Showing 9 of 207 Publications in Telecommunications & Regulated Utilities

Slouching Toward Disconnection and the End of the ACP

Popular Media It’s our first post of the New Year, and we’re having a hard time feeling the Hootenanny vibes. Rather than Congress taking a “new year, . . .

It’s our first post of the New Year, and we’re having a hard time feeling the Hootenanny vibes. Rather than Congress taking a “new year, new you” approach to telecom policy, it seems that D.C. is starting the year with the “same old, same old” of brinkmanship. This time, with broadband subsidies.

Read the full piece here.

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Telecommunications & Regulated Utilities

A Holiday Hootenanny Hiatus, But First, Some Title II Talk

TOTM For those of who’ve been doing the Telecom Two-Step over the past year, the holiday break can’t come soon enough. Last week, comments were due . . .

For those of who’ve been doing the Telecom Two-Step over the past year, the holiday break can’t come soon enough. Last week, comments were due on the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) latest proposal to impose Title II common-carrier regulation under the guise of net neutrality national security. Before that, we had the FCC’s new and expansive “digital discrimination” rules. Early in the New Year, we’ve got reply comments due on Title II and comments on the FCC’s proposal to ban early termination fees for cable and satellite providers.

The FCC has pushed telecom folks to crank out more content than James Patterson. So, we can be forgiven for pouring ourselves a cup of cheer, turning on “The Muppet Christmas Carol,” and taking a brief hiatus.

Read the full piece here.

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Telecommunications & Regulated Utilities

Share Excess Clean Energy Fund Dollars with Portlanders

Popular Media The unexpected $540 million coming to Portland’s Clean Energy Fund should go back to Portlanders (“Portland’s Clean Energy Fund expected to raise additional $540M over . . .

The unexpected $540 million coming to Portland’s Clean Energy Fund should go back to Portlanders (“Portland’s Clean Energy Fund expected to raise additional $540M over next 5 years,” Dec. 13). Since the tax took effect in 2019, consumer prices have increased by about 20%, straining family budgets. The tax on sales underpinning the Clean Energy Fund worsens this strain. If the projections are correct, the clean energy taxes, including the $750 million that was already anticipated as well as this additional bump, amount to more than $900 a year per Portland household. Commissioner Carmen Rubio suggests spending half of the new windfall to boost the budget of cash-strapped city bureaus. She should send the other half back to Portland families.

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Telecommunications & Regulated Utilities

Has the Biden Administration Taken Over Broadband?

TOTM Betteridge’s Law of Headlines states: “Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no.” But, apparently, folks in the nation’s capital . . .

Betteridge’s Law of Headlines states: “Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no.” But, apparently, folks in the nation’s capital found a way around Betteridge’s Law.

This week, a U.S. House subcommittee hearing featured testimony from all five members of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The majority on the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology did away with the question mark, titling the hearing “Oversight of President Biden’s Broadband Takeover.”

While it might be a stretch to call the administration’s broadband-policy agenda a “takeover,” one can be forgiven for concluding that the FCC is moving forward with so many massive and comprehensive interventions in nearly every aspect of the broadband market that it looks a lot like a takeover.

Read the full piece here.

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Telecommunications & Regulated Utilities

Indiana Jones and the Allocation of Spectrum

TOTM Hootenannies are mostly peaceful affairs, so it’s a bit awkward to invoke a violent metaphor here. In “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” Indiana Jones runs . . .

Hootenannies are mostly peaceful affairs, so it’s a bit awkward to invoke a violent metaphor here.

In “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” Indiana Jones runs down a Cairo sidestreet only to be confronted by a swordsman. The swordsman makes a big show of tossing his weapon from hand-to-hand and swirling it around. But Indy has no time for such nonsense—he pulls out his gun and shoots the would-be assassin.

U.S. spectrum policy is much like the swordsman. While the telecom regulators swirl around studies of how to allocate spectrum, the rest of the world is pulling the trigger.

Read the full piece here.

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Telecommunications & Regulated Utilities

An Inconvenient Truth: Net Neutrality Depresses Broadband Investment

TOTM It happens at just about every hootenanny. There’s always at least one song that clears the dance floor. Some tunes, people just won’t dance to. . . .

It happens at just about every hootenanny. There’s always at least one song that clears the dance floor. Some tunes, people just won’t dance to. But with a little remixing and a better tempo, even a dirge can be danceable.

For years, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has refused to dance to the tune of research that suggests Title II regulation depresses broadband investment. But a recently published paper changes the tune so much that the FCC can’t—or at least shouldn’t—ignore the vibe.

Read the full piece here.

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Telecommunications & Regulated Utilities

Net Neutrality and Broken Records

TOTM Idon’t mean to sound like a broken record, but why is the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) playing a broken record? I’ve been writing a fair . . .

Idon’t mean to sound like a broken record, but why is the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) playing a broken record?

I’ve been writing a fair bit about Federal Trade Commission (FTC) rulemaking initiatives. On the theory that you deserve a nominal break from all of that, this post is mostly about the FCC.

On Sept. 28, the FCC published a “fact sheet” and a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) on “Safeguarding and Securing the Open Internet.” Just shy of a month later, on Oct. 25, the FCC published another “fact sheet” and NPRM—this one, on “Preventing Digital Discrimination.”

My International Center for Law & Economics (ICLE) colleague Eric Fruits has written about the proposals hereherehereherehere, and, with our colleague Ben Sperry, here. ICLE’s Kristian Stout is hereEric explains how, in relatively straightforward fashion, the anti-discrimination requirements could lead to price regulation, notwithstanding the FCC’s own observation that “there is little to no evidence of intentional digital discrimination of access.”

Read the full piece here.

 

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Telecommunications & Regulated Utilities

Gotta Go Fast: Sonic the Hedgehog Meets the FCC

TOTM Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Jessica Rosenworcel this week announced a notice of inquiry (NOI) seeking input on a proposal to raise the minimum connection-speed benchmarks that . . .

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Jessica Rosenworcel this week announced a notice of inquiry (NOI) seeking input on a proposal to raise the minimum connection-speed benchmarks that the commission uses to define “broadband.” The current benchmark speed is 25/3 Mbps. The chair’s proposal would raise the benchmark to 100/20 Mbps, with a goal of having a benchmark of 1000/500 Mbps by the year 2030.

Read the full piece here.

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Telecommunications & Regulated Utilities

Everyone Discriminates Under the FCC’s Proposed New Rules

TOTM The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) proposed digital-discrimination rules hit the streets earlier this month and, as we say at Hootenanny Central, they’re a real humdinger. It looks . . .

The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) proposed digital-discrimination rules hit the streets earlier this month and, as we say at Hootenanny Central, they’re a real humdinger.

It looks like the National Telecommunications and Information Agency (NTIA) got most of their wishlist incorporated into the proposed rules. We’ve got disparate impact and a wide-open door for future rate regulation.

Here’s the tl;dr version of the new rules. More details at the end of this post.

Read the full piece here.

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Telecommunications & Regulated Utilities