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service,” id. at 5750 ¶ 341, which provides “the ability to
transmit data to and from Internet endpoints,” id. at 5755
¶ 350; and “‘add-on’ applications, content, and services that
are generally information services,” id. at 5750 ¶ 341, such as
email and cloud-based storage programs, id. at 5773 ¶ 376. It
found that from the consumer’s perspective, “broadband
Internet access service is today sufficiently independent of
these information services that it is a separate offering.” Id. at
5757–58 ¶ 356.
In support of its conclusion, the Commission pointed to
record evidence demonstrating that consumers use broadband
principally to access third-party content, not email and other
add-on applications. “As more American households have
gained access to broadband Internet access service,” the
Commission explained, “the market for Internet-based
services provided by parties other than broadband Internet
access providers has flourished.” Id. at 5753 ¶ 347. Indeed,
from 2003 to 2015, the number of websites increased from
“approximately 36 million” to “an estimated 900 million.” Id.
By one estimate, two edge providers, Netflix and YouTube,
“account for 50 percent of peak Internet download traffic in
North America.” Id. at 5754 ¶ 349.
That consumers focus on transmission to the exclusion of
add-on applications is hardly controversial. Even the most
limited examination of contemporary broadband usage reveals
that consumers rely on the service primarily to access thirdparty content. The “typical consumer” purchases broadband
to use “third-party apps such as Facebook, Netflix, YouTube,
Twitter, or MLB.tv, or . . . to access any of thousands of
websites.”
Computer & Communications Industry
Association Amicus Br. 7. As one amicus succinctly
explains, consumers today “pay telecommunications
providers for access to the Internet, and access is exactly what
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