COMMITTEES: RONWYDEN 
OREGON COMMllTEE ON TI-lE BUDGET 
COMMIITEE ON ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES 
223 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING 
WASHINGTON, DC 20510 iinitnt i'tatcs i'rnatc SUBCOMMITIEE ON PUBUC LANDS AND FORESTS SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON AGING (202) 224-5244 SELECT COMMfJTEE ON INTELUGENCE 
(202) 224-1280 (TDD) WASHINGTON, DC 20510-3703 COMMnTEEONFlNANCE 
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September 15,2014 ?,ecei'Jed & 
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The Federal Communications Commission 
445 12th Street, SW 
Washington, DC 20554 
Dear Commissioners: 
rCC ~ai\ Room 
To remain competitive in a tough 21st century global economy, America is going to need a best­
in-class and always-improving broadband platform, which will drive innovation and 
growth. High-speed broadband must be equally accessible by all American consumers and all 
edge service providers. But lack of real competitive choice among broadband access providers 
means that a few Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have unrestrained last-mile power that allows 
them to pursue profit schemes such as paid prioritization without having to account for the 
adverse impact on the overall Internet ecosystem·: · '· · · ' ' · · · 
: .. ( : ' 
Where the marketplace does not offerthe·publi'c an option to exercise its' choice for anopen 
Internet, policymakers ,have a responsibility.1o acf cin'beli8lf of the public interest. ·. 
So I welcome Chairman Wheeler's recent' call for U.S. policymakers "to do everything in our 
power to ensure that the United States has the world's most dynamic and competitive broadband 
ecosystem with a virtuous cycle of new investment, new innovations, and new services." ("The 
Facts and Future ofBroadband Competition", Sept. 4, 2014.) Fortunately, the Federal 
Communications Commission ("FCC") has the authority under Title II of the Communications 
Act to safeguard .America's ·broadband future by ensuring that paid prioritization and other 
practices do not thwart the entry of new edge service providers and dull market incentives for 
continuous infrastructure improvement. 
I fully support efforts to protect, encourage and create competition, including in the context of 
merger reviews, Internet Protocol transition;' spectrum allocation, citizen-driven broadband 
expansion and universal service, as Well as the Open Internet proceeding. Where competition 
can work, it should be allowed to work: However, as the FCC has clearly documented and you 
have lamented1• no ~uoh comf!etitioh currently exiSts in the high-speed broadband access 
market;· And there is no lll.dication.iliat sufficient 'clini'p'etitidii'wlll evolve in the near-term.to 
disincentivize providers frorti exploiting their last-mite ~ower in ways that undermine the vision 
you have set out ·forAmerica's broadband' future. . · . ' . · · · · · ' · · · · 
So I am urging yo1.1 tofollowthe·FCC'S'futdirigs about today's.broadband realitY and 
tomorrow's broadband needs to their'logicilllegal conClusion, 1!\:'order to send a clear signill to 
the market that the FCC stands ready and well-grounded to intervene where broadband access 
providers adopt prao.tices that.threaten the public interest in a vibrant 21st century broadband 
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ecosystem, it is necessary and imperative that you to reclassify broadband access services \mder 
Title II of the Communications Act of 1934. 
As Chairman Wheeler has said, it is time for the FCC to establish clear rules of the road in order 
to provide guidance to all players and restrain the sort of future actions that would harm the 
public interest and disincentivize investment and innovation. And -- since the Federal Circuit 
has made clear that Section 706 of the 1996 Telecommunications Act does not provide sufficient 
authority for the FCC to prohibit, or even adopt a meaningful presumption against, paid 
prioritization -- it is time for the FCC to set its rulemaking on the firm legal foundation of Title II 
of the 1934 Communications Act. 
Moreover, I consider it misleading that the public conversation about Title II classification is 
being dogged by rhetoric of the dangers of over-regulation. Classifying broadband as a Title II 
service would not entangle the Internet in the sort of regulatory thicket that governed 
telecommunications service provision in the 1970s and 1980s. Indeed, Congress acted in the 
1996 Telecommunications Act to ensure that the FCC has discretion to forbear from applying all 
but the few Title II provisions needed to do the job. And there is broad consensus that the FCC 
would only need to apply a handful of Title II provisions in order to preserve an open Internet. 
I look forward to continuing to work with you to keep the Internet open as a platform for 
innovation, communication and commerce. 
Sincerely, 
Ron Wyden 
U.S. Senator