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Expert Says Congress Must Require FCC to Reduce Regulations
WASHINGTON, D.C. - With increasingly negative financial headlines coming from the Information Technology sector, a leading telecommunications policy expert says legislation introduced recently by U.S. Senators John Breaux (D-LA) and Don Nickles (R-OK), the “Broadband Regulatory Parity Act of 2002,” could not have come at a better time. He says Congressional action will help renew economic growth.
“In the absence of quick action by the FCC, or direction by the Administration, it has fallen to Congress to exercise leadership on broadband deregulation,” writes Progress & Freedom Foundation Director of Telecommunications Policy Studies Randolph J. May in his new study, “Broadband Gets a Breaux-Nickles Boost”. “It’s time to remove the disincentives to investment in broadband that are skewing the telecommunications marketplace and contributing to the continuing weakness of the IT sector of the economy.”
“While arguments can be made for either the House or Senate approaches to broadband deregulation, the case for doing nothing grows less and less defensible in light of the continuing collapse of the telecom sector,” May says. “What is certain is that Congress now has before it an opportunity to accelerate broadband deregulation and create the incentives needed to bring new services to consumers, and renewed growth to the economy.”
Of the four competing technologies that currently provide consumers with high-speed Internet – digital subscriber line, cable modem, fixed wireless and satellite – only DSL faces significant regulation from federal and state governments. According to May, the most onerous regulation, the requirement to share “piece-parts” of telephone company networks with new entrants at below-market prices, results in less broadband investment by both parties.
May has published numerous articles and essays on telecom issues, and has been cited by numerous national media outlets. He writes for national publications and law reviews on a variety of topics ranging from communications and administrative law to constitutional theory. His column appears regularly in Legal Times.
The Progress & Freedom Foundation is a market-oriented think tank that studies the digital revolution and its implications for public policy. It is a 501(c)(3) research & educational organization.
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