Six years ago, the Phoenix Center released (and later published) a paper entitled Network Neutrality and Foreclosing Market Exchange: A Transaction Cost Analysis. In that paper, we analyzed the effects of network neutrality proposals that foreclose or severely limit market transactions between content providers and broadband service providers. Our model revealed that under plausible conditions, rules that prohibit efficient commercial transactions between content and broadband service providers could, in fact, be bad for all participants: consumers would pay higher prices, the profits of the broadband service provider would decline, and the sales of Internet content providers would also decline. As a result, such proposals would …
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FCC Rules Block Broadband Price Cuts…
May 13th, 2013 | Posted by in Federal Communications Commission | Law and Economics | Net Neutrality | Regulation | Wireless - (0 Comments)The Sixteenth CMRS Competition Report: A Paralysis Born in Humility
March 25th, 2013 | Posted by in Broadband | CMRS Reports | Federal Communications Commission | Law and Economics | Mobile Broadband | Regulation | Spectrum | Wireless - (3 Comments)Each year, Section 331(c)(1)(C) of the Communications Act directs the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to “review competitive market conditions with respect to commercial mobile services and shall include in its annual report an analysis of those conditions.” To this end, the agency released its Sixteenth Annual CMRS Report last week. In this latest report, the FCC makes few formal findings, but instead “focuses on presenting the best data available on competition throughout this sector of the economy and highlighting several key trends in the mobile wireless industry.” (Sixteenth Report at ¶ 2.) Consistent with the other CMRS Reports issued under Chairman Julius Genachowski’s watch, the …
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The FCC Contradicts Their Facts (Again) To Justify Expanded Broadband Regulation…
February 20th, 2013 | Posted by in Federal Communications Commission | IP Transition | Law and Economics | National Broadband Plan | Net Neutrality | Regulation | Section 706 - (1 Comments)Last year, we released a paper entitled Justifying the Ends: Section 706 and the Regulation of Broadband (and forthcoming, Journal of Internet Law) where we demonstrated how the Federal Communications Commission deliberately ignored its own evidence to support expanded regulatory jurisdiction over IP-based services. With the release of its new Measuring Broadband America Report last week, the FCC once again undermines its factual predicate for Internet regulation. Let me explain. 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. Under Section 706(a) of the Communications Act, the Commission …
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The Misuse of International Broadband Rankings Continues…
February 19th, 2013 | Posted by in Broadband | Federal Communications Commission | International Broadband Ranks | International Telecommunication Union (ITU) | OECD | Regulation | Susan Crawford - (Comments Off)According to a just-released report by the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF) entitled The Whole Picture: Where America’s Broadband Networks Really Stand, “Despite the frequent claims that the United States lags in international broadband comparisons, the studies cited to support this claim are out-of-date, poorly-focused, and/or analytically deficient.” We couldn’t agree more, and extend our kudos to Richard Bennett, Luke Steward, and Rob Atkinson for a thorough and dispassionate analysis of broadband deployment and adoption across developed economies. Indeed, I suspect ITIF’s report will become the ”go to” document of the most current basic statistics on where the U.S. falls in international broadband comparisons. …
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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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Looking Ahead to 2013…
January 11th, 2013 | Posted by in Broadband | Federal Communications Commission | Incentive Auctions | IP Transition | Net Neutrality | Regulation - (1 Comments)Over the course of the last several weeks, we at the Phoenix Center held Part I and Part II of our Annual U.S. Telecoms Symposium. Part I, held on December 6th, focused on the impact of the recent election on U.S. broadband policy; while the more “wonky” Part II, held last week on January 3rd, focused on emerging issues in broadband policy for 2013. As always, we had a fantastic array of speakers at both events, and the presentations were excellent. While interested folks are welcome to watch the video of the full proceedings on-line (Part I may be viewed here; while Part II may …
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Is it Time to End Asymmetric Regulation?
December 19th, 2012 | Posted by in Federal Communications Commission | IP Transition | Law and Economics | Regulation | Regulatory Reform - (Comments Off)This week, USTelecom filed a petition with the Federal Communications Commission requesting the agency to issue a declaratory ruling that incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) are no longer subject to dominant carrier regulation when providing interstate mass market and enterprise switched access services. As the Commission begins to evaluate USTelecom’s petition, we need to keep in mind that the policy question at the heart of this proceeding is not necessarily one of de-regulation per se (although deregulation is the end objective of USTelecom’s petition), but one of regulatory symmetry. That is, does it make sense to maintain asymmetric regulation for one select segment of the …
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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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