WASHINGTON, Oct. 9, 2025 – The Federal Communications Commission is weighing changes to its broadband nutrition labels, proposing to eliminate six consumer disclosure requirements.
Directed by Congress, the FCC adopted the broadband label rules in 2022 to help consumers make informed decisions when choosing an internet plan. The standardized labels require providers to clearly disclose prices, speeds, data caps, and other key service terms.
The proposed rulemaking issued Tuesday asked whether the FCC should align label’s performance standards with the maximum advertised speeds providers report to the FCC’s Broadband Data Collection.
The 2022 broadband label order was built around “typical performance” – meaning what speed, latency, and packet loss consumers actually experience during peak hours.
Announcing the labels in March 2022, then-FCC chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said: “The problem for broadband consumers isn’t a total lack of information, but there’s loads of fine print. It can be difficult to know exactly what we are paying for and these disclosures are not consistent from carrier to carrier.”
However, since 2022, “parties have urged the Commission to eliminate certain rules,” the FCC stated Tuesday. It said the proposed changes would better align the requirements with the mandate Congress gave in the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure act.
Provisions targeted for elimination
Under the new proposed rulemaking, providers would no longer be required to display labels within customers’ online account portals, which industry groups said can confuse customers as pricing and data change.
Providers would no longer have to read the entire label to customers over the phone, a step groups like NTCA and WISPA called “burdensome for providers and confusing to customers.”
Additionally, providers could limit labels to English, removing the 2022 requirement to display them in any language in which services are marketed.
NTCA observed that reading the labels over the phone may require translators to read the labels to non-English speakers. “Several commenters asked us to eliminate this requirement,” the FCC said.
Under the new proposed rulemaking, ISPs would no longer need to make label data available in a machine-readable format, such as a downloadable spreadsheet. The FCC also “propose[d] to eliminate the requirement that providers display label information on their website.”
The rule would permanently remove the requirement to include information from the Affordable Connectivity Program, which ended June 1, 2024.
The new rules would also remove a requirement for providers to archive all labels for no less than two years after a service plan is no longer available.
The FCC sought public input on “other ways to improve the labels,” including whether providers should be allowed to display them through an icon or link rather than posting the full label online.
The FCC further asked whether any other label requirements should be “eliminated or streamlined,” such as narrowing the scope of offerings to which the labels apply.
The FCC is scheduled to take up the new label proposal at its Oct. 28 open meeting, alongside a broader agenda that includes satellite regulations, NextGen TV, prison communication rates, and other FCC priorities.
Photo of FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, with Commissioners Anna Gomez and Olivia Trusty, from commission meeting on July 24, 2025.