Last week, the Federal Communications Commission voted to repeal net neutrality and other rules that determine the way internet service is regulated. Opponents of the FCC's changes have predicted dire consequences, stoking public fears and prompting great angst and handwringing. GCI's customers shouldn't worry; GCI has long supported an open internet and we have no intention of changing our decades-long commitment to online freedom.
The FCC vote is not the end of an open internet. It is, hopefully, the end of a failed experiment to manage the internet with utility-style regulations that were originally developed in the 1930s for telephone, water and sewage services. Imposing Depression-era regulations on internet service providers is an absurd way to promote internet freedom. But that's exactly what the FCC did when it approved the 2015 regulations.
[GCI, Alaska Communications vow not to penalize Alaskans when net neutrality rescinded]
The FCC has reversed that decision and returned to the same internet regulation that applied from 1996 through 2015 — years when the internet thrived. In 1996, there was no YouTube, no Google, no Twitter, no Facebook, no Wikipedia and the first iPhone was more than a decade in the future. Access to the relatively few websites that existed was mostly via dial-up connections (many of you may not even know what dial-up means, but trust me, it was slow). Progress and innovation occurred at warp speed during that period, and the internet gave life to new technologies that transformed our lives. Tomorrow's vote would return us to the same regulations that served us well during the almost two decades of astonishing internet growth.
Despite this history of success, some have predicted that rolling back the 2015 regulations will usher in a lawless, no-rule internet "Wild West" that would threaten internet freedom. In reality, the new FCC proposal puts the original internet cop back on the beat. The FCC's proposal transfers much of the responsibility for ensuring an open internet back to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). In 2015, the FTC was stripped of its authority to regulate internet service providers. The vote returns that authority where it belongs, and where it had been for years. The FTC's long history of successfully managing online issues should reassure consumers and watchdog agencies that internet freedom is in good hands.
So, why does all of this matter to GCI?
[Why net neutrality was repealed and how it affects you]
GCI is a relatively small stakeholder in the internet economy. We don't have a fancy Silicon Valley address or the market capitalization of Google or Facebook. GCI's success depends upon our ability to be innovative, agile and responsive to market changes so we can give our customers the products and services they need and want.
The 2015 regulations threw a wet blanket on those efforts. For example, this year GCI launched our popular Simply Unbeatable wireless and Better Than Unlimited internet plans to provide our customers with vastly improved wireless access to the internet. These products took twice as long to bring to market because of the complex structure of the FCC's regulations.
By appointing itself super-nanny of the internet, the FCC subjected businesses like ours to poorly defined scrutiny based on unpredictable future interpretations of the new regulations. It didn't just move the goal posts; it made them invisible and threw away the established rulebook. The result was a vague and confusing "Mother-may-I" regime where businesses seeking to innovate had to first navigate the bureaucratic quagmire of Washington for approval. This kind of regulatory uncertainty not only slowed down innovation but also chilled investment. A return to the pre-2015 regulatory regime would reduce uncertainty and enable GCI to deliver the products and services that Alaskans need and want more quickly.
As GCI's CEO and co-founder, I can assure you that Alaska's largest and fastest internet provider has always been committed to a free and open internet. We do not and will not block or in any way impair our customers' ability to direct their own online activity. GCI continues to stand by this commitment unequivocally and we won't change our position based on decisions made in Washington, D.C., no matter last week's decision.
Ron Duncan is CEO and co-founder of GCI.
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