Did Net Neutrality Kill Broadband Investment Like Comcast, AT&T, Verizon Said It Would?

Last year, when the FCC was preparing to vote on the new Open Internet Order (aka “net neutrality”) and its reclassification of broadband Internet as a vital utility, virtually the entire telecom and cable industry claimed this change would ruin investment and slow innovation. But a look at the year-end financial figures for the biggest naysayers casts a lot of doubt on these dire predictions.

One Issue, Two Stories

From changes in market share, competition levels, innovation, to buzzworthy marketing, brand awareness, and public image, there are many ways to measure the success of a business. To stockholders, investors, C-suite executives, and board presidents, though, there’s one that matters more than all the others: money.

Those good old American dollars have, in one way or another, been at the center of most of the rhetoric about net neutrality… but they aren’t always saying the same thing. In order to give themselves the best possible positioning, telecoms and cable companies tell two competing stories about their money.

One is the story they tell regulators. In both filing with the FCC and in astroturfing campaigns aimed at realigning public perception, the most common story told by the telecom/cable industry was this: reclassifying broadband as a more heavily regulated Title II utility will hurt investment, hurt innovation, and generally spoil all the fun everyone is having.

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