Investors Underappreciate Net Neutrality Order's Threat, Capital Alpha Partners Says
Investors “under-appreciate” the FCC’s “broad and vague authority” created by the net neutrality order, Capital Alpha Partners said in a note to investors Sunday. In the short term, the order is a “status quo outcome” because carriers don't engage in…
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blocking, throttling or paid prioritization, the note said. That the order contains broad forbearance and doesn't regulate retail rates are positives, CAP said. But the no unreasonable interference or disadvantage standards in the Internet conduct rule is a “catch-all vehicle that invites an unlimited number of complaints to be filed by political critics of the cable and telecom companies,” the note said. The rule is also “a vehicle for the potential arbitrary exercise of the FCC's regulatory discretion in [its] own proactive industry monitoring and investigations,” the note said. The added commission authority “complicates the business of broadband, which itself is becoming increasingly amorphous with new non-traditional entrants and products,” said the note.