House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., said at an...

cannot sustain this kind of investment if we continue to regulate voice, video, audio, and data services under a regime that pretends we still live in an analog world run by three networks and one phone company,” he said. “We need to eliminate outdated regulations to meet the promises and challenges of the Internet era. We need to harness the free market to promote investment, encourage innovation, and create jobs. And we certainly don’t need to shackle new services with old rules.” Walden said the subcommittee will continue its efforts to free up more spectrum for private sector use. “The mission of this subcommittee is to squeeze as much as possible out of existing spectrum so that our nation continues to lead the world in wireless broadband innovation and opportunities so that the communications sector can continue to be a job-creation engine for the American people,” he said. “We will also conduct oversight to ensure FCC implementation does not pick winners and losers by allocating large swaths of spectrum to favored constituencies for free, thus shorting the supply of spectrum that is badly needed to meet the rising consumer demand for mobile broadband and leave public safety hanging by depriving it of the funding it needs to build out a public safety network.” It’s likely that the subcommittee will revisit the 1992 Cable Act and the 1996 Telecommunications Act, said Walden, as lawmakers prepare to reauthorize the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act, which expires Dec. 31, 2014.