Consumer advocacy groups and others are expressing concern that the FCC’s proposed changes to its broadband consumer label rules focus heavily on easing the requirements for providers when the greater problem is their widespread lack of compliance.
Consumers clearly like the labels, but ISPs aren’t making them accessible, said John Breyault, the National Consumers League’s vice president of public policy, telecommunications and fraud. The lack of that kind of compliance has been a consistent issue, he told us, pointing to a 2025 study of 35 ISPs of various sizes that found they were “fairly (though not thoroughly) compliant with FCC requirements.” While the labels have the potential to be a useful transparency tool, the FCC is focused on weakening the requirements instead of forcing ISPs to better comply, said Breyault, who served on the agency’s Consumer Advisory Committee when it worked on the initial label recommendations.
The draft order would drop the requirement that telemarketers have to read the labels verbatim to customers and instead let them present the label information in a conversational style. It would also let providers use links or icons instead of the full label at the point of sale. In addition, providers would no longer have to make labels’ contents available separately in a machine-readable spreadsheet file format or itemize “pass-through fees,” such as pole-attachment fees, which could instead be displayed in aggregate.
A view from Minnesota…
Bree Maki, executive director of the Minnesota Office of Broadband Deployment, told us that any action resulting in clearer and more concise information for consumers is a plus. The FCC’s proposed changes might help give people a better understanding of aspects of their subscriptions, such as fees or speeds, she said.