FCC blocks part of San Francisco

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Wednesday voted to override part of a San Francisco city ordinance aimed at promoting access to more broadband providers for residents in apartment buildings.

The FCC’s proposal had generated backlash from Democratic lawmakers like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), whose district lies within San Francisco.

The 2016 ordinance required building owners to allow internet service providers to use existing wiring in their facilities in order to ensure that tenants have access to multiple providers.

The GOP-controlled FCC derided the ordinance as an “outlier” in broadband competition regulations that would deter broadband companies from deploying their own wiring to apartment buildings if they can simply use those of a competitor.

But San Francisco Mayor London Breed (D) wrote to Pelosi and the FCC this month arguing that the agency’s reasoning reflects a misunderstanding of the law.

“San Francisco has told us on the record that this is not what the law does,” Democratic FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, who voted against the proposal, said Wednesday. “But even if it were true, the agency fails to determine here if such sharing would even be technically possible. All of which begs the question, why is the FCC doing this? Why are we preempting an imaginary possibility in a city ordinance in San Francisco?”

But FCC Chairman Ajit Pai disputed their interpretation of the local law and argued Wednesday that the order was narrowly worded in order to preempt San Francisco law only where it might require the shared use of wiring.