How the FCC’s New ISP Rules Will Disrupt the Market

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has introduced new rules that will require ISPs to display more clearly essential and historically convoluted information such as speed, hidden fees, and junk costs. Closely resembling the labels, we are accustomed to on the back of food products, Senior Editor at FierceTelecom, Diana Goovaerts believes this is a huge step towards greater transparency and could empower consumers to comparison shop among other things.

Senior Editor at

FierceTelecom

,

Diana Goovaert

, shares why she believes the FCC’s new ISP rules are great news for consumers seeking greater transparency:

“This week, the FCC Passer rule requiring broadband operators to provide labels for their broadband services. What this means is these are going to be labeled, kind of like the nutrition labels that you find on the back of food.

They will include things like the monthly price, charges, fees, and any discounts and bundles that are available. Whether the operator lets you participate in the Affordable Connectivity Program or, the speeds that are provided with the plan and the data included in the price. The idea is to give consumers more transparency about what they’re getting with their plans.

But I think the interesting part for me will be whether this really meets the need for consumers to comparison shop. Will it make it easier if everybody has different plans, with different amounts of data and that sort of thing? So, the FCC is also open to new rule-making to further explore this and see if there are other things they need to add to the labels, or vice versa see if there are things they need to take away.

So that will be very interesting.”