Telecom oversight is ‘increasingly irrelevant’ thanks to competit...
Telecom oversight is “increasingly irrelevant” thanks to competition, “particularly among different communications platforms,” the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) said Tues. Report authors Braden Cox and Clyde Crews said Congress should heed these trends and adopt a “tailored” approach to…
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communications reform. For example, Congress should set “clear boundaries as to whether an area of communications should be regulated by federal or state law,” said the study, “Communications without Commissions.” Lawmakers should “restrict” the FCC’s role, the authors said, urging it be “limited to applying general unfair competition rules similar to that of the Federal Trade Commission.” Policymakers should “move to a system of regulation through market disciple rather than government rules,” the authors said. The Telecom Act recognized that “competitive markets produce better outcomes [than govt.] interference, but subsequent policies have departed from that understanding,” the study said. Among other recommendations: Policymakers should “distinguish economic regulation from social welfare initiatives” and revise programs such as universal service “in ways that do not require FCC oversight.” The authors said “social goals should be disentangled from industry- specific taxes, price controls, technological mandates and other economic regulations.”