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US: FCC eliminates Obama-era Charter merger condition

By  |  April 3, 2017

The Federal Communications Commission on reversed a major condition of last year’s $65 billion merger between Charter Communications, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks that would have required the new company to compete against ISPs in certain markets.

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    It’s just the latest move by President Donald Trump’s FCC to reverse Obama-era regulations.

    The former condition required Charter, which acquired the other two cable companies, to provide broadband access to 2 million additional households, and 1 million of those homes had to already have broadband access through a competitor.

    The new order eliminates the requirement that Charter “overbuild” in areas where competitors operate, according to Reuters, which first reported the vote. It still requires buildout to 2 million homes, except now all 2 million must be to unserved customers.

    “My top priority is making sure that any American who wants high-speed Internet access is able to get it. Today, we take another step toward achieving that goal,” FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said Monday in a statement.

    Full Content: Reuters

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