Federal Communications Commissioner Mignon Clyburn solidified her role as the agency's tail gunner on Wednesday with a warning to the big ISPs that the FCC's patience with rising broadband subscription rates is wearing thin.

"When prices rise across the industry, and where there are only a limited number of players in the game, we have to ask ourselves whether there is any meaningful competition in the marketplace," Clyburn declared in a public statement. "Moreover, when executives from major broadband providers indicate that they will only roll out faster speeds in the few markets where they have competition, our fears about whether meaningful competition exists should grow."

"Across-the-board price increases," she added, "especially on those who can least afford it, should raise a red flag for the Commission."

The commentary comes following Comcast's disclosure that the company plans to boost broadband and TV rates. "So, just as we are in the process of proposing steps to ensure that more people are comfortable signing up for broadband service, providers of that very service are raising prices," Clyburn complained. It also follows the Commissioner's pointed warning in late December to Verizon about its $350 Early Termination Fees, and her public smackdown of civil rights groups that oppose the Commission's Open Internet proposals.

Digital ambassadors

The FCC's newest Democrat isn't always in combat mode. At Tuesday's Digital Inclusion Summit, held at the Newseum and cosponsored by the Knight Foundation, Clyburn cheerfully laid out a host of proposals to speed up broadband adoption, all of which will appear in the agency's National Broadband Plan, scheduled for unveiling next week. These include extending the agency's Universal Service Fund low-income programs to cover broadband subscription costs, and "exploring using spectrum for a free or very low cost wireless service" (an idea which, as we've reported, the agency has actually been exploring for a while).

Plus, the Commission is going to propose a "National Digital Literacy Corps," Clyburn announced, somewhat similar to AmeriCorps and SeniorCorps. The NDLC will mobilized "digital ambassadors" across the nation. "This is about neighbors helping neighbors get online," she explained. "The Corps can target vulnerable communities with below-average adoption rates, like low-income housing developments, rural towns, Tribal lands, and areas populated primarily by racial and ethnic minorities."

The same day

But all that lovey dovey "neighbors helping neighbors" stuff was nowhere to be found in Clyburn's statement about the ISPs on Wednesday.

"The same day we announced these important recommendations designed to usher more Americans into the digital age," Clyburn continued, "I learned that another major broadband provider is raising its rates for its lowest tiers of broadband service. So, just as we are in the process of proposing steps to ensure that more people are comfortable signing up for broadband service, providers of that very service are raising prices."

This warning comes in the context of a series of government studies that report that the main factor discouraging low income Americans from embracing high speed Internet isn't disinterest so much as the monthly price of the service and equipment. Clyburn cited statistics from these surveys: 36 percent of non-adopters say cost is the main barrier—about two thirds cite the monthly fee and the rest are intimidated by long-term service contracts or installation costs.

"If we are serious as a nation . . . " she concluded, "then we should be very concerned about these ominous signs."

Too long

The question, of course, is what is the FCC actually going to do about these "ominous signs." It's unclear whether we'll get any serious pushback against ISP price boosting or the competition problem in the National Broadband Plan—its point guy Blair Levin has already told us that he's not particularly keen about proposals like wholesale line sharing.

But the Commissioners themselves, especially the agency's three-Democrat majority, can propose new rules and initiate inquiries about pressing problems. Shortly after Clyburn went after Verizon, the agency sent out a battery of letters to the big wireless companies, asking them to justify their early termination fee policies. And shortly after that, the "early return fee" that Google charges Nexus One users dropped by $200.

Sooner or later, the FCC is going to have to back this kind of rhetoric up with some action. Or at least that's the hope. "We applaud Commissioner Clyburn for tackling the issue of competition in the broadband market head-on," the latest missive from the reform group Free Press declares. "For too long, the FCC has avoided confronting the competition problem, leaving American consumers and business at the mercy of the phone and cable companies."