Ending net neutrality will help consumers

The Federal Communications Commission voted in May to begin undoing a harmful internet regulation known as Title II, or net neutrality. This was welcomed news, as the 2015 Obama administration action to regulate internet service providers as public utilities has done significantly more harm than good on several fronts.

First, it has reduced investment in broadband infrastructure. In fact, the mere idea of implementing this regulation started hindering broadband investments before it was even on the books; one estimate said investments dropped by at least 20 percent — $150 billion — from 2011 through 2015.

Such lost investments hurt broadband-related companies of all sizes, including Prysmian Group, which is a world leader in manufacturing telecom cables and accessories critical to voice, video and data transmission. When losses like these happen, broadband manufacturers and suppliers create fewer jobs and have less money to improve operations and grow their local economies, as we work to do in Lexington.

Second, the 2015 regulation hurts consumers because when investments go down, so does access to reliable, life-changing broadband services. Even in 2017, millions of Americans remain without broadband access, living on the wrong side of the digital divide in lower-income and rural communities. By reversing the regulation, we can fix this and ensure critical broadband buildout across South Carolina and the United States.

In the short term, the FCC’s plan to reverse Title II regulation is a needed and sensible step forward. Prysmian Group even joined 16 other infrastructure manufacturing companies in filing comments to the FCC applauding its efforts to put entrepreneurs back in the driver’s seat of opportunity and innovation.

In the longer term, decisions about how to regulate the internet should be made by law, so we don’t get a change with every time there’s a new president. I know Congress is having a hard time getting anything done, but an issue affecting as many businesses and consumers as this does should be grounds for reaching across party lines and producing a long-term, binding, practical and bipartisan law.