As politicians play to their constituencies, the regulators are apparently feeling left out, and so the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has initiated an inquiry to determine whether so-called net neutrality safeguards are needed.
According to Technology Today columnist David Hatch, a new coalition that includes the Consumer Federation of America, Free Press, Public Knowledge, the public-interest telecom law firm Media Access Project, and the think tank New America Foundation are on a crusade and “ . . . will request (of the FCC) that dominant telephone and cable firms, which are expected to secure large chunks of the airwaves, be required to lease access to competitors and maintain ‘neutral’ networks that do not impede or degrade unaffiliated services. The coalition also wants the FCC to modify its auction rules to make it easier for large and small third parties to secure spectrum.”
If this wish list was fulfilled the consequences for investment, innovation and deployment would all be bad, but that is not the worst part of the FCC’s potential intervention.
The easiest way to bleed an industry into submission is to have the regulators study and set policy on an issue. Setting policy requires the development of rules and regulations, and regulators are notorious for their slow, lengthy and plodding manner. Industry is held hostage during the process.
Note how the FCC in the ATT/Bell South merger withheld approval while the government extorted supposed net neutrality concessions. Is this really the best way to make major economic decisions that impact capital formation and jobs creation? Is artificially controlling market share through regulatory largesse how we want high technology to be developed and deployed? No, and especially not if we want to keep up with international technology investment and global competition.
The FCC should put its study of net neutrality on the fast track, limit its proceedings and get out of the way of the marketplace, which so far has proven that when left to its own devices it provides maximum consumer choice, for the best price, in new technology offerings.