IPI Urges President to Not Delay Broadband Rollout 4/2/2004
From: Sonia Hoffman of the Institute for Policy Innovation, 703-912-5742 or shoffman@ipi.org Web: http://www.ipi.org WASHINGTON, April 2 -- Challenging the D.C. Circuit Court's ruling that the FCC may no longer impose unbundling regulations on telecom providers would only delay broadband rollout, according to the Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI). The best way to promote real innovation in telecommunications and rapid broadband rollout is to deny any request from the FCC or other parties for Supreme Court review of the Circuit Court decision. A letter (see attached) sent to the President and signed by IPI notes the innovation suppression in this industry due to unbundling regulations: -- 1300 jobs are destroyed for every million lines switched away to so-called "competitors" -- better termed "middlemen" -- because profits are rarely invested into new capacity or technology. -- Telecommunications stocks have been one of the worst performing sectors, even as the rest of the economy has begun to recover. -- Total investment in the industry has not increased but has been depressed overall. "Reed Hundt's Clinton administration experiment in command- economy regulation of the telecom market has failed," says IPI President Tom Giovanetti. "Hundt's regulations have been struck down by the courts three times now. The regulators have lost -- it's time to move on and let markets work." Real competition to traditional wirelines can be seen through the surge of wireless phones and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)-a technology based on broadband connections. In fact, now that 89 percent of Americans now have access to broadband and more than 20 percent use this technology, there is an enormous potential market for VoIP as a competitive alternative. If the Administration truly desires to spread broadband technology, it will make every effort to encourage new investment rather than defend the current regulator regime. The information in this press release is taken from a letter sent to President Bush and signed by several leading organizations. For more information, contact Sonia Hoffman at shoffman@ipi.org or at 703-912-5742. The Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI) is a non-partisan, public-policy organization. --- March 31, 2004 The President The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20500 Dear Mr. President: Mr. President, in your recent speech in Albuquerque, you championed "the spread of broadband technology."(1) We share that goal. However, achieving it requires a less restricted telecommunication sector in which innovators and investors can expect a fair return on their investment. Consumers have for too long been denied the benefits of a less regulated, more dynamic industry. Unfortunately, the FCC has been working to delay those gains by imposing "unbundling" rules that are harmful to investors and consumers, and that delay the expansion of broadband access. Fortunately, the D.C. Circuit Court has again rejected the FCC's effort to impose these regulations. We urge the Administration not to delay the spread of broadband technology any further. Specifically, we urge that the Administration not seek Supreme Court review of the Circuit Court's ruling. We ask that you instruct the Department of Justice and the Solicitor General to deny any request from the FCC or other parties for such review. There is no need to litigate this matter any further. The first steps toward freeing the telecommunication sector were taken over two decades ago. Since that time, the FCC has fought a fierce rearguard battle to delay further liberalization. Indeed, the current FCC rules were the brainchild of Reed Hundt, one of the most pro-regulatory FCC Chairmen. Rules similar to those now under consideration have already been struck down three times: once by the Supreme Court and twice by a unanimous D.C. Circuit panel. Consumers have been denied the benefits of new investments in telecommunication networks by these years of legal ambiguity. An appeal of the court's decision to the Supreme Court would continue this uncertainty for at least another year. The damage inflicted by these contentious regulations is apparent. Telecommunications stocks have been one of the worst performing sectors, even as the rest of the economy has begun to recover. If current regulatory uncertainty is not resolved, the telecom sector will continue to underperform, and the telecom companies will continue to underinvest.(2) The result will be that the U.S. will fall even further behind other countries in modernizing its telecommunications infrastructure. The FCC has assumed that the unbundling regulations would boost competition and increase total investment in the industry. The investment gains were assumed to come from new companies; the regulations were considered likely to depress investment among incumbent companies. This assumption of an increase in total investment was not supported by theory, and has failed in practice, because investment in the sector has been depressed overall. The investment decline is not surprising. It is the perfectly predictable outcome of the assault on property rights inherent in the forced sharing of facilities required by the FCC's rules. A new entrant able to demand access to an incumbent's network (especially at the cheap regulated rates authorized by the FCC) has much less incentive to build its own network. Similarly, if an incumbent must share the benefits of any upgrades with its competitors, there will be less reason for it to invest in them. Professor Alfred Kahn, one of this nation's foremost regulatory economists, has written: "It would be difficult to imagine an arrangement (the situation created by current FCC rules) more hostile to the risky and costly investments in modern telecommunications infrastructure and the development of the new products and services that it makes possible."(3) Businesses now taking advantage of current FCC rules characterize themselves as free-market "competitors," but they would be more accurately labeled as resellers of telecommunication services created and provided by others. They exploit the FCC's rules to obtain forced access to all the necessary facilities, which have been created by other companies. Under current FCC rules, they often obtain that access at very steep discounts. Their customers continue to use the same facilities in the same way. The revenues, however, rarely are invested in new capacity or technology. Thus, such "competitors" are better viewed as unnecessary middlemen rather than serious innovators or investors in the telecommunication sector. Robert W. Crandall and Hal J. Singer have concluded that the inefficient FCC sanctioned "churning" of accounts encouraged by forced access rules destroys 1300 jobs for every million lines that are switched away from the incumbent's service.(4) Whatever the logic of the original telecommunication regulatory structure, it is clear that FCC's current interference in the free market is excessive. There are already many competitive alternatives to traditional local phone service. Cable telephony is widespread. Many consumers use wireless phones instead of wirelines. Additional competition is rapidly developing in the form of Voice over Internet Protocol ("VoIP"). VoIP allows anyone with a broadband connection (either cable or wireline) to obtain high-quality local and long-distance voice service at extremely attractive rates. Because 89 percent of Americans now have access to broadband and more than 20 percent use it, there is an enormous potential market for this competitive alternative.(5) The communications industry is at a historical turning point. New broadband networks are the future in voice (and data) communications. As broadband becomes ever more available and affordable, we can expect rapid growth in new products and technologies, creating gains in jobs and productivity that will benefit all Americans. We ask that this Administration focus on the gains to the American economy and the American consumer from encouraging new investment in broadband, rather than on defending the current regulatory regime. The first step is to reject further delays. We urge that this Administration take that decisive step. Sincerely, Wayne Angell Ph.D. Former Member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System -- Sonia Arrison Director of Technology Studies, Pacific Research Institute -- Wayne Brough Ph.D. Chief Economist, Citizens for a Sound Economy -- Stephen Entin President and Executive Director, Institute for the Research on the Economics of Taxation -- Thomas A. Giovanetti President, Institute for Policy Innovation -- Lawrence Hunter Ph.D. Chief Economist, Empower America -- Thomas M. Lenard Ph.D. Senior Fellow and Vice President for Research, Progress and Freedom Foundation Donald L. Luskin Chief Investment Officer, Trend Macrolytics -- Stephen Moore President, Club for Growth -- James Plummer Policy Analyst, Consumer Alert -- Richard W. Rahn Ph.D. Senior Fellow, Discovery Institute -- Frances B. Smith Executive Director, Consumer Alert -- Fred L. Smith, Jr. President, Competitive Enterprise Institute -- Brian Wesbury Chief Economist, GKST Economics --- Note: Affiliations listed for identification purposes only cc. The Vice President Honorable John Snow, Secretary of Treasury Honorable John Ashcroft, Attorney General Honorable Donald Evans, Secretary of Commerce Honorable Andrew Card, Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff Honorable Joshua B. Bolten, Director of the Office of Management and Budget Honorable N. Gregory Mankiw, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors Honorable Stephen Friedman, Assistant to the President for Economic Policy Honorable Lewis Libby, Chief of Staff to the Vice President Honorable Michael Powell, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission Honorable Kathleen Abernathy, Commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission Honorable Kevin Martin, Commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission Honorable Theodore B. Olson, Solicitor General --- Notes: 1. Mike Allen, "Bush Sets Internet Access Goal," Washington Post, Saturday, March 27, 2004, p. A4. 2. Thomas Hazlett, Arthur Havenner and Coleman Bazelon have found that the capital stock of incumbent telephone networks has fallen sharply from its 1996 peak. In 2003, investment as a percentage of revenues actually fell below the level believed necessary to maintain existing facilities. If regulatory uncertainty continues, networks will decline and services will deteriorate. 3. Alfred E. Kahn, Regulatory Politics as Usual, Policy Matters 03-3 (Mar. 2003) http://www.aei.brookings.org/policy/page.php?id=127. 4. Robert W. Crandall and Hal J. Singer, An Accurate Scorecard of the Telecommunications Act of 1996: Rejoinder to the Phoenix Center Study No. 7, p. 1 (Jan. 2004) http://www.criterioneconomics.com/news/news29.php. 5. S. Rosenbush, et al., Broadband: What's the Holdup?, Business Week (Mar. 1, 2004); J. Halpern, et al., Bernstein Research Call, Broadband Update: DSL Share Reaches 40 percent of Net Adds in 4Q . . . Overall Growth Remains Robust at Exhibit 1 (Mar. 10, 2004). |