Rural consumers pay the price for network management regulation | Reuters

Regulations that limit broadband providers from using traffic management techniques to manage
bandwidth and congestion are likely to have a disproportionate effect on rural providers and
could compromise the broadband goals of this year's economic stimulus package, the Phoenix Center
says in a new Policy Bulletin released today.

The Policy Bulletin finds that such regulation would likely mean lower quality service and
reduced availability for consumers in rural areas, thereby diminishing the effectiveness of
stimulus grants under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). In some
instances, the Phoenix Center analysis says that competition might also be reduced in urban
areas...