FCC Addresses Broadband Stakeholder Meetings

A day after reports surfaced that the FCC has been meeting with industry stakeholders to arrive at a legislative consensus on clarifying the commission’s regulatory authority over broadband, FCC Chief of Staff Ed Lazarus discussed the meetings on the commission’s broadband blog.

“Senior Commission staff are making themselves available to meet with all interested parties on these issues,” Lazarus said, adding that, in the interests of transparency, the FCC would post notices of these meetings on the blog.

He also added that the FCC was not obliged to do so. “To the extent stakeholders discuss proposals with Commission staff regarding other approaches outside of the open proceedings at the Commission, the agency’s ex parte disclosure requirements are not applicable,” he said.

At press time there was a link to a letter from Markham Erickson, executive director of the Open Internet Coalition, about a Tuesday meeting that included Erickson, Lazarus, National Cable & Telecommunications Association President Kyle McSlarrow and representatives of Verizon, AT&T, Google, and Skype.

According to a source, it is the third meeting with industry reps on a possible legislative fix, with more in the works.