The FCC is launching an investigation into anticompetitive practices that are keeping broadband from coming to apartments and other multi-tenant buildings. They have issued a Notice of Inquiry in Docket in GN Docket 17-142 looking into the topic and are expected later this month to formally release it to the public. The docket specifically looks at barriers to competition in what the FCC is calling MTEs – multiple tenant environments, which includes apartments, condominiums, shopping malls and cooperatively owned buildings.

This is not the first time that the FCC has tackled the topic. Back in 2008 the commission banned some contractual arrangements that gave incumbent ISPs unfair advantage over competitors. However, that order didn’t go far enough, and ISPs basically shifted to arrangements that were not banned by the FCC. The FCC is looking into the topic because it’s become obvious that exclusive arrangements are harming the introduction of faster broadband into a sizable portion of the market. There are cities where half or more of residents live in apartments and don’t have the same competitive choices as those living in single family homes.

The FCC has an interesting legal challenge in looking at this issue. This docket specifically looks at the potential for regulating broadband access in MTEs, something that the FCC has the authority to do under Title II regulation. But assuming that the FCC moves forward this year with plans to scrap Title II regulation they might also be eliminating their authority to regulate MTEs in the manner suggested by the NOI. If they decide to act on the issue it will be interesting to see how they define their authority to regulate anything that is broadband related. That might be our first glimpse at what a regulatory regime without Title II looks like.

Further, Chairman Ajit Pai has shown a strong preference to lighten the regulations on ISPs and you have to wonder if he is willing to really tackle a new set of regulations. But he’s faced with the dilemma faced by all regulators in that sometimes the market will not automatically produce the results that are beneficial to society and sometimes regulations are the only way to get corporations and others to behave in the way that benefits everybody. It’s clear that residents in MTEs have little or no competition and choice and new regulations might be the only way to get it for them.

The NOI looks at specific issues related to MTE broadband competition:

• It asks if the FCC should consider overriding state and local regulations that inhibit the deployment of broadband in MTEs. Some jurisdictions have franchising and other rules that make it hard for a smaller competitor to try to serve only MTEs or parts of markets.
• It asks if the FCC should prohibit exclusive marketing and bulk billing arrangements by ISPs.
• It asks if the FCC should prohibit revenue sharing and exclusive wiring arrangements with ISPs.
• It asks if there are other kinds on non-contractual practices that should be prohibited or regulated.

The NOI is interesting in that it tackles all of the topics that the FCC left untouched in 2008. When that order came out I remember thinking about all of the loopholes the FCC had left available to ISPs that wanted to maintain an exclusive arrangement with apartment owners. For example, bulk billing arrangements are where a landlord buys wholesale connections from an ISP and then includes broadband or cable TV as part of the rent, at a mark-up. Landlords under such arrangements are unlikely to allow in another competitor since they are profiting from the exclusive arrangement. The FCC at the time didn’t feel ready to tackle the issues associated with regulating landlord behavior.

The NOI asks for comments on the non-contractual issues that prohibit competition. I’ve seen many such practices in the marketplace. For instance, a landlord may tell tenants that they are pro-competition and that they allow access to multiple ISPs, but then charge exorbitant fees to ISPs for gaining access to buildings or for wanting to collocate electronics or to run wiring. I can think of dozens of different roadblocks that I’ve seen that effectively keep out competitors.

I am heartened a bit by this docket in that it’s the first thing this new FCC has done to solve a problem. Most of the work they’ve done so far is to dismantle old rules to reduce regulation. There is nothing wrong with that in general and I have my own long shopping list of regulations that are out of date or unnecessary. But there are industry issues like this one where regulation is the only way to provide a needed fix to a problem. It’s clear that large ISPs and many landlords have no interest in bringing competition to their buildings. And if that is a goal that the FCC wants to foster, then they are going to have to create the necessary regulations to make it happen – even if they prefer to not regulate.