FCC's Clyburn rebukes ISPs for broadband rate hike

Federal Communications Commission member Mignon Clyburn on Wednesday indirectly hammered Comcast for recently raising its broadband prices.

As Cyburn and other FCC commissioners discussed broadband affordability at a digital literacy summit on Tuesday, Comcast instituted a $2 rate increase on its lowest-tier customers.

That prompted Clyburn to issue a statement rebuking Internet service providers, in general, for their recent rate hikes -- though the commissioner's comments seemed indirectly targeted at Comcast.

"The same day we announced these important recommendations designed to usher more Americans into the digital age.. I learned that another major broadband provider is raising its rates for its lowest tiers of broadband service," she said in the statement. "This news came on the heels of plans unveiled by other major providers throughout the country to increase prices as well."

"So, just as we are in the process of proposing steps to ensure that more people are comfortable signing up for broadband service, providers of that very service are raising prices," the commissioner lamented. 

But Comcast quickly fired back at the commissioner's statement, stressing to The Washington Post that its new rate increase is far more innocuous than Clyburn suggests.

“We haven’t increased the price of our service in more than five years and about half of our customers are currently in promotions and won’t be impacted by this change," Jennifer Koury, a Comcast spokeswoman, told the newspaper.

Nevertheless, broadband affordability has become a signature issue for the FCC, as its commissioners have routinely stressed cost as the primary impediment for high-speed Internet adoption nationwide.

Consequently, the FCC intends to debut a host of suggestions aimed at increasing broadband access and decreasing prices as part of its National Broadband Plan, due to Congress next week. One of those ideas might include the creation of a low-cost or free broadband service for Americans who cannot otherwise afford Web access, according to reports.

But Clyburn on Wednesday hinted at a second tool: measures to spur industry competition. She stressed in her statement that recent price increases by every major broadband carrier calls into question "whether there is any meaningful competition in the marketplace" at all.

"When prices rise across the industry, and where there are only a limited number of players in the game, we have to ask ourselves whether there is any meaningful competition in the marketplace," Clyburn said.

"If we fail to think deeply about these issues, consumers will suffer, and low-income Americans in particular will be left long behind," she added.

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