Dear Chairman Pai:

On behalf of the close to 200 members of Business Roundtable, an association comprised of chief executive officers of leading U.S. companies representing all sectors of the economy, I am writing to express our support for a light-touch regulatory framework for broadband Internet access (“broadband”) service. We applaud you for initiating a proceeding to revisit the 2015 Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) order to classify broadband service and the critical issues resulting from the order.

Business Roundtable’s comments can be distilled into three key points:

Business Roundtable is committed to protecting an open Internet. We believe that a free and open Internet is a vital component of innovation, economic growth, job creation, and free expression. We applaud the Administration’s efforts to develop solutions facilitating smart investments in broadband technologies while at the same time balancing consumer and other stakeholder concerns.

Business Roundtable supports light-touch regulation of broadband services. We do not support the application of antiquated regulatory tools to our rapidly-evolving Internet. The reclassification of broadband as a telecommunications service under Title II reverses years of settled precedent that promoted competition and allowed the Internet to flourish. A light-touch regulatory framework allows broadband service providers to rapidly respond to consumer demands and market changes.

Business Roundtable believes that Congress should make significant policy decisions. Administrative agencies can act only on the authority they are granted to implement Congressional mandates. The 2015 FCC order changes how broadband has operated since its inception. Policy change of this magnitude should only be done, if at all, by Congress after careful policy analysis.