Previously DailyTech reported that the US House Committee approved the net neutrality bill which secured a solid future for consumers and prevents large telcos from creating tiered networks. However, a new update on the initial proposals is making progress, which promises to add a price increase for Internet services and possibly threaten net neutrality. Called the Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement Act (COPE), the act plans to allow local governments to collect up to five percent to put towards developing high speed broadband access.

The COPE act goes beyond local municipality interests and also gives telcos and cable companies the ability to create franchises on a national scale. However, what if a telco is the only company offering broadband access in a local area? COPE addresses that too. To keep monopolistic practices at bay and keep prices fair, the COPE act plans to regulate what a service provider can and cannot do when it is the only presence in a local area. This is of course good news for users who rely on a sole company for Internet access.

Interestingly, many Internet advocate groups oppose the COPE act indicating that it is a new threat to net neutrality. The groups indicated that while the act did prevent certain things from happening, it did not have enough details about regulations defined. Many companies including Verizon however disagreed, saying that the COPE act does not say anything that would give a telco power over what goes across its network. In the end, many feared that while the net neutrality bill had been passed, the COPE act steps in the way with ambiguity and uncertainty.