NCSL Panel Sees Strong Competition in Broadband Service July 25th, 2008
Patrick Brogan

I was recently on a panel at the annual meeting of the National Association of State Legislators to discuss the status of competition in the communications industry. The presentation was made to the Communications, Financial Services and Interstate Commerce Committee. Other panelists included representatives of the cable, wireless, and wireline telecom industries.

As these panels go, there was an extraordinary level of agreement among industry representatives:

• In general, panelists agreed that competition is intensifying within and across industries—including networks, devices, and applications—and that consumer choices are expanding.
• We largely agreed that government intervention should be minimal and targeted to encourage continued investment.
• There was also a strong case made for regulatory parity.

Below are some additional points from my remarks:

• We are early in a massive transition: the coming together of three historically distinct industries: telecommunications, media, and technology.
• These previously distinct industries are converging in an marketplace in which the nature of competition is dynamic, evolving, and innovative. Although these changes benefit consumers, the issues raised by convergence are complex.
• This is not a new story, but after many years of the industry buzzing about “convergence,” we seem to have attained a critical mass and the forces of change, wherever they lead, are, as they say, out of the bag.
• Nonetheless, one-size does not fit all in this evolving market. Consumers—both individuals and businesses—will move to integrated broadband and mobile services in different degrees and at different paces; some may make more limited transitions, and some may not make the transition at all, sticking to traditional ways.

So what does one make of this as a business and policy analyst?

• It is exactly the dynamic interaction—market conditions that are flexible and responsive—that drives new, increasingly personalized value for consumers.
• Continued investment in infrastructure and applications is needed to feed this virtuous cycle.
• The characteristics of competition, dynamism, flexibility, interaction, and complexity, along with the evolving and variegated demands of consumers, imply that a cautious and limited regulatory approach is appropriate.
• Specifically, policies should strive to keep competition fair, monitor developments, and intervene only when necessary to redress actual harm to consumers based on the facts of a specific situation.
• Such an approach is more likely to create an investment-friendly climate than an approach based on old models and assumptions that prescribes one-size-fits-all regulatory solutions.
• At a minimum, it would be suboptimal to entrench regulators in the day-to-day operations of this dynamic market, which requires near-constant economic, business, and technology decision-making in response to fast-changing competitive conditions.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 25th, 2008 at 9:31 am and is filed under Events and Appearances, Industry News, Meetings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.