In a recent speech, outgoing FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski once again reiterated the critical importance of spectrum policy “breakthroughs” to address the “tremendous stress” on the capacity of the nation’s wireless networks “from growing digital demand.” While Congress and regulators are doing what they can, including addressing tower siting (here and here), reallocating and sharing government spectrum (here and here), and moving forward with the voluntary incentive auctions for broadcast spectrum, these actions represent only partial (and possibly untimely) solutions to spectrum exhaust. Addressing the problem in the near term will require secondary market transactions for spectrum, where spectrum is reassigned from lower to higher …
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Spectrum Exhaust and the Monopolization Narrative…
April 3rd, 2013 | Posted by in Federal Communications Commission | Incumbent Exclusion Rules | Industry Structure and Market Performance | Merger Review | Mobile Broadband | Spectrum Caps | Spectrum Exhaust | Spectrum Screen | Wireless - (Comments Off)New America Foundation Misinterprets International Data (Again)…
March 7th, 2013 | Posted by in Broadband | Industry Structure and Market Performance | International | International Broadband Ranks | International Telecommunication Union (ITU) | OECD - (Comments Off)In a recent report entitled The Cost of Connectivity, the New America Foundation (“New America”) attempts to compare the prices of “triple play” offerings of video, phone, and Internet services across 22 cities worldwide to show that “that U.S. consumers in major cities tend to pay higher prices for slower speeds compared to consumers abroad.” Unfortunately, when it comes to measuring and comparing prices, New America has a demonstrated penchant for careless work. Upon inspection, New America’s new study appears to be unexceptional in that regard—the empirics are sloppy and the conclusions are unsupported. In fact, New America presents evidence which force conclusions that directly …
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Copyright and Wireless Carterfone (Part Deux)…
March 7th, 2013 | Posted by in Copyright | Federal Communications Commission | Handset Exclusivity | Industry Structure and Market Performance | Intellectual Property | Interoperability | Law and Economics | Mobile Broadband | Wireless - (Comments Off)Last month, I authored a blog discussing the Librarian of Congress’s recent decision not to exempt handset unlocking of new phones from the anti-circumvention petitions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”). Since that blog was posted, copyright-reform activists launched an on-line campaign to have the White House “ask the Librarian of Congress to rescind this decision, and failing that, champion a bill that makes unlocking permanently legal.” Last week, in a post by R. David Edelman, Senior Advisor for Internet, Innovation Policy, entitled It’s Time to Legalize Cell Phone Unlocking, the White House joined in the dispute stating: The White House agrees … that …
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Sloppy Research Sinks Susan Crawford’s Book…
January 18th, 2013 | Posted by in Broadband | Cable | Federal Communications Commission | Industry Structure and Market Performance | Investment | Law and Economics | National Broadband Plan | Regulation | Spectrum | Spectrum Exhaust | Susan Crawford - (3 Comments)This month, Cardozo Law School Professor and former Special Assistant for Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy to President Barack Obama Susan Crawford released her new book entitled Captive Audience: The Telecom Industry and Monopoly Power in the New Gilded Age. Professor Crawford is known as a tireless and vocal advocate for government intervention in and the regulation of telecommunications, and is perhaps the most recognized advocate for the construction of a government-funded and regulated fiber-optic Internet network servicing all American homes and businesses. Many vigorously oppose Professor Crawford’s ideas by claiming they are overly regulatory and too expensive, but many support her proposals with equal …
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When the CLECs Jumped the Shark…
December 10th, 2012 | Posted by in Federal Communications Commission | Industry Structure and Market Performance | IP Transition | Law and Economics | National Broadband Plan | Regulation | Regulatory Reform - (Comments Off)Last month, I authored a blog entitled It’s Time to Start the Conversation on the IP Transition where I argued that we could no longer postpone the development of a cohesive regulatory paradigm to manage the complicated issue of facilitating the transition from legacy TDM networks to the more efficient IP-based networks. This view is shared by FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai,who has long-proposed the creation of an “IP Transition Taskforce.” And now, the chorus of supporters widens to include FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, who announced today that the FCC intends to form an agency-wide “Technology Transitions Policy Task Force” that will “coordinate the Commission’s efforts …
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Economic Theory in Action: The FCC’s Assault on the Mobile Broadband Consumer…
November 30th, 2012 | Posted by in "Over the Top" Services | Broadband | Federal Communications Commission | Industry Structure and Market Performance | Law and Economics | MVPDs | Net Neutrality | Network Agnostic Devices | Regulation | Wireless - (Comments Off)Recently, I spotted an interesting blog by Scott Wallsten at the Technology Policy Institute. In this blog, Scott discusses the FCC’s recent decision that Verizon violated the open access rules of the 700 MHz C-Block auction by charging its customers an additional $20 per month on its data plans to tether a device. In response, Verizon paid a fine and now allows tethering on all new data plans. However, Scott observes that: Verizon effectively abandoned the post-paid market for light users after the FCC decision. Verizon no longer offers individual plans. Even consumers with only a single smartphone must purchase a shared data plan. That’s …
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Professor Susan Crawford and the Looming “Cable Monopoly”…
November 16th, 2012 | Posted by in "Over the Top" Services | AllVid | Broadband | Broadband Credibility Gap | Cable | CableCard | Federal Communications Commission | Industry Structure and Market Performance | Investment | IP Transition | Law and Economics | MVPDs | National Broadband Plan | Net Neutrality | Regulation | Susan Crawford - (Comments Off)Next month, a new book entitled Captive Audience: The Telecom Industry and Monopoly Power in the New Gilded Age (Yale University Press 2012) from Cardozo Law School Professor Susan Crawford will hit the bookshelves. According to her publisher’s blurb, Professor Crawford’s book will examine how the United States has “created the biggest monopoly since the breakup of Standard Oil a century ago.” But what is this “monopoly” to which Professor Crawford refers? While the publisher’s promotional blurb is silent on this question, according to a 2010 paper authored by Professor Crawford in the Yale Law and Policy Review, it appears that she is talking about …
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The FCC’s Special Access Fiasco: No Data and Wrong Policy Question…
August 24th, 2012 | Posted by in Broadband Credibility Gap | Federal Communications Commission | Industry Structure and Market Performance | Investment | Law and Economics | Regulation | Regulatory Reform | Special Access - (1 Comments)Late Wednesday night, the Federal Communications Commission released a Report and Order that would suspend, on an “interim” basis, its rules for automatic grants of pricing flexibility for special access services “in light of significant evidence” that the current deregulatory trigger—i.e., two competitors have collocated in a single Metropolitan Statistical Area (“MSA”)—is “not working as predicted.” In particular, the Commission found that the geographic territories contained in most MSAs are “overly broad” and, in contrast, most competitive entry is occurring only in areas with “extremely concentrated demand.” Although the Commission concedes that it “currently lack[s] the necessary data to identify a permanent replacement approach to …
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How the FCC “Rigs the Game” for Broadband Regulation Under Section 706…
August 23rd, 2012 | Posted by in Broadband Credibility Gap | Federal Communications Commission | Industry Structure and Market Performance | Investment | Law and Economics | Regulation | Regulatory Reform - (Comments Off)Over the last several years, we have seen the Federal Communications Commission put forth a rather clever argument to expand its regulatory authority over broadband services. The argument goes basically like this: Under Section 706(a) of the Communications Act, the Commission “shall encourage the deployment on a reasonable and timely basis of advanced telecommunications capability to all Americans … by utilizing … price cap regulation, regulatory forbearance, measures that promote competition in the local telecommunications market, or other regulating methods that remove barriers to infrastructure investment.” As part of its mandate, Section 706(b) requires the Commission to conduct a regular inquiry into “whether advanced telecommunications …
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Susan Crawford and the Economics of the Wireless Industry…
August 10th, 2012 | Posted by in "Over the Top" Services | Federal Communications Commission | Incentive Auctions | Incumbent Exclusion Rules | Industry Structure and Market Performance | Law and Economics | Mobile Broadband | Net Neutrality | Regulation | Spectrum | Spectrum Caps | Spectrum Exhaust | Susan Crawford | Wireless - (Comments Off)Last week, Professor Susan Crawford authored an op-ed entitled What’s Good for Verizon and AT&T Is Terrible for American Consumers. While Professor Crawford’s emotional argument is a bit scattered, her depiction of an industry in transition provides a useful foundation for discussing the future of broadband in the United States. First, Professor Crawford argues that wireless broadband is a “commodity,” and one that consumers are increasingly using as a substitute for traditional “voice” and “texting” services. This substitution is arguably true and, as such, we should therefore expect to see broadband providers increasingly employing and experimenting with a variety of pricing plans in an effort …
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