FCC should keep mobile-specific open Internet rules to help minorities

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will soon decide whether to apply burdensome and unnecessary net neutrality rules onto wireless broadband. It is clear: Choosing to reverse its 2010 decision where it recognized that wireless was different by adopting these new heavy-handed regulations would harm minorities and inhibit efforts at shrinking the digital divide. Basic rules are needed to help preserve an open Internet, and we believe those rules should provide for a mobile-specific approach for mobile broadband services.

Studies consistently show that African-Americans rely on wireless technology for everyday personal and work communications as well as Internet access. A recent survey found that almost 90 percent of African-American wireless consumers consider wireless an essential service. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 42 percent of African-American adults are living in wireless-only households, which is higher than the national average.

{mosads}That’s why we are working to ensure excessive and unnecessary government regulation doesn’t interfere with African-Americans and other minorities adopting wireless communication to an even greater degree. The U.S. wireless ecosystem has grown into today’s world leader, thanks in part to the mobile-specific rules the FCC voted to approve in 2010. Thanks to that flexible approach, and to win consumers over, wireless providers constantly invest in their networks, roll out game-changing new devices and services and offer a variety of service plans and differentiated options.

An open Internet exists in mobile because consumers demand it. It’s also much easier for wireless users to switch to a new carrier, since more than 90 percent of Americans have at least three wireless providers to choose from. Meanwhile, the majority of Americans have, at most, two wireline options. Applying wireline rules to wireless could hinder the abundance of choices available to minority consumers today, and inhibit new options and services that could attract non-adopters in the African-American community. The FCC was right in 2010, and continuing this approach will only continue to encourage vibrant competition to the benefit of Americans who enjoy using and also rely on mobile Internet.

The groundbreaking wireless innovations we have witnessed since 2010 offered new opportunities for minority entrepreneurs. Today’s wireless ecosystem includes virtually all sectors, from education to healthcare and everything in between. Wireless is also responsible for entirely new sectors like the “app economy,” which only came into existence after the introduction of more advanced 3G networks and smartphones. The app economy created more than half a million jobs across the country and added tens of billions of dollars to the economy. The vast majority of mobile app companies in the U.S. are small businesses.

Unfortunately, this push for new rules that would impose the exact same rules on wireless that it does on other broadband providers, despite the technical, competitive and developmental differences, could also impede the administration’s goal of getting minorities connected to the Internet, especially via wireless. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) recently released a report that found that the digital divide between whites and minorities is narrowing thanks in large part to mobility. The last thing the FCC should do is place inflexible rules on wireless since it connects millions of minorities, many for the first time over the past few years. Our leaders in Washington need to do everything possible to encourage the continued use and innovation of wireless, and the continued experimentation and differentiation of mobile operators to reach new adopters.

The African-American population heavily relies on mobile technology to thrive in our everyday lives, and we leveraged its tremendous opportunities to create new businesses, find jobs, become better-educated and more actively participate in our communities. We will not and cannot stand by and watch wireless technology stifled and diminished by overregulation.

I strongly encourage the FCC to keep the minority communities and entrepreneurs that the National Black Chamber of Commerce represents close in mind. We will continue to advocate for a sensible mobile-specific approach that will provide greater value and opportunity for all.

Alford is the president and CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce.