UC Irvine

The FCC’s Restoring Internet Freedom Order reclassified mobile broadband service from a commercial mobile radio service to a private mobile radio service, thereby eliminating common carrier regulation of the service. The reclassification is an incredible assertion: that the most important public mobile service of our time is classified under statute as a private mobile service. We analyze the relevant precedent from the 1940s through 2017. We find that the Order’s lack of consideration of the relevant precedent and technology undermines its interpretation of the statute on which it relies. The Order’s reversion to the 1994 definitions of public switched network and interconnected service ignores the growth of the public switched network to include the Internet. The Order’s conclusion that the public switched telephone network and the Internet are separate non-interconnected networks is factually wrong. Critically, when interpreting interconnection, the Order ignores the fact that in order for meaningful communication to occur, the users’ devices and subscribed services must be compatible. A proper interpretation of relevant statute and precedent leads to the opposite conclusion of the Order, that mobile broadband service is a commercial mobile service. This finding lays the foundation for reinstatement of net neutrality protections on mobile broadband service.