Comcast is complaining to FCC that it is too difficult to list all of its monthly costs

Comcast isn’t happy with new federal rules requiring it to provide broadband customers with labels with exact prices and other information about Internet subscriptions.

In a filing last week, Comcast told the Federal Communications Commission it is “working diligently to put in place the systems and processes necessary to create, maintain and display the labels as needed.” But according to Comcast, “Two aspects of the Commission’s decision create significant administrative burdens and unnecessary complexity in meeting broadband labeling requirements.”

Comcast noted that five major cable and telecom industry trade groups petitioned the FCC in January to change the rules. Comcast’s new filing urged the FCC to grant the petition “as soon as possible before the rules go into effect to help providers streamline and simplify their labeling processes, which will ultimately benefit consumers.”

The FCC had to implement broadband labeling rules in a 2021 law passed by Congress. While the FCC approved the labeling rules in November 2022, it’s not clear when they will go into effect. They are subject to federal review by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) due to requirements in the US Paperwork Reduction Act. Medium and large ISPs would have to comply six months after the OMB assessment, while providers with 100,000 or fewer subscribers would have one year to comply.

“The label hasn’t even reached consumers yet, but Comcast is already trying to create loopholes. This request would allow the major ISPs to hide the true service costs and frustrate customers with poor service. Congress has labeled created to end these practices, not enforce, and Comcast offers no compelling reason for the FCC to violate Congressional intent,” Joshua Stager, policy director at the media advocacy group Free Press, told , to Ars. Stager previously advocated for the broadband labels when he was deputy director of New America’s Open Technology Institute.

FCC rules require ISPs to display the labels at the point of sale. The labels must disclose broadband prices, introductory rates, data caps, internet speeds and contain links to information about an ISP’s network management practices and privacy policies.

Comcast doesn’t want to list all monthly costs

Comcast pointed to “recent files regarding the Commission’s underestimation of the burdens associated with implementing broadband consumer labeling rules.” Those filings came from Verizon, AT&T, Lumen (aka CenturyLink), and a trade group representing nationwide broadband providers.

Comcast and other ISPs have been annoying customers for years by advertising low prices and then charging much higher monthly bills by charging different fees. While some of these fees are related to government-issued requirements and others are not, poorly trained customer service representatives have been known to falsely tell customers that fees created by Comcast are government-imposed.

The FCC rules will force ISPs to accurately describe fees in labels given to customers, but Comcast said it wants the FCC to repeal a requirement regarding “fees that ISPs can, but are not required to, pass on to customers”. These include universal service charges and other local charges.

As Comcast makes clear, there is no obligation to pass these costs on to customers in the form of separate fees. Comcast could stop charging the fees and increase its advertised prices by the corresponding amount to more accurately convey actual prices to customers. Instead, Comcast wants the FCC to change the rule so it can continue to charge the charges without specifying them.

The part of the FCC order that Comcast and other ISPs object to says that “providers must list all recurring monthly charges,” including “any charges that providers impose in their sole discretion, i.echarges not imposed by any government.”

comcast wrote:

[T]The order rightly refrains from requiring ISPs to itemize state and local taxes, recognizing that these “often vary depending on a customer’s geographic location.” The Order has the same treatment for government levies as a ‘relevant state or local government'[s]'” must be passed on to customers… However, the Order seems to take a different course with respect to fees that ISPs are allowed, but not required, to pass on to customers. The language of the Order creates a lot of uncertainty about how ISPs should list these fees on their labels, because it could be read that ISPs are required to specify each of these government-imposed fees on their labels… If these fees need to be itemized, each unique combination of applicable, non-mandatory fees charged by the government. Itemizing these fees would significantly increase the burden on providers to generate and maintain their labels, especially since the fees are subject to change, in some cases even quarterly.