The FCC has been too slow to provide...
The FCC has been too slow to provide regulatory relief and it would benefit by studying the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission’s example in Frontier Communications deregulation, said Free State Foundation President Randolph May in a blog post Monday (http://bit.ly/163gjgP).…
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The Washington commission issued an order July 22 to deregulate Frontier’s legacy wireline services (http://bit.ly/16hVrV7), addressing a petition for regulatory relief filed by Frontier earlier this year. “Wireless, VoIP, and bundled service options to basic single-line service place competitive pressures on providers of such basic service,” said the Washington commission in its order. “Even if Frontier were the only provider of single line basic service, should Frontier seek to raise its rates for such service customers could opt for one of these other service options -- in fact, that is what has been happening.” The FCC does not account properly for competitive impact of wireless and VoIP services, said May. The FCC has been too slow to “substantially reduce historic regulation, particularly economic regulation, in favor of the disciplines of an effectively competitive marketplace,” said May in his blog post. The FCC is unlikely to consider in a timely fashion the competitive impact of over-the-top Internet services on traditional cable and satellite services “still shackled by outdated legacy regulations,” said May.