Economic Theory in Action: The FCC’s Assault on the Mobile Broadband Consumer…

November 30th, 2012 | Posted by George Ford 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 Larry Spiwak 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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Stepping Out of the Pack: Broadband Investment and Private Sector Job Creation…

November 16th, 2012 | Posted by George Ford in Employment | Federal Communications Commission | Investment | IP Transition | Jobs | Law and Economics | Stimulus - (1 Comments)

Although the National Bureau of Economic Research tells us that the recession ended in July 2009, the U.S. economy nonetheless remains in a period of sluggish and uncertain growth.  Consumer confidence remains low, and, with a pending “fiscal cliff,” the “Recession Probability Index” jumped from about 2 to nearly 20 in August.  Unemployment remains exceptionally high.  As we discussed in our paper Can Government Spending Get America Working Again? An Empirical Investigation, the government’s effort to jump start the economy with spending has failed (and will continue to do so), and recovery is likely to depend on the expansion of private sector investment.  Yet, private …
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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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