Centerville, TN (November 13th 2013) – Tennessee Wireless, a local Middle Tennessee provider of broadband Internet Service, believes that president Obama’s push to reclassify Broadband Internet as a utility is a mistake and that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) should not reclassify consumer broadband service as a utility under Title II of the Communications Act.
As a local provider of High Speed Internet services, Tennessee Wireless, supports a free and open Internet without subjecting small businesses to a regulatory model that is inadequate for its original charter and that would impose unnecessary burdens and restrictions on the thousands of small Internet Service Providers (ISP) who serve our rural communities.
Tennessee Wireless further agrees with the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association’s (WISPA) statement “that common carrier regulation of the Internet would place undue harm on small Internet Service Provider (ISP) businesses that economically and rapidly extend broadband service to areas that currently have it today. Title II would increase compliance costs, increase regulatory risks and deter investments for small ISPs, contrary to the Congress’ intent when it adopted Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act in 1996.”
“You get more of what you reward and less of what you punish,” according to Paul Vaughn the President of Tennessee Wireless. “If the FCC wishes to continue the growth of Internet service availability in the rural communities of our nation then it needs to truly value the entrepreneurial effort that it takes to provide that service. They need to recognize that while the large price cap carries have refused their CAF funds to serve these areas, it is the entrepreneurial can do spirit of the small provider and private equity that is stepping up to provide this needed service. If the FCC is serious about truly connecting the nation, then it will act in the best interest of all service providers and protect the rural communities and their local providers by keeping the unnecessary burden Title II classification in the phone closet.”
About Tennessee Wireless
Tennessee Wireless is a Middle Tennessee technology company that provides commercial and residential fixed wireless Internet service on a network that spans 175 square miles and covers a population of over 7,000. In addition to their local network, Tennessee Wireless provides managed network services, phone, and Fiber and Satellite Internet Service nationwide. For more information, visit www.tennesseewireless.com.
