FCC Chairman Wheeler Calls for Net Neutrality to Remain

The FCC posted a transcript on Friday of what was billed as FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s final public address before he steps down from the post on Jan. 20. It happened at the Aspen Institute in Washington, D.C., and featured Wheeler making direct reference to his strong opinions that the FCC’s open internet rules and reclassification of ISPs as common carriers should remain steadfastly in place, no matter the current murmurs that they may not be long for this world with a new sheriff in town.

“No company using the internet is safe absent the kind of common carrier requirements America has historically expected of its networks,” he says.

There has been much ado that the incoming GOP administration could aim to reverse some of the FCC regulations passed during the last few years. Wheeler says changes in the Commission’s Open Internet Order could do harm to the U.S. economy if they do not pay attention to remaining what he defines as fair and open. He says many technologies “have developed on the assumption that connectivity will be fast, fair and open – and today that assumption is guaranteed by the comprehensive, continuing, and consistent protection of the open internet rule.”

If current regs change “at the request of a handful of ISPs” Wheeler says he foresees a widespread threat to innovations that require connectivity.

More in-depth coverage of Wheeler’s speech is here at our sister site, Wireless Week.