Earlier this week, the FCC submitted a proposal that would eliminate several “unnecessary” requirements for broadband internet providers. One of those requirements is providing customers with an itemized bill.
The rules were put into place in 2024, and ordered providers to have “nutrition-style” labels that spell out the fine print on the prices of their plans and the speeds they really offer. The label were designed to provide “clear, easy-to-understand, and accurate information” about a provider’s internet prices, introductory rates, data allowances, and broadband speeds.
In the proposal submitted this week, first reported by The Verge, FCC chairman Brendan Carr says the requirements are “both burdensome to providers and/or confusing to consumers.” While the FCC isn’t looking to eliminate the labels completely, they are trying to simplify them by providing much less information in the name of giving customers “quick and easy access to the information they want and need to compare broadband plans” but leaving room for grouping miscellaneous fees together without an explanation of what’s included.
Here’s the section of the proposal that addresses itemizing recurring monthly fees (you can see the entire proposal here.)
We propose to eliminate the requirement that providers itemize discretionary, recurring monthly fees that represent costs they choose to pass through to consumers and which vary by consumer location. Examples include state and local right of way fees, pole rental fees to utility companies, and other discretionary charges where the provider does not set rates or terms directly. We seek comment on whether providers should instead display on the label the aggregate amount of such fees.
Commenters state that itemizing such fees requires providers to produce multiple labels for identical services.30 We believe, consistent with commenters in the Delete, Delete, Delete proceeding, that itemizing can lead to a proliferation of labels and of labels so lengthy that the fees overwhelm other important elements of the label. And nothing in the Infrastructure Act leads us to believe that Congress intended to require itemizing pass through fees that vary by location.
A vote will take place on October 28, and the proposal will need to be approved by the FCC before the changes are made.