Newark Fiber, which is building a fiber network for the city via a public-private partnership, will promise to adhere to the FCC's now-shelved net neutrality guidelines. Axios reported that Newark Mayor Ras Baraka will make the announcement later today.
Specifically, the publication reported that Newark Fiber will "continue to prohibit blocking, throttling and fast lanes on its network even after the FCC rules go away. The city's contracts with third parties that connect its network will also include net neutrality clauses."
A call to Newark Fiber to confirm the news wasn't immediately returned.
Newark Fiber isn't the only provider to voice support for the FCC's net neutrality guidelines. And now that the agency has voted to remove those guidelines, additional internet service providers may move to make the issue a selling point.
Indeed, the issue has become a major political topic; the FCC's vote this month to end the guidelines it enacted in 2015 was met with a wide range of protests, both offline and online. Critics of the FCC's vote argued that the agency's net neutrality guidelines are necessary to prevent ISPs from favoring some services over others, as a way to gain leverage in the market.
As noted by NJ.com, Newark Fiber launched last year to deploy fiber optic facilities in the city, and to make those links available on a wholesale basis to building owners. According to the site, building owners can then offer high-speed access to individual tenants at capped rates ranging from $100 to $500 month for 1 gigabit of capacity, well below the typical $3,000 monthly cost for the same capacity in New York.
On its website, Newark Fiber offers speeds from 1 Gbps to 10 Gbps over prices ranging from less than $50 for one resident to $500 for 500 residents.