Communications Deregulation and FCC Reform: Finishing the Job

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-ix

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2. Communications Deregulation And FCC Reform: Finishing The Job

   • Jeffrey A. Eisenach, Randolph J. May

   Pages 1-9

3. The Great Digital Broadband Migration

   • Michael K. Powell

   Pages 11-19

4. Technology and Competition: A Five-Year Outlook for The Telecommunications Marketplace

   • Charles A. Eldering

   Pages 21-51

5. Local and Long Distance Competition: Replacing Regulation with Competition

   • Robert W. Crandall

   Pages 53-78

6. Reforming Universal Service One More Time

   • Kenneth Gordon

   Pages 79-110

7. “Propertyzing” The Electromagnetic Spectrum: Why It’s Important, And How To Begin

   • Lawrence J. White

   Pages 111-143

8. Program Content Regulation Revisited

   • L. A. Powe Jr.

   Pages 145-184

9. The Public Interest Standard—Is It Too Broad To Be Constitutional?

   • Randolph J. May

   Pages 185-220

10. Telecom Deregulation, Broadband Deployment and Economic Growth

    • W. J. Tauzin

    Pages 221-227

11. Back Matter

    Pages 229-235

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Communications markets have made much progress towards competition and deregulation in recent years. However, it is increasingly clear, in the age of the Internet and the digital revolution, that much more needs to be done, and that new approaches, both at the Federal Communications Commission and in Congress, will be required to complete the task. In this volume, the Progress and Freedom Foundation presents nine papers by communications policy experts and government policymakers that show how to finish the job of deregulating communications markets and reforming the FCC.
The Telecommunications Act of 1996 was a landmark piece of legislation for an industry moving from a monopoly orientation towards competition, but additional steps are needed to complete the process of implementing the pro-competitive, deregulatory vision of the act. Bringing together a group of the caliber represented in this book makes possible the best recommendations about the exact nature of those necessary changes. In this volume, the most difficult and politically-charged hot-button issues involving local and long distance competition, universal service, spectrum allocation, program content regulation, and the public interest doctrine are confronted head-on. As importantly, the authors recommend specific reform proposals to be considered by the Federal Communications Commission and Congress.
The ideas contained in the experts' essays were presented and debated at a conference hosted by The Progress & Freedom Foundation, which was held in Washington, DC, on December 8, 2000. The Progress & Freedom Foundation studies the impact of the digital revolution and its implications for public policy. It conducts research in fields such as electronic commerce, telecommunications and the impact of the Internet on government, society and economic growth. It also studies issues such as the need to reform government regulation, especially in technology-intensive fields such as medical innovation, energy and environmental regulation.

• Electronic Commerce
• Innovation
• Monopol
• board of directors
• competition
• deregulation
• economic growth
• foundation
• regulation

• The Progress & Freedom Foundation, USA

  Jeffrey A. Eisenach, Randolph J. May

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