Is it Time to End Asymmetric Regulation?

December 19th, 2012 | Posted by Larry Spiwak 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 Larry Spiwak 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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It’s Time to Start the Conversation on the IP Transition…

November 14th, 2012 | Posted by Larry Spiwak in Federal Communications Commission | Investment | IP Transition | Law and Economics | Regulatory Reform - (Comments Off)

Every now and then, a genuine and radical change occurs in the telecommunications business that can no longer be ignored and, as such, a policy response can no longer be postponed.  In the past, these cycles have been relatively long, but today significant supply-side and demand-side shocks seem common.  Such is the case of the need to develop a cohesive regulatory paradigm to manage the complicated issue of facilitating the transition from legacy TDM networks to the more efficient IP-based networks. For those of us who study telecom policy closely, the need for the Federal Communications Commission to start to develop a cohesive policy framework …
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George and Larry’s Excellent Peruvian Broadband Adventure…

November 9th, 2012 | Posted by Larry Spiwak in Broadband | Federal Communications Commission | International | Law and Economics | Net Neutrality | Regulation | Regulatory Reform | Spectrum - (Comments Off)

Last week, George and I returned from an amazing trip to Peru where we held two days of workshops with OSIPTEL—the Peruvian telecoms regulator—as part of a project for USAID.  As we covered a wide range of topics, we were once again reminded that while language and individual political nuances among various countries may differ, the fundamental economics—and concurrent complex policy issues—facing telecom regulators remain universal.  That is, how do we get more broadband deployed when it isn’t necessarily profitable to do so? In light of this universal question, we spent a significant amount of time talking about the economics of the “last mile” and …
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The Curious Case of the FCC’s Spectrum Screen NPRM…

October 9th, 2012 | Posted by Larry Spiwak in Federal Communications Commission | Incumbent Exclusion Rules | Mobile Broadband | Regulation | Regulatory Reform | Spectrum | Spectrum Caps | Spectrum Exhaust | Spectrum Screen | Wireless - (Comments Off)

With the ever-present specter of spectrum exhaust hanging over the wireless industry, policymakers are constantly faced with the corresponding question of how to allocate spectrum among competing providers to ensure that market does not devolve into one with “excessive” concentration under Section 309(j)(3)(B) of the Communications Act.  Since the 1990’s, the FCC has tried a variety of approaches—from outright spectrum caps to the current and more flexible case-by-case “spectrum screen”—to try to manage its statutory charge.  As to be expected given the huge stakes at hand, stakeholders vehemently disagree as to the best approach moving forward (particularly with the new voluntary incentive auctions for broadcast …
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The FCC’s Special Access Fiasco: No Data and Wrong Policy Question…

August 24th, 2012 | Posted by Larry Spiwak 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 Larry Spiwak 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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Art Laffer and the Effect of Government Stimulus on Jobs and Investment…

August 10th, 2012 | Posted by George Ford in Federal Budget | Federal Deficit | Jobs | Law and Economics | Regulatory Reform | Stimulus - (Comments Off)

This week, noted economist Arthur Laffer wrote an interesting piece in the Wall Street Journal entitled The Real “Stimulus” Record.  In this piece, Dr. Laffer argues that before policymakers in Washington again try yet another round of stimulus spending in an ostensible attempt to mitigate high unemployment and poor growth rates, they should remember that President Obama’s first stimulus package did not exactly meet with great success.  As support for his argument, Dr. Laffer cites the facts that while stimulus spending over the past five years totaled more than $4 trillion, increasing  U.S. Federal government spending from 21.4% to 27.3% of GDP over the 2007 …
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New Congressional Staff Report Shows Job Creators Still Buried by Regulatory Red Tape…

July 20th, 2012 | Posted by Larry Spiwak in "Cost Per Regulator" | Congressional Oversight | Federal Budget | Jobs | Law and Economics | Legislative Branch | Regulation | Regulatory Reform - (Comments Off)

This week, the House Committee on Government Oversight and Reform released a new Staff Report entitled Continuing Oversight of Regulatory Impediments to Job Creation:  Job Creators Still Buried by Red Tape. Among other significant data, the Staff Report found that: From 2010 to 2011, the number of final rules issued by federal agencies rose from 3,573 to 3,807—a 6.5 percent increase.  During that same time frame, the number of proposed rules increased 18.8 percent; The published regulatory burden for 2012 could exceed $105 billion, according to the American Action Forum, headed by a former director of the Congressional Budget Office; Analysis from the Heritage Foundation …
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Some Thoughts on this Week’s FCC Oversight Hearing…

July 13th, 2012 | Posted by Larry Spiwak in Congressional Oversight | Federal Communications Commission | Regulation | Regulatory Reform | Special Access | Spectrum - (3 Comments)

This week, the House Energy and Commerce Committee held an oversight hearing of the Federal Communications Commission.  As to be expected, the issues covered ranged far and wide, demonstrating once again the diversity, multitude and complexity of issues pending before policymakers.  While I have no intention of commenting on them all in this blog post, I would like to highlight a few observations. First and foremost, it was a pleasure to watch new FCC Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Ajit Pai answer questions with both thoughtfulness and, more importantly, significant substantive knowledge about the complexities of our industry.  Both have certainly “earned their bones” by coming …
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