FCC Should Embrace ‘Delete, Delete, Delete’ To Modernize Telecom Markets
PORTLAND, Ore. (April 14, 2025) – In comments filed with the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) “Delete, Delete, Delete” proceeding, the International Center for Law & Economics (ICLE) calls for the FCC to take a comprehensive and ambitious approach to deregulation, and streamline its focus to those core national interests that cannot be effectively addressed by market forces.
The following quote can be attributed to ICLE Senior Scholar Ben Sperry:
“The digital revolution has fundamentally reshaped the communications landscape, rendering many legacy regulations obsolete and counterproductive. Our analysis reveals significant opportunities to foster competition, spur innovation, and enhance consumer welfare by dismantling outdated frameworks. The FCC has a unique opportunity to align its regulatory approach with the realities of today’s dynamic markets, moving away from historical distinctions and embracing technology-neutral principles. This initiative should be viewed as the crucial first step toward a truly modern and efficient communications ecosystem.”
ICLE’s Recommendations to the FCC’s ‘Delete, Delete, Delete’ Initiative
Significant Initiatives:
- Pursue a de-facto Title I regulatory regime for services currently classified under the more onerous Title II;
- Redefine the relevant competitive market for media ownership to include digital platforms, and strategically eliminate outdated ownership rules;
- Streamline the FCC’s transaction-review process by eliminating redundancies, focusing on competitive effects, and implementing tiered review;
- Consider repealing forced-access rules like must-carry and leased access; and
- Implement reforms to strengthen U.S. firms’ competitiveness in the global satellite economy.
Straightforward Regulations to Eliminate or Streamline:
- Eliminate civil monetary penalties focused on punishment rather than restoration;
- Eliminate E-Rate funding for school buses;
- Simplify broadband “nutrition labels”;
- Streamline line-discontinuance regulations;
- Reduce National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review for cell-siting projects;
- Eliminate numerous outdated common-carrier regulations;
- Eliminate payphone rules;
- Repeal Section 706 reporting requirements;
- Clarify revocation standards for automated calls and texts;
- Employ forbearance to allow cable operators to merge with incumbent local-exchange carriers (ILECs);
- Repeal or significantly streamline public, educational, and governmental (PEG) programming requirements;
- Simplify or remove local reviews of franchise transfers; and
- Implement targeted reforms to outage reporting requirements for wireline, voice over internet protocol (VoIP), and mobile virtual-network operator (MVNO) providers.
Other Agency Actions to Terminate:
- Conclude the notice of inquiry (NOI) on data caps;
- End consideration of proposed rulemakings regarding cybersecurity certification, blackout rebates, prohibiting early-termination and billing-cycle fees, disclosing AI content in political ads, handset unlocking, independent and diverse video-programming sources, and priority for local journalism; and
- Reconsider agency actions related to Section 230 interpretation and investigations into CBS and YouTube TV.
To schedule an interview, contact Jim Fellinger at [email protected].