTCA advocates on behalf of its members in the legislative and regulatory arenas, and it provides training and development; publications and industry events; and an array of employee benefit programs. In an era of exploding technology, deregulation and marketplace competition, NTCA’s members are leading the IP evolution for rural consumers, delivering technologies that make rural communities vibrant places in which to live and do business. Because of their efforts, rural America is fertile ground for innovation in economic development and commerce, education, health care, government services, security and smart energy use. Visit us at www.ntca.org.