Potential FCC Regulation: Ban on Bulk Billing
On March 5th, the FCC office of media relations released a statement that FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel had announced “a plan to lower costs and address the lack of choice for broadband services available to households in apartments, condos, public housing, and other multi-tenant buildings.” The release alludes to plans by the FCC to regulate further and potentially ban bulk billing arrangements that do not allow residents to opt-out of such an arrangement.
RealtyCom Partners is tracking this situation and plans to review in detail any Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that is issued pursuant to this FCC announcement. RealtyCom has a history of leading and participating in comments to various past FCC rulemaking procedures.
While not all service providers that typically provide bulk billing services currently have a methodology for individual resident opt-out, RealtyCom is in discussions with providers on how they are and will respond to this potential rulemaking.
RealtyCom Partners stands alongside the signatories of the letter addressed to The White House, urging law makers and the FCC to preserve broadband bulk billing agreements. Instituting a ban on these agreements would negatively impact residents and discourage investments in broadband service. We extend our gratitude to the National Multifamily Housing Council for their advocacy on this crucial issue. https://www.nmhc.org/news/press-release/2024/broad-coalition-of-housing-providers-and-lenders-cautions-white-house-over-anti-housing-affordability-regulations/
For more information from the National Multifamily Housing Council please visit: https://www.nmhc.org/news/press-release/2024/biden-administration-proposal-on-bulk-internet-billing-for-apartment-residents-hurts-renters-access
We will continue to track and make information available to our clients as these events unfold. Should you wish to discuss how this might impact your portfolio, please contact your Client Account Manager or email RealtyCom Partners at info@realtycompartners.com.
June 28, 2024 – While there has been no substantive update from the FCC since March 2024, some industry followers speculate with the Supreme Court’s decision to pull back power of federal agencies it’s possible the FCC’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking will be delayed further. It is way too early to gauge the impact of the SCOTUS ruling, but we know a draft of the Bulk Billing proposal was completed in May and has yet to be released for public comment by the FCC.
July 10, 2024 – Industry leaders predict the FCC may mandate an “opt-out” option for residents living at a property where a bulk agreement is in place, allowing those residents to avoid any fee associated with the owner’s decision to purchase internet or video service. Although this would not require the bulk Service Provider to have direct subscriber billing capabilities, it may be a valuable option for Owners who don’t want to struggle with tracking the “opt-out” residents with the provider and their internal accounting department to make sure those residents are not invoiced.
Given these possible changes, we have recommended our clients inquire about their capability to invoice residents directly (subscriber-based billing) and, should the Owner desire such a switch, the related contract/economic terms. This is especially relevant in cases where the Owner is paying the CapEx for the property’s Managed Wi-Fi system. Additionally, for projects under construction or in design, Owners should also ensure that the planned project has infrastructure to support the Service Provider for subscriber-based service delivery, and should there be a change, that other building systems remain operational. Some providers also offer a network-as-a-service option, where the owner would pay a fixed fee, per month, to keep the system operational. RealtyCom Partners has started negotiating these additional options where possible so that Owners can enter into agreements with a clear understanding of the system costs should this ruling pass.
Also, this month, all five FCC commissioners also met before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology regarding their budget request for the next year. NMHC attend the hearing as an opportunity to again outline their concerns regarding the FCC’s proposal to ban or restrict bulk internet billing.
August 7, 2024 – We wanted to share the July 23, 2024 article from the Bulk Broadband Alliance, “New Coalition Launches to Champion the Bulk Billing Arrangement Model for Internet Services”. The article discusses the coalition that was formed in response to the FCC’s potential rulemaking, explains the bulk billing model and outlines its numerous benefits. Read article here.
September 3, 2024 – “Bipartisan, Local Opposition Grows to FCC Bulk Billing Proposals”
On September 3, more than 50 bipartisan mayors from various communities sent a letter to the FCC highlighting the positive impact bulk internet billing agreements have had in their cities and urging the Commission to avoid undermining those benefits through regulation. This follows a resolution from the National Association of Counties (NACo) issued just a month earlier, opposing the FCC’s proposed ban on bulk billing. Read more here.
November 17, 2024 – President-elect Trump has announced he will pick Brendan Carr to be Chairman of the FCC. Carr is currently an FCC commissioner, and made public his disagreement with the proposed bulk ban in the recent past. While we will continue to monitor this issue, this certainly seems to bodes well for opponents of a potential bulk ban.
FCC Regulation: Net Neutrality
April 25, 2024 – Today, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) restored net neutrality regulations initially passed in 2015, which were unwound in 2017, prohibiting service providers like Comcast, AT&T and Verizon from selectively throttling or blocking consumer internet traffic. Read the FCC press release for more info. While there’s no extraordinary impact to multifamily in particular, we expect the FCC to move onto other matters such as Chairwoman Rosenworcel’s proposal seeking to eliminate bulk contract arrangements soon. We’ll continue to keep our clients informed as things develop on our blog, emailed newsletter and LinkedIn.
FCC Regulation: NMHC Call to Action
May 13, 2024 – The National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) sent out a “2024 Rental Housing Connectivity Survey” request to their members. NMHC emphasizes the importance of this data collection to inform and persuade policymakers about the potential negative impacts of the FCC’s plans. Questions about access to or completing the survey should be directed to NMHC’s Ryan Hecker (rhecker@nmhc.org). Questions about the FCC effort should be directed to Vice President, Government Affairs, Technology and Strategic Initiatives, Kevin Donnelly (kdonnelly@nmhc.org).
