Rules intended to help customers stay informed while choosing broadband plans — known as broadband labels — could be changing, depending on the results of a study approved Tuesday morning by commissioners of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
The FCC’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking takes aim at certain provisions of the requirements for broadband labels that have been in effect since 2022. They were required starting in 2024 after the U.S. Congress enacted them in 2021.
On Tuesday, Commission Chair Brendan Carr and Commissioner Olivia Trusty voted to continue studying the issue, but Commissioner Anna M. Gomez voted against it. Both Trusty and Carr were appointed by the Trump administration, while Gomez was appointed by the Biden administration in 2023.
Gomez said during the hearing that she typically approves of studies, but “the questions posed in this are so anti-consumer I can’t bring myself to agree to them.” She went on to say the FCC hadn’t given any reason to justify the study.
“The more information is available to consumers, the less there is a need for regulation,” she said. “But today we propose to shut down information consumers already have access to.”
Carr countered, saying the FCC “departed quite dramatically from (congressional intent) when it adopted these rules.” He added that the study will help determine the information consumers actually need and make that information easier to find.
Today, the rules require certain information to be presented in a format similar to what you might see on the side of a cereal box. This earned the FCC rules the nickname “broadband nutrition labels.”
They are required to list monthly prices, fees, information about promotional pricing, data caps, equipment fees, and more, and are required to be shown at all points of sale.
The study approved today intends to determine whether to stop requiring broadband providers to do the following:
- Read the label to consumers on sales calls
- Itemize state and local passthrough fees
- Provide information about the now-concluded Affordable Connectivity Program
- Display labels in customer account portals
- Make labels available in machine readable format
- Archive labels for at least two years after a service is no longer offered
- Offer the labels in multiple languages
No one is arguing that information about the Affordable Connectivity Program should be retained, but FCC Commissioner Gomez took issue with the removal of the passthrough fees, phone requirements, and display of the broadband labels in customer portals. She also said the labels should be offered in any language in which the internet provider advertises its services.
