(Washington) Today, the Federal Trade Commission issued a staff report entitled, “Broadband Connectivity Competition Policy.” The report states, “In evaluating whether new [net neutrality] proscriptions are necessary, we advise proceeding with caution before enacting broad… restrictions in an unsettled, dynamic environment.” (page 9)

The report further states, “While there is disagreement over the competitiveness of the broadband Internet access industry, there is evidence that it is moving in the right direction. Specifically, there is evidence at least on a national scale that: (1) consumer demand for broadband is growing quickly; (2) access speeds are increasing; (3) prices (particularly speed-adjusted or quality-adjusted prices) are falling; and (4) new entrants, deploying Wi-Fi, Wi MAX, and other broadband technologies, are poised to challenge the incumbent cable and telephone companies. Although this is merely a high-level snapshot of a dynamic, evolving marketplace, such evidence challenges the claims by many proponents of network neutrality regulation that the broadband Internet access market is a cable- telephone duopoly that will exist for the foreseeable future and that the two primary broadband platforms do not compete meaningfully.” (pp. 155-156)

In response to the FTC’s report, Mike McCurry and Christopher Wolf, co-chairs of the Hands Off the Internet coalition (www.HandsOff.org), issued the following statement:

“Once again, independent experts have looked at the net neutrality issue and asked, ‘Where’s the beef?’ There’s an explosion in broadband deployment in America now, which is creating jobs and making high-speed connections more affordable. With consumer protection laws already in place, this is no time for government to raise prices with heavy net neutrality regulation.”

The Hands Off the Internet coalition is a Washington, DC-based coalition of companies and nonprofit organizations that believes the Internet has flourished because government has not tried to regulate it. Members include Alcatel-Lucent, AT&T, 3M, the National Association of Manufacturers, FiberControl, and Cinergy Communications. Nonprofit members include Citizens Against Government Waste, the American Conservative Union and the National Black Chamber of Commerce.