Both sides are only half correct in the...

spurring the development of the Internet, but underestimate how public policy “tilled the ground” for the innovation, Cooper said. He cited the spending of public funds on research and development, and pricing policies like bill and keep designed to promote use. Those seeking strong regulation are wrong to deny “the important role the private sector played,” he said. Looking ahead, he said, the ability of ISPs to “extract rents,” particularly in areas where they have market power, could stifle innovation by edge providers. At the same time, regulations work best in “static” environments, and despite assurances that Title II regulations can be tailored through forbearance, “regulations are difficult to undo,” Cooper said. The panel on Cooper’s research into the combination of public investment and public policy was one of several through Friday at the FCC, in which academics present research on broadband regulation. The agency’s rural broadband experiments were inspired by Google’s process, in which it asks communities to apply for the company’s 1 gigabit broadband, said Jonathan Chambers, chief of the Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis, during a separate portion of the daylong event. The experiments, in which broadband providers, communities and others submitted applications on what they would build using agency funds, is intended to provide information to help guide the agency’s ability to use funds effectively to promote deployment, he said. Applicants, for instance, were asked to describe how they would provide speeds of 25/5 Mbps for less than the agency’s cost model for providing those speeds, he said. The process spurred Minnesota to create a broadband fund to provide funding for some of the ideas, he said.