By Bob Stanzione, Executive Chairman
Throughout our history, ARRIS has driven many of the technological leaps that now power people's digital worlds. We have long understood how our innovations, and innovations across our industry, have sparked cutting-edge new services, unlocked new user experiences, and bettered our access to the content we need and love.
Equipped with this unique perspective, ARRIS applauds today's decision by the FCC to restore the classification of broadband as an "information service" and eliminate "Title II" utility-style regulation of the internet.
Fundamentally, we believe this important change will create a more favorable regulatory environment, which will drive further investment in broadband. Since the FCC's 2015 decision to classify the internet under Title II, investment in broadband infrastructure has declined. This has limited innovation and advances in the broadband ecosystem at a time when connectivity is so closely tied to economic prosperity and social engagement.
Without the burden of heavy-handed Title II regulation, broadband companies will once again be encouraged to increase their investment in broadband infrastructure, in turn helping to enhance the country's economic potential, meet growing bandwidth demands, and expand broadband availability to millions of people around the United States. A light-touch regulatory policy was crucial to the emergence and growth of the internet before the 2015 Order, and it will be critical to the next phase of broadband. ARRIS would therefore support legislation that would permanently codify open internet protections, ensuring long-term certainty for future business investment in broadband.
