Sprint Wants Competition Protected in Any Communications Act Overhaul

But “Congress should eliminate laws designed for a monopoly era as well as those intended to provide the [FCC] and states with the ability to micromanage the development of competition,” USTelecom said, given how IP technology has “obliterated the assumptions underlying the Act and the ‘96 Act amendments, calling into question the efficacy and wisdom of today’s legislative and regulatory framework” (http://bit.ly/1fBDvta). It praised the light regulatory touch government has adopted for wireless and broadband services, attributing a spike in investment over the last decade to this regulatory treatment. USTelecom urged Congress to kill “duplicative and often contradictory enforcement by the Commission and state regulators” and overlapping federal agency jurisdiction: “For example, the Department of Justice should have exclusive authority regarding competition policy, and the Federal Trade Commission should have exclusive jurisdiction over privacy and data security enforcement.”

"Economic regulation is unnecessary, especially in the absence of a demonstrated market failure, though the Commission should continue to ensure that certain consumer protections are maintained, such as emergency-calling capability, accessibility, and universal service,” USTelecom said. “Internet governance should continue to be based on the very successful multi-stakeholder model."

Competition is hardly so robust, the Computer & Communications Industry Association told Congress. It said the Telecom Act of 1996 is “mostly an example of such a sustainable law” that focuses on core values such as competition, interconnection and reasonable rates, rather than outcomes. CCIA backs the continued use of “telecom” and “information” service labels: “The distinction between ’telecommunications’ and ‘information services’ serves the purpose of clarifying what is physical underlying network infrastructure, especially critical bottleneck end user connections, and what are ‘over the top’ services or applications that depend on physical telecommunications networks for transmission to and from user end points,” CCIA said. Sprint said the distinction between telecom and information services is getting blurrier and said any overhaul “should set forth, clearly and consistently, the rights and obligations of network providers and users.” There’s great competition among information service providers but not in the traditional telecom world, said CCIA. “Industry re-consolidation has produced newly concentrated access markets offering most consumers and small businesses some choice of access providers, but not much.”

House Commerce should “consider what each industry brings to the American people, the nature of the service each provides, and the value that each industry delivers,” said NAB’s comments, which outlined qualities making broadcasters distinct. Broadcast is far less concentrated than other industries, it said. “This fragmentation leads to higher overhead costs and certain inefficiencies in mundane but important back-office areas such as equipment purchasing, system operations, sales, and maintenance,” NAB said. “Congress and the FCC are very familiar with arguments for why combinations improve efficiencies, since nearly every major transaction of the past two decades has featured efficiencies as an argument on why transaction should be approved.” The four biggest TV broadcasters reach 45.16 percent of the nation and the four biggest radio broadcasters reach 10.2 percent, said NAB.

NAB also pointed to public interest obligations that can be “significant burdens" for broadcasters as well as decency regulations that can stifle “experimentation and creativity.” Limitations on broadcaster growth also inhibit the benefits of scale and accompanying innovations, NAB said.

CCIA slammed the broadcasters for “abuse” related to retransmission consent disputes and backed any retrans updates in a Communications Act overhaul. “Solutions to this problem have already been proposed in this Congress, and they deserve serious and expeditious consideration,” CCIA said. Broadcasters have long defended the role of retrans and their own actions.

Congress should update the Communications Act with the assumption that the old circuit-switched phone network will be retired by the end of this decade, advised the Internet Innovation Alliance in comments submitted by Honorary Chairman Rick Boucher, a former Democratic chairman of the House Communications Subcommittee (http://bit.ly/1j7pUNB). The FCC’s structure should also be revised to ensure similar services receive similar regulations, it said. The alliance urged Congress to focus on the “existing spectrum deficit facing commercial wireless carriers by enabling the near-term reallocation of significant swaths of government held spectrum for commercial auction” and to facilitate spectrum movement in secondary markets.

The Telecommunications Industry Association also focused on spectrum policy. “Today’s service-specific and balkanized regulations governing spectrum allocations need to be overhauled in response to the convergence around broadband,” TIA told Congress, calling for spectrum allocations that are predictable and use that’s more efficient. Congress should clarify the roles of NTIA and the FCC over spectrum, it said. TIA also discouraged Congress from reorganizing the FCC’s structure, saying that’s better left to the agency. (jhendel@warren-news.com)