D.C. Memo: Carr Shuts Down Proposal to Ban ISP Bulk Billing Deals
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Bulk Billing: ISPs like Hotwire Communications in Florida can finally breathe easy. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has shut down a proposal designed to ban ISPs from inking certain Internet service contracts with the owners and managers of condos, apartment buildings, and homeowners associations. Under so-called bulk billing arrangements, ISPs slash the monthly price for Internet, video, and other communications services (such as managed Wi-Fi) in exchange for the 100% financial participation of residents. The ban was the idea of former FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, who was later egged on by some public interest groups that also wanted to give tenants the individual right to opt out of bulk billing contracts without financial penalty. Rosenworcel posted that she shared the text of a bulk billing Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in a section of the FCC's website called "Items on Circulation." Carr, a foe of FCC interference in the bulk billing market, cleared out the entire "Items on Circulation" section, probably on Friday. The NPRM’s text was never made public. The Bulk Broadband Alliance, a diverse coalition of ISPs, housing organizations and others that fought Rosenworcel, praised Carr's action. “The Bulk Broadband Alliance applauds Chairman Carr for his leadership in swiftly pulling from consideration the deeply flawed proposal to regulate bulk billing arrangements. This decision is a major victory for millions of households that benefit from the typically 50% lower prices and higher quality these arrangements offer," BBA said in a prepared statement. To Hotwire and other ISPs heavily involved in the Multiple Dwelling Unit (MDU) sector, opt-out rights were the equivalent of a ban because the business model would collapse if 100% tenant participation were not assured. And without bulk billing deals, ISPs said the consequence would be higher Internet bills, hurting renters who are elderly, low income, students, and on fixed incomes. Hotwire Chief Strategy Officer Jonathan Bullock told the FCC last March that the opt-out idea would mean bulk billing was unsustainable economically. “If individual residents are permitted to exit the agreement, either the other residents would have to pay much higher fees, or the arrangement would collapse,” Bullock said. A week before Election Day, Carr blasted a bulk billing ban as something certain to raise monthly Internet bills. "This Biden-Harris plan would hurt seniors, students, and low-income individuals in particular. That is why you've seen a bipartisan group of mayors from cities across the country, from Pennsylvania to Florida, calling on the FCC to abandon the Biden-Harris plan. I agree," Carr said Oct. 31 on his X feed.