Letter supporting the "Freedom for Consumer Choice Act"

The Honorable Jim DeMint
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator DeMint:

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the world’s largest business federation representing the interests of more than three million businesses and organizations of every size, sector and region, applauds the “Freedom for Consumer Choice Act.” The bill correctly recognizes that without evidence of a market failure and consumer harm, the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) current push to regulate the Internet is not justified and would jeopardize the tremendous investment, innovation, consumer choice, and job creation evidenced in today's broadband marketplace.

Broadband is an important means to stimulate job growth, foster economic development, and benefit society from education to healthcare. Jobs and new business opportunities are being created because broadband service providers are investing tens of billions of dollars every year to upgrade their networks allowing for higher speeds and greater capacity. At the same time, innovative broadband-enabled applications, services, and devices are being developed. For example, a business, regardless of size or location, can use broadband technology to sell to customers around the country and the world.

It will take up to $350 billion to make broadband universally available in the United States, according to the FCC’s Broadband Task Force. The vast majority of this spending will come from the private-sector. Given these turbulent economic times and the enormous cost of building out broadband infrastructure, the United States cannot afford policies that would hinder private-sector investment in this technology and create regulatory uncertainty. In particular, monopoly-era telephone rules should not be applied to new broadband networks.

The Chamber thanks you again for your leadership on this important issue, and looks forward to working with you and your staff on this bill.

Sincerely,
R. Bruce Josten