Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez Calls for an Internet “Unfettered by Regulation” May 23rd, 2008

Earlier this week, US Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez gave a speech before a conference in New Orleans on communications policy. In the speech, Gutierrez echoed a number of the themes that USTelecom and NextGenWeb.org have been sounding in recent months about substantial potential of broadband to change our lives in a range of areas, including health care, education, consumer applications, and entertainment.

Specifically, Gutierrez identified the need to encourage investment in next-generation networks, noting the substantial investment broadband companies have made in infrastructure–$70 billion in North America last year alone. He put that substantial investment into perspective by citing the fact that “the cost of building the interstate highway system in today’s dollars would be about $20 billion annually over 25 years,” a fact often noted by USTelecom’s Walter McCormick in reference to the staggering investment network operators have put into our communications infrastructure. As network traffic increases with new applications, Gutierrez continued, “to keep pace, providers must develop new capacity and maintain the flexibility to manage their networks effectively and transparently.” In closing, the secretary added, “imposing regulations, throwing up barriers and creating more hurdles for industry and consumers is not the right approach… I believe it is critically important that we preserve the vibrant and competitive free market that exists for the Internet, unfettered by regulation.”

Click here to read Secretary Gutierrez’s remarks in their entirety.

Walter McCormick to Address Media Institute Luncheon Today May 14th, 2008

At 1:15pm today, USTelecom President and CEO Walter B. McCormick Jr. will speak before an audience of journalists and communications executives as part of the Media Institute’s luncheon series. The Media Institute is a DC-area research foundation that specializes in communications policy. Although the luncheon is by invite only, we’ll be streaming video of the event on our website here.

Walter’s speech will touch on a range of broadband issues, including the innovative new uses for broadband for everything from enhancing our democratic process to economic stimulation to new choices in entertainment. He’ll also cover the pivotal role of private investment in keeping our communications networks strong, competitive, and efficient; the biggest threat to that investment, of course, is regulation of the Internet, another subject we expect Walter to touch on during the speech.

Be sure to tune in here at USTelecom.org to see the whole thing.

Walter McCormick before the House Telecom Subcommittee May 6th, 2008

In testimony before the House Telecom Subcommittee of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, USTelecom President and CEO Walter B. McCormick Jr. urged Congress to take the time to gather the facts on broadband deployment before enacting premature legislation that could impede investment and innovation in broadband that helps protect the environment and delivers better health care and education services to consumers. Hear the testimony; read the news release or listen to the testimony.

Hollywood Speaks Out Against Net Regulation March 12th, 2008

Hollywood film makers are taking a strong stand against Internet regulation proposals that would add new layers of government involvement to the management of the Internet.

Dan Glickman, chairman and chief executive officer of the Motion Picture Association of America was in Las Vegas this week addressing the movie industry and members of the National Association of Theater Owners. He warned industry leaders that Hollywood was facing a growing threat of “lawlessness.”

This effort is being called by its proponents “net neutrality.” It’s a clever name. But at the end of the day, there’s nothing neutral about this for our customers or for our ability to make great movies-blockbuster first-run films-in the future. If Washington had truth in labeling, we’d call this proposal by another name: Government regulation of the Internet. Government regulation of the Internet would impede our ability to respond to consumers in innovative ways, and it would impair the ability of broadband providers to address the serious and rampant piracy problems occurring over their networks today.

You can download a copy of Glickman’s remarks here.

Movie production is a high-stakes game. The average cost to make and market a major MPAA member company film was $106.6 million in 2007. But why would film makers put those huge sums at risk if government policies impede Internet Service Providers’ ability to combat piracy? Isn’t it interesting that Hollywood, a hotbed of creativity and innovation, a place where artistic freedom is cherished above all, has seen through “net neutrality” for what it is: A threat to consumer-centric innovation and economic growth.

At the Las Vegas event, Glickman told industry leaders that the “future of the theater, unimpeded theatrical production and a vibrant aftermarket all depend on an Internet that remains free from government regulation.” He warned the group that government regulation of the Internet would be “a terrible reversal of American innovation policy.” He reminded everyone that it’s the information economy that will create new jobs and new opportunities for the future.

“Today MPAA and all of our studios are standing up in opposition to broad-based government regulation of the Internet,” Glickman said. “We are opposing so-called ‘net neutrality’ government action. And, in the process, we are standing up for our customers, for our economy and for the ability of content producers to continue to create great movies for the future.”

[Cross-posted at NextGenWeb.org]

Walter McCormick on The Communicators March 3rd, 2008

Walter’s appearance on CSPAN’s The Communicators is now online. It was a great conversation with C-SPAN’s Pedro Echevarria about many of the top issues driving communications and broadband delivery and adoption. Be sure to have a look.

FCC En Banc Meeting Brings Network Management Front and Center February 25th, 2008

Today, the FCC held its en banc meeting in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The focus of the hearing was the agency’s network management proceeding, and much of the discussion focused on the net regulation bill recently introduced in the House by Rep. Ed Markey (D - Mass.), chair of the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet. Markey told the audience and commissioners that the FCC should oversee network management practices to ensure that they are employed only as a temporary solution until bandwidth catches up with demand and to be sure that they are “reasonable” and “non-discriminatory.” Others at the FCC meeting understood the need for traffic management, suggesting that rather than regulating management practices, Congress and the FCC should encourage more robust competition in broadband networks. Many, including FCC Chairman Kevin Martin and Vuze CEO Gilles BianRosa, also suggested that transparency in traffic management practices would be valuable to consumers.

With respect to Rep. Markey’s remarks, however, he’s got it wrong. In spite of the substantial investment network operators are making—$70 billion dollars in North America in 2007—higher capacity alone can’t mitigate the need for network management, just like wider streets don’t mitigate the need for stop lights or traffic laws.

Just consider the transition from dial-up to broadband: sure, bandwidth increased exponentially, but that new bandwidth brought with it new applications, like video, VoIP, online gaming, file-sharing, and more. Bigger, better, faster broadband networks will lead to new innovation in applications that will soak up that capacity; that’s a good thing for consumers, who will have an array of new content and applications to choose from, but those networks will need to be managed to operate at peak performance.

Congress and the FCC certainly can’t forsee what management practices will be necessary, efficient, effective, and satisfactory to consumers; if they could, they’d be making a pretty penny running networks of their own! The lasting solutions will emerge from industry cooperation, through industry forums and Internet standards bodies, and by communication between ISPs and app producers; content providers and service providers are already actively working together to improve the network efficiency of P2P protocols to reduce network congestion. Continuing that kind of inter-industry collaboration will lead to the most lasting, effective solutions; regulation of the Internet, on the other hand, will chill investment and could very well stand in the way of traffic management solutions that make the Internet work better for all of us.

Markey Bill “Antithetical” to Congress’ Innovation Agenda February 14th, 2008

On Tuesday, Reps. Ed Markey (D – Mass.) and Chip Pickering (R – Miss.) introduced H.R. 5353, Chairman Markey’s latest attempt to codify the nebulous concept of network neutrality. Although the bill looks different than its 2006 predecessor, it still holds significant potential to erode innovation and investment in broadband networks, which will in turn hamper efforts to bring broadband’s benefits to more Americans. USTelecom’s Walter McCormick issued a statement on the bill, calling it “antithetical to the Congressional innovation agenda.”

The Markey bill is clearly written to the foregone conclusion that regulation of the Internet is necessary today—despite the absence of real-world “problems” for the government to “fix.” This approach would needlessly inject substantial uncertainty into our economy and dampen the investment climate for continued broadband deployment in our communities. With nearly 1,400 broadband service providers in the U.S. today, consumers should be driving broadband’s evolution, not Congress. If the national objective is bringing broadband’s promise to all Americans, then we have far better options than government regulation. From innovative, public-private partnerships like Connect Kentucky to progress in the Farm Bill to target rural broadband loans to unserved areas, we are finding constructive ways for the government, local communities and private companies to work together. A return to the policies of the past would be a real setback to the broadband future. It’s our hope that Congress will maintain its focus on encouraging continued progress in our efforts to bring broadband to all Americans.